Patent ID: 7955044

Claim:
A method for processing substrates for a substrate processing facility, the substrate processing facility comprising: a plurality of substrate processing devices that process substrates; a container that holds a plurality of the substrates with the substrates lined up vertically with space therebetween and that is tubular having a generally quadrangular cross section, the container including a first opening provided on one end side and a second opening provided on the other end side spaced apart in the horizontal direction from the first opening, the first opening serving as an entrance for loading and unloading the substrates, the container having a fan filter unit provided in an area of the second opening that causes movement of air from the second opening toward the first opening, and a lid that opens and closes the entrance of the container being provided in the area of the entrance of the container, the lid comprising a plurality of lid-forming members that form a plurality of vent holes when the lid is in a closed state, and allow transfer of the substrates in an open state; a storage shelf including a plurality of storage sections where the containers are stored; a substrate loading/unloading section that corresponds to each of the plurality of substrate processing devices; a substrate transfer device that provides a substrate to the substrate processing device from the container positioned in the substrate loading/unloading section, and that stores a substrate removed from the substrate processing device in the container positioned in the substrate loading/unloading section; and a container transfer device that transfers the container to the substrate loading/unloading sections of the plurality of substrate processing devices and to the storage sections of the storage shelf, the method comprising: storing the container in the storage shelf, sequentially transferring the container to the substrate loading/unloading section of each of the plurality of substrate processing devices, at which the substrates are transferred between the container positioned in the substrate loading/unloading section and the substrate processing device with the substrate transfer device, to sequentially process the substrates in the plurality of the substrate processing devices, ventilating the container with the fan filter unit to allow air to be discharged from the container through the plurality of vent holes with the lid in the closed state, when the container is stored in the storage shelf, and when the container is transferred with the substrate transfer device, and ventilating the container with the fan filter with the lid of the container in an open state, when the substrates are transferred to or from the substrate loading/unloading section with the substrate transfer device.