Substrate processing with reduction of pressure and hydration before development

A substrate processing apparatus comprising:

• a chamber isolated from an exposure chamber, wherein a substrate is accommodated in the exposure chamber for an exposure process for a photosensitive film formed on a surface of the substrate;
• a pressure reduction apparatus configured to reduce pressure inside the chamber to a subatmospheric pressure;
• a hydration apparatus configured to subject the photosensitive film to a moisture-containing gas;
• a transfer apparatus configured to transfer the substrate;
• and
• circuitry configured to:
• control the transfer apparatus so as to load the substrate into the chamber after the exposure process for the photosensitive film to the exposure light and before a development process on the photosensitive film;
• control the pressure reduction apparatus so as to reduce the pressure inside the chamber to the subatmospheric pressure after the substrate is loaded into the chamber and before the substrate is unloaded from the chamber;
• and
• control the hydration apparatus so as to subject the photosensitive film to the moisture-containing gas after the pressure inside the chamber is reduced to the subatmospheric pressure and before the development process on the photosensitive film.

A non-transitory memory device having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a processing device, cause the processing device to control a substrate processing apparatus to:

• form a photosensitive film on a surface of a substrate;
• accommodate the substrate with the formed photosensitive film in a first chamber and expose the photosensitive film to exposure light in the first chamber;
• accommodate the substrate with the formed photosensitive film in a second chamber different from the first chamber and perform pressure reduction process to reduce pressure inside the second chamber to a subatmospheric pressure;
• subject, after the pressure reduction process, the photosensitive film to a moisture-containing gas;
• and
• develop the photosensitive film of the substrate after exposing the photosensitive film to the exposure light and subjecting the photosensitive film to the moisture-containing gas.