Patent ID: 8219233

Claim:
A substrate treatment apparatus comprising delivery mounting units on each of which a carrier housing a plurality of substrates is mounted, said delivery mounting unit being prepared for each carrier, for performing treatments on the substrates carried out of the carriers mounted on said delivery mounting units by a delivery device and then returning the substrates into original carriers on said delivery mounting units by said delivery device, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of retreat mounting units separately provided from said delivery mounting units, for mounting the carriers thereon; a carry-in mounting unit separately provided from said delivery mounting units, for carrying one of the carriers from an external part into said substrate treatment apparatus; a carrier moving and mounting device moving and mounting the carriers among said delivery mounting units, retreat mounting units, and carry-in mounting unit; a control unit controlling said carrier moving and mounting device such that at normal time, said carrier moving and mounting device moves and mounts the carriers in sequence to said delivery mounting units directly or via said retreat mounting units according to a carry-in order of the carriers carried into said carry-in mounting unit, and when a priority carrier having a priority higher than priorities of the carriers in sequence and housing substrates in a priority lot which will be subjected to treatments on a priority basis is carried into said carry-in mounting unit and if all of said delivery mounting units are occupied by the carriers, said carrier moving and mounting device moves one of the carriers on one of the delivery mounting units and mounts the one of the carriers on said retreat mounting units, and mounts the priority carrier on the one of said delivery mounting units which has become vacant by the movement; and a control unit controlling said delivery device such that at normal time, said delivery device carries the substrates out of the carriers according to the carry-in order of the carriers mounted on said delivery mounting units, and when the priority carrier is mounted on the one of said delivery mounting units, said delivery device carries out the substrates in the priority carrier before the substrates in the other carriers.