Substrate processing system, coating/developing apparatus, and substrate processing apparatus

A coating and developing apparatus for a substrate processing unit that coats a resist solution on substrates and performs a developing process for substrates that have been exposed by an aligner, the apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of processing units that perform a sequence of processes to form a resist film on the substrates;
• a plurality of processing units that successively perform a sequence of processes to perform a developing process for substrates that have been exposed;
• an interface portion disposed between a region of the group of the processing units that forms the resist film and the group of the processing units that performs the developing process and the aligner;
• a first transferring portion that transfers substrates on which the resist film has been formed to the interface portion;
• n number of heating units that perform a heating process for exposed substrates and that also function as second transferring portions where n is any integer that is 2 or larger;
• a carrier mounting portion that holds a carrier containing a plurality of substrates;
• first transferring means for successively and individually receiving substrates from a carrier held on the carrier mounting portion, transferring the substrates to the processing units that form the resist film on the substrates to a first transferring portion, receiving exposed substrates exposed by the aligner from the heating units, transferring the exposed substrates to the processing units that perform the developing process for the exposed substrates and the carrier held on the carrier mounting portion, and successively executing transportation cycles to transfer substrates from modules that are positions at which substrates are placed to downstream modules so as to take out substrate from the transfer processing units and transfer the substrates to the processing units;
• second transferring means, disposed in the interface portion, for successively and individually receiving substrates from the first transferring portion, transferring the substrates to the aligner, and transferring substrates exposed by the aligner to the heating units;
• and
• a controlling portion that controls the first transferring means to successively and individually unload substrates from the heating units after (n−m) cycles including the current transportation cycle have elapsed where m is any integer that is 1 or larger and smaller than n.

A substrate processing apparatus that is capable of transferring a plurality of substrates with an aligner and performing a predetermined process for the substrates, the apparatus comprising:

• a first processing unit that performs a first process for substrates;
• a second processing unit that performs a second process for substrates exposed by the aligner, the second process being different from the first process;
• a plurality of third processing units that perform a third process for substrates, the third process being different from the first process and the second process;
• a first transferring mechanism that transfers substrates among the first processing unit, the second processing unit, and the plurality of third processing units;
• a second transferring mechanism that transfers substrates among the aligner and the third processing units;
• and
• a controlling portion that independently controls the first transferring mechanism and the second transferring mechanism to transfer substrates,
• wherein the controlling portion controls the first transferring mechanism to unload substrates from the third processing units before the sum of the number of substrates loaded into the third processing units, the number of substrates currently being transferred by one of the first processing unit, the aligner, and the third processing units, and the number of substrates processed by the first processing unit and the aligner becomes equal to the number of the third processing units.

A substrate processing apparatus that is capable of transferring a plurality of substrates with an aligner and performing a predetermined process for the substrates, the apparatus comprising:

• a first processing unit that performs a first process for substrates;
• a second processing unit that performs a second process for substrates exposed by the aligner, the second process being different from the first process;
• a plurality of third processing units that perform a third process for substrates, the third process being different from the first process and the second process;
• a first transferring mechanism that transfers substrates among the first processing unit, the second processing unit, and the plurality of third processing units;
• a second transferring mechanism that transfers substrates among the aligner and the third processing units;
• and
• a controlling portion that independently controls the first transferring mechanism and the second transferring mechanism to transfer substrates,
• wherein the second transferring mechanism has:
• a main transferring mechanism capable of transferring substrates to the third processing units;
• and
• a sub transferring mechanism capable of receiving substrates exposed by the aligner, and
• wherein the controlling portion independently controls the main transferring mechanism and the sub transferring mechanism to transfer the substrates.

A substrate processing apparatus that is capable of transferring a plurality of substrates with an aligner and performing a predetermined process for the substrates, the apparatus comprising:

• a first processing unit that performs a first process for substrates;
• a second processing unit that performs a second process for substrates exposed by the aligner, the second process being different from the first process;
• a plurality of third processing units that perform a third process for substrates, the third process being different from the first process and the second process;
• a first transferring mechanism that transfers substrates among the first processing unit, the second processing unit, and the plurality of third processing units;
• a second transferring mechanism that transfers substrates among the aligner and the third processing units;
• a controlling portion that independently controls the first transferring mechanism and the second transferring mechanism to transfer substrates;
• and
• means for controlling wait times after the aligner exposes substrates until the third processing units start performing the third process for the substrates to keep them uniform.

A substrate processing apparatus that is capable of transferring a plurality of substrates with an aligner and performing a predetermined process for the substrates, the apparatus comprising:

• a first processing unit that performs a first process for substrates;
• a second processing unit that performs a second process for substrates exposed by the aligner, the second process being different from the first process;
• a plurality of third processing units that perform a third process for substrates, the third process being different from the first process and the second process;
• a first transferring mechanism that transfers substrates among the first processing unit, the second processing unit, and the plurality of third processing units;
• a second transferring mechanism that transfers substrates among the aligner and the third processing units;
• a controlling portion that independently controls the first transferring mechanism and the second transferring mechanism to transfer substrates;
• and
• a buffering unit that is disposed between the aligner and the third processing units and that buffers substrates to keep times after the aligner exposes substrates until the third processing units start performing the third process for the substrates to be uniform.