Patent ID: 8813678

Claim:
A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a holder for rotatably holding a substrate to be processed; a coating solution supply nozzle for supplying a coating solution onto a front surface of the substrate to be processed held by said holder; a treatment chamber housing said holder and said coating solution supply nozzle; a cooling device which cools the substrate to be processed before the coating solution is supplied to the substrate to be processed, to a predetermined temperature; a heating device that heats the substrate to be processed coated with the coating solution to a predetermined temperature; and a transferer that transfers the substrate to be processed between said treatment chamber, said cooling device and said heating device, a pre-processing chamber housing said cooling device and a post-processing chamber housing said heating device, said pre-processing and post-processing chambers being connected to said treatment chamber via transfer in/out ports for the substrate to be processed, one transfer in/out port is located between the pre-processing chamber and the treatment chamber, and another transfer in/out port is located between the post-processing chamber and the treatment chamber, wherein said treatment chamber, said cooling device and said heating device are partitioned from an ambient air, wherein said treatment chamber, said pre-processing chamber, and said post-processing chamber are connected to a single gas supply mechanism having a supply source of a gas having a kinematic viscosity coefficient higher than that of air and kept at a predetermined concentration of the gas to maintain uniform pressure between said treatment chamber, said pre-processing chamber, and said post-processing chamber, and wherein the gas is a helium gas, and the predetermined concentration is 90% or higher.