Patent ID: 9377691
Filing Date: 2016-06-28
CPC Classification: G03F

Claim Text:
1. A coating and developing apparatus for forming a coating film including a resist film on a substrate taken out from a carrier in which a plurality of sheets of substrates is received and performing developing on the substrate after exposure, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of unit blocks each provided with plural kinds of processing modules for forming the coating film on the substrate before exposure or performing the developing on the substrate after exposure and configured to perform the same processing; substrate conveying mechanisms each mounted in each of the plurality of unit blocks and configured to convey the substrate between the plural kinds of processing modules in a predetermined order; a substrate distributing mechanism configured to distribute and convey the substrate between the plurality of unit blocks; and a control unit configured to output a control signal to perform preparing individual conveying schedules in which conveying paths for one substrate to be distributed are arranged according to conditions in each unit block depending on time series when the one substrate is conveyed in each of the plurality of unit blocks prior to distributing the substrate by the substrate distributing mechanism, obtaining a residence time until the one substrate is conveyed in the unit block and is then conveyed out based on the individual conveying schedules corresponding to each unit block, and conveying the one substrate in the unit block having the shortest residence time and conveying the substrate based on the individual conveying schedules prepared for the unit block by the substrate distributing mechanism.