Patent ID: 7748138

Claim:
A particle removal method for a substrate transfer mechanism including a mount table on which a substrate is mounted and an arm member connected to the mounting table, the arm member moving the mounting table, the method comprising: a temperature control step of controlling temperature of the mounting table, wherein at the temperature control step, a temperature gradient is formed in the mounting table, wherein the mounting table has a surface layer formed of a specific material, and a linear expansion coefficient of the material of the surface layer is different from that of the particles produced in the vicinity of the mounting table so that a thermal stress is generated between the surface layer and the particles to detach the particles from the surface layer, wherein the temperature control step includes a detection step for detecting temperature of an environment and a heating step for heating the mounting table based on the temperature of the environment at the detecting step, wherein the method further includes a gas temperature control step of controlling temperature of a gas introduced into the environment based on the temperature in the environment detected at the detection step, and wherein at the temperature control step, the temperature of the mounting table is controlled to be kept at a temperature higher by at least 30K than that of the environment/chamber.