Apparatus for and method of processing substrate subjected to exposure process

A method of processing a substrate subjected to an exposure process in a substrate processing apparatus, said method comprising the steps of:

• applying a chemically amplified resist onto the substrate;
• performing an exposure process to said substrate by an exposure apparatus and forming an acid by a photochemical reaction in an exposed portion of a resist film;
• determining a specified time, said specified time being a transport time constituting a time interval between an instant at which said substrate processing apparatus receives said substrate from said exposure apparatus and an instant at which a heating process of said substrate starts in a heating processing part;
• accepting input of an allowable lag time for said specified time for the time from the substrate processing apparatus, receiving the substrate from said exposure apparatus to transport the substrate to said heating processing part;
• calculating a waiting time by subtracting the transport time required for said transport from a critical specified time when said transport time is shorter than said critical specified time, and setting the waiting time at zero when said transport time is longer than said critical specified time, wherein the critical specified time is obtained by subtracting said inputted allowable lag time from said specified time;
• and
• starting the heating process of said substrate in said heating processing part after a lapse of said waiting time since the arrival of said substrate at said heating processing part, to cause a reaction of a resist resin to proceed by using a product formed by said photochemical reaction as an acid catalyst.