Patent ID: 8568043

Claim:
A coating and developing apparatus comprising: a carrier block including a cassette placing unit configured to dispose a cassette accommodating substrates of a substrate group, a buffer block adjoining the carrier block on a side and including a buffer module; a processing block adjoining the buffer block on a side and including at least a first liquid process module and a second liquid process module each configured to process the substrates with a predetermined sequence; an interface block adjoining the processing block on a side that does not adjoin the buffer block; and a control unit configured to control the first liquid process module, the second liquid process module, and the buffer module, thereby performing at least a first liquid process, a second liquid process and a third liquid process, wherein the control unit controls the first liquid process module to sequentially perform the first liquid process using a first chemical liquid on each of the substrates of a substrate group, and to sequentially perform the third liquid process again using the first chemical liquid on each of the substrates which has been subjected to the first liquid process, the control unit controls the buffer module to temporarily store each of the substrates sequentially which has been subjected to the first liquid process but has not yet been subjected to the third liquid process, the control unit controls the second liquid process module to sequentially perform the second liquid process using a second chemical liquid on each of the substrates which has been taken out from the buffer module but has not yet been subjected to the third liquid process, the control unit controls the first liquid process module, the second liquid process module and the buffer module such that the second liquid process to be performed on a first substrate of the substrate group is started before the first liquid process performed on a last substrate of the substrate group is ended so that the third liquid process is performed on the first substrate of the substrate group right after the first liquid process is performed on the last substrate of the substrate group, and each of the substrates loaded to the cassette is sequentially transferred to a process module of the processing block where a coating film including a resist film is formed, carried to an exposure device via the interface block, and then each of the substrates which has been exposed and returned via the interface block is developed in the process module, and then transferred to the carrier block thereby sequentially performing a liquid process on each of the substrates of the substrate group.