Patent 7419773 was granted and assigned to Tokyo Electron on September, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A rinsing process is performed by supplying a rinsing liquid onto a substrate with a light-exposed pattern formed thereon and treated by a developing process. The rinsing liquid contains a polyethylene glycol family surfactant or an acetylene glycol family surfactant in a critical micelle concentration or less. Preferably, the surfactant includes a hydrophobic group having a carbon number of larger than 11 and having no double bond or triple bond therein.