Patent 7520285 was granted and assigned to Lam Research on April, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A method for processing a substrate is provided which includes applying fluid onto a surface of the substrate from a portion of a plurality of inlets and removing at least the fluid from the surface of the substrate where the removing being processed as the fluid is applied to the surface. The applying the fluid and the removing the fluid forms a segment of a fluid meniscus on the surface of the substrate.