Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

A substrate processing method, comprising:

• carrying a substrate into a processing container;
• performing a pressure increase within the processing container with a processing fluid from a supercritical fluid producing apparatus including a pump configured to send out the processing fluid;
• performing a circulation of the processing fluid by supplying the processing fluid to the processing container from the supercritical fluid producing apparatus and discharging the processing fluid from the processing container while maintaining a pressure at which the processing fluid within the processing container is kept in a supercritical state;
• and
• discharging the processing fluid from the processing container to set a pressure within the processing container to be lower than at least a critical pressure of the processing fluid,
• wherein, in the performing of the pressure increase,
• using a controller to determine a first supply rate at which the processing fluid is supplied to the processing container based on a target time during which the pressure increase is performed, an amount of the processing fluid required for the pressure increase and a density of the processing fluid, and
• the supercritical fluid producing apparatus supplies the processing fluid to the processing container based on the first supply rate.