Substrate treating apparatus

A substrate treating apparatus for performing a series of chemical treatments and heat treatments on substrates, comprising:

• an indexer block including a cassette table for receiving a plurality of cassettes each for containing a plurality of substrates in multiple stages, and an indexer's transport mechanism for successively fetching substrates to be treated from each cassette, and successively depositing treated substrates in each cassette;
• an antireflection film forming block disposed adjacent said indexer block, and including antireflection film coating modules for coating antireflection film on surfaces of substrates, antireflection film heat-treating modules for heat-treating the substrates in relation to antireflection film coating, and a first main transport mechanism for transferring the substrates to and from said antireflection film coating modules and said antireflection film heat-treating modules;
• a resist film forming block disposed adjacent said antireflection film forming block, and including resist film coating modules for coating photoresist film on the substrates having the antireflection film formed thereon, resist film heat-treating modules for heat-treating the substrates in relation to photoresist film coating, and a second main transport mechanism for transferring the substrates to and from said resist film coating modules and said resist film heat-treating modules;
• a developing block disposed adjacent said resist film forming block, and including developing modules for developing the substrates having the photoresist film formed thereon and exposed, heat-treating modules for development for heat-treating the substrates in relation to development, and a third main transport mechanism for transferring the substrates to and from said developing modules and said heat-treating modules for development;
• and
• an interface block disposed adjacent said developing block and including an interface's transport mechanism for transferring the substrates to and from an exposing apparatus provided separately from and externally of the substrate treating apparatus.

A substrate treating apparatus comprising a plurality of controlled units arranged in juxtaposition, each including treating modules for performing required treatment of substrates, and a single main transport mechanism for transporting to and from said treating modules, wherein:

• the main transport mechanisms of said controlled units transfer the substrates to each other through a substrate rest provided for receiving the substrates to be transferred;
• each of said controlled units has control means for controlling at least a substrate transfer operation of the main transport mechanism of each said controlled unit;
• and
• said control means of each said controlled unit is independently operable to control a series of substrate transport steps including transfer of the substrates to and from said treating modules and transfer of the substrates to and from said substrate rest.