Patent ID: 8644981

Claim:
A substrate processing apparatus including a disposing area, a transfer area and a processing area, comprising: a substrate processing unit disposed in the processing area and configured to process a target substrate taken out from a cassette disposed in the disposing area and having plurality of slots each configured to accommodate a substrate to be processed in the substrate processing unit; a transfer unit disposed in the transfer area and configured to transfer the target substrate from the cassette to the substrate processing unit, and transfer the target substrate processed in the substrate processing unit from the substrate processing unit to the cassette so as to dispose the target substrate in the cassette; a confirming unit configured to detect whether or not a slot of the cassette designated to the target substrate to be accommodated after the target substrate has been processed in the substrate processing unit is empty; and a control unit configured to read the designated slot of the cassette based on a result from the confirming unit, and determine whether or not the designated slot of the cassette is empty, after the target substrate has been processed in the substrate processing unit but before the target substrate is disposed in the cassette, wherein the control unit stops the transfer of the target substrate processed in the substrate processing unit toward the designated slot of the cassette by the transfer unit when the control unit determines that the designated slot of the cassette is not empty, and the transfer unit carries all substrates in the substrate processing apparatus into an emergency cassette provided in the disposing area when the slot read by the control unit is not empty.