Patent ID: 7836900

Claim:
A substrate processing system comprising: a processing tank for processing substrates with a processing liquid; a drying unit including openings connected to the outside atmosphere, disposed above the processing tank; a carrying mechanism for carrying the substrates between the processing tank and the drying unit; a processing gas supply line for supplying a processing gas into the drying unit; inert gas supply lines for supplying an inert gas into the drying unit; a first discharge line for discharging an atmosphere purged from the drying unit; and a second discharge line for forcibly exhausting the drying unit, wherein the drying unit is constructed such that the drying unit can be set in an open state in which the drying unit opens into the outside atmosphere by opening the openings and in a closed state in which the interior of the drying unit is isolated from the outside atmosphere by closing the openings, and a controller sets the drying unit selectively in either of the open state in which the drying unit opens into the outside atmosphere and the closed state in which the interior of the drying unit is isolated from the outside atmosphere, and wherein in the open state of the drying unit, currents of clean air are formed in the drying unit from the openings connected to the outside atmosphere to the first and second discharge lines by operating the first and second discharge lines.