Subtrate processing apparatus and device for and method of exchanging substrate in substrate processing apparatus

A substrate processing apparatus for transferring and processing substrates having plate configurations, said apparatus comprising:

• processing means including a plurality of processing units for processing each of said substrates serially one by one, each of said processing units processing said substrates in a selected one of a plurality of different manners, each of said processing units including a holding component for holding each of said substrates horizontally while said substrate is processed in said processing unit, said processing units being arranged in upper and lower processing rows, each processing row comprises selected ones of said plurality of said processing units arranged in a predetermined horizontal direction, said upper processing row being arranged above and in parallel with said lower processing row;
• and
• transferring means, arranged along both said upper and lower processing rows, for transporting each of said substrates, one by one in a predetermined order, while simultaneously supporting each of said substrates horizontally, to each of said processing units, said transferring means also receiving each of said substrates from said holding component of each of said plurality of processing units and transferring said substrate to said holding component of another one of said processing units.