Patent ID: 8448600

Claim:
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a carrier-placement unit configured to place a carrier carrying a plurality of substrates; a retreat-placement unit prepared for retreating an unloaded carrier from the carrier-placement unit, where the unloaded carrier is a carrier from which substrates are taken out; a carrier block equipped with a carrier-transfer mechanism configured to transfer the plurality of substrates between the carrier-placement unit and the retreat-placement unit; a processing block including one or more processing modules that processes the plurality of substrate one by one; a first-transfer module provided in the processing block and configured to temporarily place the plurality of substrates unloaded from the carrier before the plurality of substrates are transferred to the one or more processing modules; a second-transfer module provided in the processing block and configured to temporarily place the plurality of substrates processed by the one or more processing modules; a buffer module configured to house the plurality of substrates taken out from the second-transfer module so that the plurality of substrates taken out from the second-transfer module can be held before the plurality of substrates are returned to the carrier; a first-transfer mechanism configured to transfer the plurality of substrates between the carrier placed in the carrier-placement unit, the first-transfer module and the second-transfer module; a second-transfer mechanism configured to transfer the plurality of substrates between the first-transfer module, the second-transfer module and a module disposed in the processing block, where the second transfer mechanism transfers the plurality of substrates in such a way that a substrate brought to the first-transfer module later does not bypass a substrate brought to the first-transfer module earlier; and a control unit configured to output control signals to each of units of the substrate processing apparatus to control operation of each of units of the substrate processing apparatus, wherein, the control unit is configured such that, when it is determined that the second-transfer module houses at least one substrate and the carrier that unloaded the at least one substrate is not placed in the carrier-placement unit, the control unit outputs a control signal so that the at least one substrate housed in the second-transfer module is transferred to the buffer module, and wherein, when it is determined that the second-transfer module houses at least one substrate and the carrier that unloaded the at least one substrate is placed in the carrier-placement unit, the control unit outputs a control signal so that the at least one substrate housed in the second-transfer module is transferred to the carrier directly bypassing the buffer module, regardless of whether or not a substrate is being transferred from the buffer module to the carrier.