Patent ID: 7840299

Claim:
A substrate collection method of collecting substrates in a substrate treatment apparatus to a transfer-in/out section, the substrate treatment apparatus including the transfer-in/out section for transferring substrates in/out, a treatment section including a plurality of treatment units for treating substrates, and a substrate transfer unit that sequentially transfers substrates transferred-in from the transfer-in/out section to the treatment units in the treatment section and returns substrates subjected to predetermined treatments in the treatment section to the transfer-in/out section, the substrate collection method comprising: during normal operation, transferring substrates into the transfer-in/out section by the substrate transfer unit to the plurality of treatment units along a predetermined transfer route, and responsive to a trouble occurring in the substrate treatment apparatus, transferring to and collecting at the transfer-in/out section all substrates existing in the substrate treatment apparatus by the substrate transfer unit along a modified predetermined transfer route with a predetermined treatment unit on the predetermined transfer route being omitted, the collecting being delayed for substrates that are undergoing treatment in one of the treatment units when the trouble occurs until after the treatment in said one of the treatment units is finished.