Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

A substrate processing apparatus comprising:

• a substrate holding mechanism which generally horizontally holds a substrate and rotates the substrate about a generally vertical rotation axis;
• a process liquid supplying mechanism for supplying a process liquid to the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism;
• a first guide portion provided around the substrate holding mechanism and having an upper edge portion extending toward the rotation axis for guiding the process liquid scattered from the substrate rotated by the substrate holding mechanism to cause the process liquid to flow down;
• a second guide portion provided around the substrate holding mechanism outside the first guide portion and having an upper edge portion extending toward the rotation axis as vertically overlapping with the upper edge portion of the first guide portion for guiding the process liquid scattered from the substrate rotated by the substrate holding mechanism to cause the process liquid to flow down;
• a driving mechanism for moving up and down the first guide portion and the second guide portion independently of each other;
• and
• vertical movement controlling means which controls the driving mechanism to move up and down the first guide portion and the second guide portion in synchronization.

A substrate processing method for processing a substrate in a substrate processing apparatus including a substrate holding mechanism which generally horizontally holds the substrate and rotates the substrate about a generally vertical rotation axis, and a first guide portion, a second guide portion and a third guide portion provided around the substrate holding mechanism in an independently vertically movable manner for guiding a process liquid scattered from the substrate rotated by the substrate holding mechanism to cause the process liquid to flow down and respectively having upper edge portions extending toward the rotation axis as vertically overlapping with each other, the method comprising the steps of:

• rotating the substrate by the substrate holding mechanism;
• supplying the process liquid to the substrate in the substrate rotating step;
• and
• simultaneously moving up the first guide portion and the second guide portion in the process liquid supplying step to shift a process liquid guiding state from a state in which the process liquid scattered from the substrate rotated by the substrate holding mechanism is guided by the third guide portion to a state in which the process liquid is guided by the first guide portion.

A substrate processing method for processing a substrate in a substrate processing apparatus including a substrate holding mechanism which generally horizontally holds the substrate and rotates the substrate about a generally vertical rotation axis, and a first guide portion, a second guide portion and a third guide portion provided around the substrate holding mechanism in an independently vertically movable manner for guiding a process liquid scattered from the substrate rotated by the substrate holding mechanism to cause the process liquid to flow down and respectively having upper edge portions extending toward the rotation axis as vertically overlapping with each other, the method comprising the steps of:

• rotating the substrate by the substrate holding mechanism;
• supplying the process liquid to the substrate in the substrate rotating step;
• simultaneously moving up the first guide portion and the second guide portion in the process liquid supplying step to shift a process liquid guiding state from a state in which the process liquid scattered from the substrate rotated by the substrate holding mechanism is guided by the third guide portion to a state in which the process liquid is guided by the first guide portion;
• and
• simultaneously moving down the first guide portion, the second guide portion and the third guide portion in the process liquid supplying step to shift the process liquid guiding state from the state in which the process liquid scattered from the substrate rotated by the substrate holding mechanism is guided by the first guide portion to a state in which the process liquid flows over the first guide portion, the second guide portion and the third guide portion to be drained to the outside.

A substrate processing apparatus comprising:

• a substrate holding mechanism which generally horizontally holds and rotates a substrate;
• a process liquid supplying mechanism for selectively supplying a first process liquid and a second process liquid to the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism;
• a first guide portion provided around the substrate holding mechanism for guiding the first process liquid scattered from the substrate rotated by the substrate holding mechanism to cause the first process liquid to flow down;
• a second guide portion provided around the substrate holding mechanism for guiding the second process liquid scattered from the substrate rotated by the substrate holding mechanism to cause the second process liquid to flow down;
• a drain channel for draining the first process liquid guided by the first guide portion;
• a recovery channel for recovering the second process liquid guided by the second guide portion;
• and
• an evacuation mechanism for forcibly evacuating the drain channel, wherein
• the drain channel and the recovery channel are atmospherically isolated from each other and the recovery channel is not forcibly evacuated.