Patent ID: 7323060

Claim:
A substrate treating apparatus having treating units for treating substrates, and substrate transport mechanisms for transferring the substrates to and from the treating units, said apparatus comprising: a first substrate transport path for transporting the substrates between said treating units, said first substrate transport path including a plurality of substrate transport mechanisms arranged with a transfer point interposed therebetween for transferring the substrates; and a second substrate transport path for transporting the substrates between a temporary storage module for temporarily storing the substrates and a predetermined one of said treating units, said temporary storage module and said predetermined one of said treating units being arranged at transfer points, respectively, with a predetermined substrate transport mechanism interposed therebetween; wherein said first substrate transport path is arranged to transport the substrates between said treating units and an exposing apparatus acting as an external device juxtaposed with said substrate treating apparatus; said predetermined one of said treating units is a post-exposure baking unit for heating the substrates after exposure in said exposing apparatus; said second substrate transport path is arranged to transfer and transport the substrates between said temporary storage module and said post-exposure baking unit; and said first substrate transport path is arranged to serve as a forward direction-only path for transporting the substrates in a forward direction to pass the substrates on to said exposing apparatus.