Substrate processing apparatus and processing method by use of the apparatus

An apparatus of processing a substrate comprising:

• a substrate holding mechanism for holding the substrate substantially horizontally;
• a chemical solution discharge/suction mechanism having a chemical solution discharge/suction portion in which at least two chemical solution outlets for discharging a chemical solution onto the substrate and at least two chemical solution inlets for sucking up the chemical solution present on the substrate are arranged alternately;
• and
• a chemical solution supply/suction system for supplying the chemical solution to said chemical solution discharge/suction mechanism simultaneously with sucking the chemical solution by the chemical solution supply/suction mechanism.

A substrate processing method for processing a surface of a substrate with a chemical solution comprising:

• discharging the chemical solution onto the substrate whose surface to be treated is horizontally held, continuously through a chemical solution outlet of a chemical solution discharge/suction portion;
• and
• simultaneously sucking up the chemical solution on the surface to be treated continuously through two chemical solution inlets arranged to sandwich the chemical solution outlet in said chemical solution discharge/suction portion, while said chemical solution discharge/suction portion is horizontally moved relative to the substrate in a direction along which said two chemical solution inlets and said chemical solution outlet are arranged,
• wherein a fresh chemical solution is always supplied to a gap between the chemical solution discharge/suction portion and the surface to be treated and in the region between said chemical solution outlet and the chemical solution inlets.

A substrate processing method for processing a surface of a substrate with a chemical solution comprising:

• arranging a chemical solution discharge/suction portion having at least two chemical solution outlets for discharging the chemical solution and at least two chemical solution inlets alternately arranged, on the substrate whose surface to be treated is held substantially horizontally;
• discharging the chemical solution continuously onto the substrate to be treated from the chemical solution outlets;
• and
• simultaneously sucking up the chemical solution on the surface to be treated continuously through the chemical solution inlets, while horizontally moving the chemical solution discharge/suction portion relative to the substrate, thereby treating the surface to be treated with the chemical solution,
• wherein a fresh chemical solution is always supplied to a gap between the chemical solution discharge/suction portion and the substrate and in the region between each of the chemical solution outlets and each of the chemical solution inlets.