Coating and developing apparatus, coating and developing method and non-transitory tangible medium

A coating and developing apparatus comprising:

• a carrier block;
• a process block to which a substrate that has been loaded into the carrier block by a carrier is delivered, the process block being configured to form a coating film including a resist film on the substrate;
• an interface block arranged on an opposed side of the carrier block with respect to the process block;
• and
• an exposure apparatus configured to expose the substrate that has been transferred thereto form the process block via the interface block;
• wherein:
• the substrate that has been loaded into the carrier block by the carrier is delivered to the process block, a coating film including a resist film is formed on the substrate in the process block, the substrate is transferred to the exposure apparatus via the interface block, the exposed substrate, which has been returned to the process block via the interface block, is developed in the process block, and the developed substrate is delivered to the carrier block;
• in the process block, there are arranged a group of liquid-process related unit blocks arranged on the carrier block side, a first heating-process related block arranged on the carrier block side of the group of liquid-process related unit blocks, a second heating-process related block arranged on the interface block side of the group of liquid-process related unit block;
• the group of liquid-process related unit blocks are composed of:
• a first unit block for preprocessing and a second unit block for preprocessing which are doubled and stacked on one another in an up and down direction, each unit block for preprocessing including a liquid process module for a lower layer configured to supply a chemical liquid for forming an antireflection film as a lower layer on the substrate, a coating module configured to supply a resist liquid for forming a resist film on the antireflection film, and a transfer mechanism for the unit block configured to be moved along a linear transfer path connecting the carrier block and the interface block for transferring a substrate between the modules;
• a first unit block for post-processing and a second unit block for post-processing which are doubled, stacked on one another in the up and down direction and stacked above the unit blocks for preprocessing, each unit block for post-processing including a liquid process module for an upper layer configured to supply a chemical liquid for forming an upper layer film on the substrate on which a resist film has been formed, a cleaning module configured to perform a cleaning operation before exposure, and a transfer mechanism for the unit block configured to be moved along a linear transfer path connecting the carrier block and the interface block for transferring a substrate between the modules;
• and
• a unit block for developing stacked on the unit blocks for preprocessing, including a liquid process module configured to supply a developing liquid to the substrate, and a transfer mechanism for the unit block configured to be moved along a linear transfer path connecting the carrier block and the interface block;
• in the first heating-process related block, there are provided:
• a plurality of heating modules stacked on one another in the up and down direction in which a heating module configured to heat the substrate to which the resist liquid has been coated in the unit block for preprocessing, and a heating module configured to heat the substrate that has been developed in the unit block for developing are allocated to these heating modules;
• and a first heating-process related transfer mechanism capable of being moved upward and downward for transferring the substrate among the heating modules;
• in the second heating-process related block, there are provided:
• a plurality of heating modules stacked on one another in the up and down direction in which a heating module configured to heat the substrate to which a chemical liquid for forming an antireflection film has been coated in the unit block for preprocessing, a heating module configured to heat the substrate to which a chemical liquid for forming an upper layer film has been coated in the unit block for post-processing, and a heating module configured to heat the substrate which is not yet developed in the unit block for developing, are allocated to these heating modules, and a second heating-process related transfer mechanism capable of being moved upward and downward for transferring the substrate among the heating modules;
• disposed on the carrier block side of the unit block for developing is a delivery stage to which the developed substrate is carried by the transfer mechanism, and disposed on the carrier block side of the unit block for preprocessing is a delivery stage via which the substrate carried out from the carrier is delivered to the transfer mechanism of this unit block;
• disposed on the carrier block side of the unit block for preprocessing is a delivery stage via which the substrate coated with the resist liquid is carried to the first heating-process related block, and disposed on the carrier block side of the unit block for post-processing is a delivery stage on which the substrate with the resist film formed thereon is received by the transfer mechanism of this unit block;
• disposed on the interface block side of the unit block for preprocessing are a delivery stage via which the substrate coated with the antireflection film is carried to the second heating-process related block and a delivery stage on which the substrate heated in the second heating-process related block is received by the transfer mechanism of this unit block, and disposed on the interface block side of the unit block for post-processing is a delivery stage via which the substrate with an upper layer film formed thereon is delivered to the transfer mechanism of the second heating-process related block.