JP2005223149A - Wiping/cleaning unit, unit and method for inspecting smudge - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem wherein workpiece cleaning is not accomplished with reliability or efficiency because of the untimely replacement of a wiping member for wiping and cleaning the workpiece. <P>SOLUTION: The wiping/cleaning unit has: a cleaning liquid supplying means for supplying a cleaning liquid to the surface of a workpiece 10; a wiping roller 16 for wiping foreign matters from the surface of the workpiece 10 supplied with the cleaning liquid; a wiping roller pressing unit 18 for pressing the wiping roller 16 to the surface of the workpiece 10; a wiping roller driving unit 17 for driving the wiping roller 16, now pressed to the surface of the workpiece 10, to move relative to the surface of the workpiece 10; an inspection reference board 12 having a cleaned surface whereto the wiping roller 16 is pressed by the wiping roller pressing unit 18; a foreign matter detecting means for detecting the amount of foreign matters transferred to the surface of the inspection reference board 12; and a contamination evaluating means for evaluating the degree of contamination of the wiping roller 16 based on the amount of foreign matters detected. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention inspects the degree of contamination of a wiping member used in an apparatus for cleaning foreign matter adhering to the surface of the workpiece and the wiping cleaning device by wiping the surface of the workpiece supplied with the cleaning liquid. The present invention relates to an apparatus and a dirt inspection method.

  In the process of manufacturing a semiconductor wafer, a magnetic disk metal or glass substrate, etc., it is necessary to polish the surface of a plate-shaped workpiece with high accuracy, and therefore, a multi-step polishing operation is performed. In this case, the surface of the workpiece, that is, the polished surface is cleaned every time one polishing operation is completed, and foreign matters such as polishing scraps generated by the polishing operation and abrasive grains used in the polishing operation are surely removed from the surface of the workpiece. Must be removed.

  When cleaning the surface of such a workpiece, so-called scrub cleaning is known in which the surface of the workpiece is wiped by a wiping member while supplying a cleaning liquid to the surface of the workpiece. The wiping members used in these scrub cleaning are formed of an elastically deformable porous body, such as foamed resin, and the wiping members are pressed against the surface of the workpiece to which the cleaning liquid is supplied. The polishing scraps and abrasive grains adhering to the surface of the workpiece are wiped off by the wiping member. In other words, polishing waste and abrasive grains adhere to and accumulate on the wiping member along with the cleaning operation on the workpiece, and the wiping effect is reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to clean the wiping member as necessary.

  When cleaning dirt on a wiping member used for scrub cleaning or the like, the wiping member is immersed in a cleaning solution as described in Patent Document 1, or as described in Patent Document 2 or Patent Document 3. This wiping is performed together with the cleaning liquid absorbed and retained by the wiping member by immersing and rotating the wiping member in the cleaning liquid to which the sonic vibration is applied, or by applying compressive deformation to the wiping member as described in Patent Document 4. It has been proposed to pour off abrasive scraps and abrasive grains adhering to a member. However, in any method, it is difficult to avoid an increase in dirt on the wiping member over time, and it is desired to replace the wiping member with a new one at an appropriate stage.

  In this case, regular replacement according to the frequency of use of the wiping member is common, but after cleaning the wiping member itself, the wiping member is inspected for dirt and replaced with a new wiping member according to the degree of dirt. The technique made to do is proposed in Patent Document 5. In this patent document 5, inspection light is passed across the tip of the cleaning brush, which is a wiping member, and the deformation state of the tip of the cleaning brush and the change in the amount of foreign matter are estimated based on the change in the amount of transmitted light. ing.

  In addition, Patent Document 6 discloses a technique for irradiating the surface of a workpiece after cleaning with inspection light and measuring the amount of reflected light to grasp the cleaning state of the workpiece and feedback-control the cleaning conditions for the workpiece. Yes.

Japanese Patent No. 3114156 Japanese Patent No. 2617535 Japanese Patent No. 2702473 Japanese Patent No. 3447869 JP-A-5-326474 JP 2001-195731 A

  Even if the wiping member is washed by the methods disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 4, the wiping member cannot be completely removed, so that it is necessary to replace the wiping member with a new wiping member depending on the degree of the wiping.

  In this case, even if the wiping member is replaced based on the number of times of use of the wiping member that has been subjected to the cleaning process on the workpiece, the degree of contamination of the wiping member can be determined only by the number of times the wiping member is used for cleaning the workpiece. is not. For example, the wiping ability of the wiping member may decrease before the preset number of uses is reached, and conversely, even if the preset number of uses is exceeded, the wiping member still retains sufficient wiping ability. There may be. For this reason, when the wiping capability of the wiping member is reduced before reaching the preset number of times of use, the poor cleaning of the workpiece after cleaning increases, resulting in a decrease in yield. On the other hand, if the wiping ability of the wiping member is still sufficiently maintained even though the preset number of times of use has been reached, the wiping member is wasted and the operating rate is lowered.

  In the inspection method disclosed in Patent Document 5, when the eyes of the cleaning brush are fine, when the inspection light passes through the tip of the cleaning brush, a large amount of absorption or scattering occurs. It is difficult to properly judge the surface and internal dirt condition of On the contrary, when the eyes of the cleaning brush are rough, there is a problem that the wiping efficiency of the cleaning brush itself is lowered.

  In the inspection method disclosed in Patent Document 6, since the cleanliness of the workpiece after cleaning is inspected, it is fundamental to estimate the degree of contamination of the wiping member unless a factor related to the cleanliness of the workpiece is specified. Impossible.

  The first aspect of the present invention is a cleaning liquid supply means for supplying a cleaning liquid to the surface of the work, a wiping member for wiping foreign matter adhering to the surface of the work supplied with the cleaning liquid by the cleaning liquid supply means, A wiping and cleaning apparatus comprising: a pressing unit that presses the wiping member against the surface of the workpiece; and a wiping operation unit that drives at least one of the wiping member and the workpiece to relatively move the wiping member along the surface of the workpiece. An inspection reference plate that has a cleaned surface and the wiping member is pressed against the surface using the pressing means, and is transferred to the surface of the inspection reference plate by pressing the wiping member. Foreign matter detection means for detecting the amount of foreign matter that has been detected, and estimation of the degree of contamination of the wiping member based on the amount of foreign matter detected by the foreign matter detection means In wiping cleaning apparatus characterized in that comprises the stages.

  In the present invention, the wiping member is pressed by the pressing means against the surface of the workpiece to which the cleaning liquid is supplied by the cleaning liquid supply means, and in this state, at least one of the wiping member and the work is driven by the wiping operation means, and the wiping is performed. The member is relatively moved along the surface of the workpiece, and the foreign matter adhering to the surface of the workpiece is wiped by the wiping member. The wiping member that has become dirty with such a wiping operation is pressed against the surface of the inspection reference plate by the pressing means, whereby a part of the foreign matter adhering to the wiping member is applied to the cleaned surface of the inspection reference plate. Transfer. The amount of foreign matter on the surface of the inspection reference plate transferred in this way is detected by the foreign matter detecting means, and based on the amount of foreign matter, the dirt condition estimating means estimates the dirt condition of the wiping member, and the dirt condition of the wiping member is determined. However, the wiping member is replaced when it reaches the point where it interferes with the wiping and cleaning work on the surface of the workpiece.

  In the wiping / cleaning apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the work may have a disk shape, and the wiping operation means may drive and rotate the wiping member, thereby rotating the work.

  In the second embodiment of the present invention, the dirt on the wiping member that is pressed against the surface of the workpiece to which the cleaning liquid is supplied and moves relative to the surface of the workpiece to wipe off foreign matter adhering to the surface of the workpiece. An apparatus for inspecting the condition, an inspection reference plate having a cleaned surface, a pressing means for pressing the wiping member against the surface of the inspection reference plate, and a surface of the inspection reference plate by the pressing means Foreign matter detecting means for detecting the amount of transferred foreign matter, and dirty condition estimating means for estimating the degree of dirt on the wiping member based on the amount of foreign matter detected by the foreign matter detecting means. Is.

  In the present invention, the wiping member soiled by the wiping operation is pressed against the surface of the inspection reference plate by the pressing means, whereby a part of the foreign matter adhering to the wiping member is brought to the cleaned surface of the inspection reference plate. Transfer. The amount of foreign matter on the surface of the inspection reference plate transferred in this way is detected by the foreign matter detection means, and the dirt condition estimation means estimates the dirt condition of the wiping member based on the amount of foreign matter.

  In the first or second aspect of the present invention, the foreign matter detecting means includes means for irradiating the surface of the inspection standard plate with reference light and means for receiving the reflected light of the reference light on the surface of the inspection standard plate. Then, the dirt condition estimation means may estimate the amount of foreign matter in association with the amount of reflected light detected by the means for receiving the reflected light.

  In the third embodiment of the present invention, the wiping member is pressed against the surface of the workpiece to which the cleaning liquid is supplied and moves relative to the surface of the workpiece to wipe off foreign matter adhering to the surface of the workpiece. A method for inspecting the condition, wherein the wiping member is pressed against the cleaned surface of the inspection reference plate, and the amount of foreign matter transferred to the surface of the inspection reference plate is detected by pressing the wiping member. And a step of estimating the degree of contamination of the wiping member based on the amount of detected foreign matter.

  In the present invention, the wiping member soiled by the wiping operation is pressed against the surface of the inspection reference plate to transfer a part of the foreign matter adhering to the wiping member to the cleaned surface of the inspection reference plate. By detecting the amount of foreign matter on the surface of the inspection reference plate thus transferred, the degree of contamination of the wiping member is estimated.

  In the dirt inspection method according to the third aspect of the present invention, the amount of foreign matter can be related to the reflectance of light on the surface of the inspection reference plate.

  In the first to third embodiments of the present invention, the inspection reference plate preferably has a surface shape corresponding to the workpiece. The wiping member may be a porous body that can be elastically deformed by being pressed against the surface of the work, for example, a foamed resin roller or disk, or a brush.

  When transferring a part of the foreign matter adhering to the wiping member to the surface of the cleaned inspection reference plate, do not simply press the wiping member against the surface of the inspection reference plate, It is also effective to move, for example, rotate the wiping member at the same position on the surface of the inspection reference plate so that the entire wiping surface of the wiping member is rubbed against the surface of the inspection reference plate.

  According to the wiping and cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the inspection reference plate pressed against the cleaned surface using the pressing means, and the foreign matter transferred to the surface of the inspection reference plate by pressing the wiping member Since there is a foreign matter detection means for detecting the amount of dirt and a dirt condition estimation means for estimating the degree of dirt on the wiping member based on the amount of foreign matter detected by the foreign matter detection means, the degree of dirt on the wiping member is an inspection standard. By estimating based on the amount of foreign matter transferred to the plate, it is possible to accurately grasp the appropriate replacement time of the wiping member. As a result, there is no need for cleaning failure due to a decrease in the wiping capability of the wiping member and unnecessary replacement of the wiping member, and the workpiece can be efficiently cleaned with high reliability.

  According to the dirt inspection apparatus of the present invention, the inspection reference plate having a cleaned surface, the pressing means for pressing the wiping member against the surface of the inspection reference plate, and the pressing means are transferred to the surface of the inspection reference plate. Since there is a foreign matter detection means for detecting the amount of foreign matter detected and a dirt condition estimation means for estimating the degree of dirt on the wiping member based on the amount of foreign matter detected by the foreign matter detection means, Is estimated based on the amount of foreign matter transferred to the inspection reference plate, it is possible to accurately grasp the appropriate replacement time of the wiping member. As a result, there is no need for cleaning failure due to a decrease in the wiping capability of the wiping member and unnecessary replacement of the wiping member, and the workpiece can be efficiently cleaned with high reliability.

  According to the dirt inspection method of the present invention, the wiping member is pressed against the surface of the cleaned inspection reference plate, thereby detecting the amount of foreign matter transferred to the surface of the inspection reference plate, and based on the amount of foreign matter. Since the degree of contamination of the wiping member is estimated, it is possible to accurately grasp the appropriate replacement time of the wiping member. For this reason, there is no waste due to poor cleaning due to a decrease in the wiping ability of the wiping member and unnecessary replacement of the wiping member, and highly reliable cleaning can be performed on the workpiece efficiently.

  Embodiments in which the present invention is applied to scrub cleaning of an annular magnetic disk substrate will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, but the present invention is not limited to such embodiments, and claims are made. Any change or modification included in the concept of the present invention described in the scope of the present invention can be made, and can naturally be applied to any other technique belonging to the spirit of the present invention.

  The concept of the wiping and cleaning apparatus according to this embodiment is shown in FIG. 1, and its control block is shown in FIG. That is, the wiping and cleaning apparatus in the present embodiment corresponds to the workpiece 10 and the workpiece supply stage S1 in which the stocker 11 for accommodating the magnetic disk substrate to be scrubbed, that is, the annular workpiece 10 in an aligned state, is arranged. The inspection reference plate accommodation stage S2 in which the stocker 13 that accommodates the inspection reference plate 12 having a shape and the surface previously cleaned to a predetermined cleanliness in an aligned state and the workpiece supply stage S1 are accommodated. A workpiece recovery stage in which workpieces 10 to be cleaned are carried one by one and cleaned, and a stocker 14 in which the workpieces 10 that have been cleaned in the cleaning stage S3 are stored in an aligned state is arranged. It comprises a stage S4 and an inspection stage S5 for inspecting the condition of the surface of the inspection reference plate 12, and further a cleaning stage S3 There is also a workpiece drying stage (not shown) for drying the cleaning liquid adhering to the workpiece before carrying the cleaned workpiece 10 that has been cleaned in the cleaning stage S3 into the workpiece recovery stage S4 between the workpiece recovery stage S4 and the workpiece recovery stage S4. It has.

  In the cleaning stage S3, a workpiece gripping device 15 for gripping the outer peripheral surface of the workpiece 10 carried in from the workpiece supply stage S1, and both the front and back surfaces of the workpiece 10 gripped by the workpiece gripping device 15 are wiped simultaneously. A pair of wiping rollers 16, a wiping roller driving device 17 that drives and rotates the pair of wiping rollers 16 about their axes, and an outer peripheral surface of the pair of wiping rollers 16 supported by the wiping roller driving device 17 are arranged on the workpiece 10. A wiping roller pressing device 18 that simultaneously presses both the front and back surfaces of the workpiece 10 with the pair of wiping rollers 16, and a detergent supply for supplying detergent to the contact portion between the front and back surfaces of the workpiece 10 and the wiping roller 16. A detergent supply device 20 having a nozzle 19 and a pure water supply nozzle for spraying pure water over both front and back surfaces of the workpiece 10 A pure water supply device 22 is incorporated with 21.

  The workpiece gripping device 15 in the present embodiment has a set of three chucking rollers 23 whose rotation axes are parallel to each other, and a gripping position at which these rotation axes abut against and grip the outer peripheral surface of the workpiece 10. When the work 10 is carried in and out, it can be moved between the retreat position where the work 10 is retreated. Each chucking roller 23 is rotatable so that the workpiece 10 is rotated by the frictional force generated by the driving rotation of the wiping roller 16, and the axis of the workpiece 10 is parallel to the rotation axis of the chucking roller 23. As described above, the workpiece 10 is gripped by the chucking roller 23.

  The wiping roller 16 is formed of a porous resin whose outer peripheral surface is elastically deformable, and the length dimension along the rotation axis is set to be equal to or larger than the front and back surfaces of the workpiece 10, that is, the radial length of the wiping surface. Yes. Further, the rotation axis of the wiping roller 16 is set parallel to both the front and back surfaces of the workpiece 10 so as to extend in the radial direction of the workpiece 10 gripped by the workpiece gripping device 15. Of course, it is also possible to adopt a brush that is driven and rotated instead of the wiping roller 16 as in this embodiment, and it is also possible to wipe the front and back surfaces of the workpiece 10 by setting the rotation axis thereof in parallel with the axis of the workpiece 10. Is possible.

  In this embodiment, detergent and pure water are separately supplied from the detergent supply nozzle 19 and the pure water supply nozzle 21 as cleaning liquids, but these are mixed together and supplied to both the front and back surfaces of the workpiece 10. It may be.

  The inspection stage S5 is provided with a dirt condition inspection device 24 as described in, for example, Patent Document 6, and in this embodiment, the inspection reference plate 12 is carried from the inspection reference plate housing stage S2 via the cleaning stage S3. And a reference light irradiation device 26 for irradiating light for inspection, that is, reference light L, on both the front and back surfaces of the inspection reference plate 12 gripped by the inspection plate gripping device 25. And a light receiving sensor 27 that functions as foreign matter detection means in the present invention and receives the reflected light R of the reference light L from both the front and back surfaces of the inspection reference plate 12, and an inspection reference plate based on an output signal from the light receiving sensor 27. And 12 dirt condition estimating means 28 for estimating the degree of dirt on both the front and back surfaces.

  The inspection plate gripping device 25 in this embodiment has a set of three chucking rollers 29, and like the above-described workpiece gripping device 15, these rotation axes are in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the inspection reference plate 12. Can be moved between a gripping position for gripping the inspection reference plate 12 and a retreating position for retracting the inspection reference plate 12 when the inspection reference plate 12 is carried in and out. The individual chucking rollers 29 in the inspection plate gripping device 25 are also rotatable, and the inspection reference plate 12 is chucked so that the axis of the inspection reference plate 12 is parallel to the rotation axis of the chucking rollers 29. It is gripped by the roller 29. Further, one chucking roller 29 is connected to a drive motor (not shown) so that the inspection reference plate 12 can be driven and rotated.

  The reference light irradiation device 26 irradiates the film-like reference light L over the entire radial direction of the inspection standard plate 12, and the light receiving sensor 27 also has a light receiving surface corresponding to the inspection standard plate 12. A so-called line sensor extending along the radial direction is employed. In the present embodiment, two sets of these are provided so that the contamination condition on both the front and back surfaces of the inspection reference plate 12 can be inspected at the same time, but only one of the front and back surfaces of the inspection reference plate 12 is inspected. In this case, after inspecting one surface of the inspection reference plate 12, the inspection reference plate 12 may be reversed and the other surface may be inspected. In this case, since only one set of the reference light irradiation device 26 and the light receiving sensor 27 is required, the cost for that can be halved.

  The workpiece 10 and the inspection reference plate 12 are transferred one by one between the above-described stages by the handling device 31 having a chuck mechanism that fits into the hole 30 formed in the center portion thereof. Yes. The control of the operation of the handling device 31 and the operations of the workpiece gripping device 15, the wiping roller driving device 17, the wiping roller pressing device 18, the detergent supply device 20, the pure water supply device 22, the dirt condition inspection device 24, etc. All are controlled in association with each other by the control device 32.

  When cleaning the workpiece 10, first, the workpiece 10 is carried into the cleaning stage S 3 from the workpiece supply stage S 1 using the handling device 31 and is gripped by the workpiece gripping device 15. In this state, the wiping roller driving device 17 is operated, the wiping roller pressing device 18 is operated while rotating the pair of wiping rollers 16, and the pair of wiping rollers 16 are pressed against both the front and back surfaces of the workpiece 10. At the same time, the detergent supply device 20 and the pure water supply device 22 are operated to supply the detergent to the contact portion between the wiping roller 16 and the workpiece 10 and to spray pure water over both the front and back surfaces of the workpiece 10. Thereby, the surface of the workpiece 10 can be wiped and cleaned by the wiping roller 16 while the workpiece 10 is rotated. After a predetermined time has elapsed, the operation of the detergent supply device 20 is stopped to stop the supply of the detergent, and the wiping roller pressing device 18 is operated in reverse to retract the wiping roller 16 from the work 10 and the wiping roller driving device 17 is operated. Is finally stopped, the operation of the pure water supply device 22 is stopped, the spraying of pure water is stopped, and the cleaning operation is finished. The workpiece 10 that has finished the cleaning operation is carried into the workpiece cleaning stage from the cleaning stage S3 using the handling device 31, and here, for example, the net that adheres to the workpiece using centrifugal force by rotating the workpiece at high speed. After the water has been blown off and dried, it is transported to the workpiece collection stage S4, where it waits for the next work to be performed.

  Since the surface of the wiping roller 16 is gradually soiled by repeatedly cleaning the workpiece 10, the wiping roller 16 must be periodically inspected for dirt and replaced with a new wiping roller 16 as necessary. When inspecting the soiling condition of the wiping roller 16, the inspection reference plate 12 is carried into the cleaning stage S3 from the inspection reference plate housing stage S2 and is gripped by the work gripping device 15. In this state, the wiping roller pressing device 18 is operated to press the pair of wiping rollers 16 against both the front and back surfaces of the inspection reference plate 12. As a result, when the surface of the wiping roller 16 is dirty, some of the foreign matter adhering to the surface of the wiping roller 16 adheres to both the front and back surfaces of the inspection reference plate 12.

  As a matter of course, when the inspection reference plate 12 is used to inspect the dirt on the wiping roller 16, the cleaning operation of the inspection reference plate 12 carried into the cleaning stage S3 is not performed.

  In this way, the inspection reference plate 12 against which the wiping roller 16 is pressed is transferred to the inspection stage S5 by using the handling device 31, where it adheres to the state of contamination of the inspection reference plate 12, that is, both the front and back surfaces of the inspection reference plate 12. Inspect for foreign objects. Since the reflectance with respect to the reference light L varies depending on whether foreign matter is attached to both the front and back surfaces of the inspection standard plate 12 or not, the film-like reference light L is applied to both the front and back surfaces of the inspection standard plate 12. By detecting the change in the reflected light R incident on the light receiving sensor 27 by rotating the inspection reference plate 12 while irradiating, the dirt condition estimating means 28 can detect the change of the wiping roller 16 when the change amount exceeds a predetermined value. It can be determined that the degree of contamination is progressing. In such a case, if necessary, an inspection result of the wiping roller 16 is displayed on a display device (not shown), or the operator is prompted to replace the wiping roller 16 with a warning sound or a warning light. it can.

  In the embodiment described above, only one cleaning stage S3 is set. However, two or more cleaning stages S3 are provided in series to perform stepwise cleaning of a plurality of workpieces 10 and inspection of the contamination condition of the inspection reference plate 12. Can be performed in parallel. It is also possible to inspect the cleanliness of the surface of the workpiece 10 after drying at the inspection stage S5. The workpiece 10 after washing and drying is carried into the inspection stage S5, and the wiped surface has a predetermined cleanliness. If it is determined whether or not the predetermined cleanliness level has not been reached, it is naturally possible to return the workpiece 10 to the cleaning stage S3 and perform the cleaning process again.

  Furthermore, as the handling device 31, a well-known device that has been conventionally used can be appropriately adopted according to the shape of the workpiece, and similarly, the workpiece gripping device 15 and the inspection plate gripping device 25 are implemented as described above. Naturally, the chuck 10 and the inspection reference plate 12 are not clamped by the chucking rollers 23 and 29 as in the configuration, but a structure having a chuck mechanism that fits into the holes 30 can be adopted. It is.

It is a conceptual diagram of one embodiment in which the present invention is applied to scrub cleaning of a magnetic disk substrate. FIG. 2 is an overall control block diagram in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. It is a block diagram of the dirt condition inspection apparatus in the embodiment shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Work 11 Stocker 12 Inspection reference plate 13 Stocker 14 Stocker 15 Work gripping device 16 Wiping roller 17 Wiping roller driving device 18 Wiping roller pressing device 19 Detergent supply nozzle 20 Detergent supply device 21 Pure water supply nozzle 22 Pure water supply device 23 Chucking Roller 24 Dirt condition inspection device 25 Inspection plate gripping device 26 Reference light irradiation device 27 Light receiving sensor 28 Dirt condition estimation means 29 Chucking roller 30 Hole 31 Handling device 32 Control device S1 Work supply stage S2 Inspection reference plate accommodation stage S3 Cleaning stage S4 Work collection stage S5 Inspection stage L Reference light R Reflected light

Claims (3)

Cleaning liquid supply means for supplying a cleaning liquid to the surface of the workpiece;
A wiping member for wiping foreign matter adhering to the surface of the workpiece supplied with the cleaning liquid by the cleaning liquid supply means;
A pressing means for pressing the wiping member against the surface of the workpiece;
A wiping and cleaning device having wiping operation means for driving at least one of the wiping member and the workpiece to relatively move the wiping member along the surface of the workpiece,
An inspection reference plate having a cleaned surface and the wiping member pressed against the surface using the pressing means;
Foreign matter detection means for detecting the amount of foreign matter transferred to the surface of the inspection reference plate by pressing the wiping member;
A wiping and cleaning apparatus, comprising: a dirt condition estimating means for estimating a dirt condition of the wiping member based on the amount of foreign substances detected by the foreign substance detecting means. A device for inspecting the degree of contamination of a wiping member that is pressed against the surface of a workpiece to which a cleaning liquid is supplied and moves relative to the surface of the workpiece to wipe off foreign matter adhering to the surface of the workpiece,
An inspection reference plate with a cleaned surface;
A pressing means for pressing the wiping member against the surface of the inspection reference plate;
Foreign matter detection means for detecting the amount of foreign matter transferred to the surface of the inspection reference plate by the pressing means;
A dirt inspection apparatus comprising: a dirt condition estimating means for estimating the dirt condition of the wiping member based on the amount of foreign substances detected by the foreign substance detecting means. The cleaning liquid is pressed against the surface of the workpiece to be supplied, and is a method of inspecting the degree of contamination of the wiping member for wiping away foreign matters adhering to the surface of the workpiece by moving relative to the surface of the workpiece,
Pressing the wiping member against the cleaned surface of the inspection reference plate;
Detecting the amount of foreign matter transferred to the surface of the inspection reference plate by pressing a wiping member;
And a step of estimating the degree of contamination of the wiping member based on the amount of foreign matter detected.

Images