Patent ID: 8051522

Claim:
A substrate treatment apparatus for performing a substrate periphery cleaning process, the substrate treatment apparatus comprising: a substrate holding mechanism which holds a substrate; a brush having a cleaning surface inclined with respect to a first axis extending perpendicularly to a front surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism; a brush moving mechanism which moves the brush along the first axis and along a second axis orthogonal to the first axis; a load detecting unit which detects a load applied along the first axis to the brush; and a first judging unit which judges, based on an output of the load detecting unit, whether or not the brush is located at a reference position serving as a reference for guiding the brush to a treatment position at which the brush is located in the cleaning process; wherein the reference position is a position such that the cleaning surface is depressed to a predetermined depth by an edge defined by a peripheral surface and one of the front surface and a back surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism when the brush is located at the reference position; and further comprising: an initial load applying mechanism which applies a predetermined load to the brush with the brush being in noncontact with the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism, wherein the first judging unit judges, on the basis of a change in the load detected by the load detecting unit from the initial load, whether the brush is located at the reference position.