| 摘要 |
Nitrogen gas is blown into a developing solution tank, and a developing solution is supplied through a supply nozzle to the surface of a wafer, through a filter unit or the like, with the pressure. The filter unit has a ring-shaped flow path flowing from down upward, an impurity filter provided on the inside thereof, an exhaust passage connected to an uppermost portion of the flow path, and a bubble filter composed of, for example, a hollow fiber membrane, which is provided to block a part of the exhaust passage and has the property of transmitting gas without transmitting liquid. The dissolved nitrogen contained in the developing solution is changed to bubbles by vaporizing in the flow path, and only the bubbles can be removed from the developing solution since the aforesaid bubble filter selectively transmits these bubbles whereby the amount of the developing solution can be saved. Accordingly, it is possible to remove the bubbles contained in a treatment solution while reducing consumption of the treatment solution.
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