Patent ID: 7628612

Claim:
A heat treatment apparatus for performing a predetermined heat treatment for a substrate, comprising: a plurality of heat treatment plates for dividedly performing the predetermined heat treatment; and a substrate transfer mechanism for transferring the substrate to said plurality of heat treatment plates in a predetermined order, the substrate transfer mechanism configured to successively transfer a plurality of substrates to said plurality of heat treatment plates, wherein said plurality of heat treatment plates are arranged side by side in a linear form in a horizontal direction, and are configured to heat-treat the substrate at the same temperature, wherein said substrate transfer mechanism includes a transfer member which is provided for each respective zone between adjacent heat treatment plates and which moves along an arrangement direction of said heat treatment plates in the horizontal direction while supporting the substrate to transfer the substrate between said heat treatment plates, wherein a position of each transfer member support relative to the substrate is different for each zone between adjacent heat treatment plates, and wherein said transfer member has a plurality of wire portions formed along a direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of said heat treatment plates for supporting a lower surface of the substrate, a horizontal drive portion for moving said wire portion in the arrangement direction of said heat treatment plates, and a raising and lowering portion for raising and lowering said wire portion.