Substrate processing apparatus and method

A substrate processing apparatus for processing precedent substrates and subsequent substrates which are subjected to different processing, respectively, said substrate processing apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of processing parts for processing said precedent and subsequent substrates;
• transport means for circulating among said processing parts while holding said precedent and subsequent substrates, said transport means being capable of stopping at each of said plurality of processing parts to exchange processed and unprocessed substrates, and capable of carrying only a single substrate from one of said plurality of processing parts to another, and incapable of stopping more than once at the same one of said plurality of processing parts within one circulation, wherein each of said plurality of processing parts which receives a substrate in one circulation executes processing until a next circulation;
• and
• transporting control means for controlling transporting of said precedent and subsequent substrates among said processing parts in different orders by said transport means to process said precedent and subsequent substrates by different processing, respectively, said transporting control means including
• computation means for calculating a minimum wait cycle which corresponds to a number of circulating transportation of substrates during a time from first circulating of a substrate to be processed last within said precedent substrates to first circulating of a substrate to be processed first within said subsequent substrates under the condition that interference between said precedent and subsequent substrates is prohibited;
• and
• control means for delaying the start of circulating transportation of said substrate to be processed first within said subsequent substrates after starting of transportation of said substrate to be processed last within said precedent substrates and after passing the minimum wait cycle.

A method of processing first and second substrates, comprising the steps of:

• preparing a plurality of processing parts each of which processes at least one of said first and second substrates;
• transporting said first substrate among said processing parts in a first order and processing said first substrate by said processing part which receives said first substrate, thereby to process said first substrate by first processing;
• and
• transporting said second substrate among said processing parts in a second order add processing said second substrate by said processing part which receives said second substrate, thereby to process said second substrate by second processing, transportation of said second substrate being started after starting of transportation of said first substrate before completion of the first processing under a condition that interference between the first and second processing is prohibited, said second order being different from said first order, wherein each of said step of transporting said first substrate and said step of transporting said second substrate is carried out by circulating among said plurality of processing parts a transporter holding only a single substrate at a time, and by stopping at most once at each of said plurality of processing parts to exchange processed and unprocessed substrates within one circulation, and
• each of said plurality of processing parts which receives a substrate in one circulation executes processing until a next circulation.