Patent ID: 7924396

Claim:
A coating/developing apparatus to be disposed adjacent to an immersion light exposure apparatus arranged to subject a resist film formed on a substrate to light exposure while immersing the resist film in a liquid, the coating/developing apparatus being used for applying a resist liquid onto the substrate to form the resist film, and for performing a developing process on the resist film treated by an immersion light exposure process in the immersion light exposure apparatus, the coating/developing apparatus comprising: a process section including a plurality of processing units configured to perform a series of processes for resist coating and development; an interface section disposed between the process section and the immersion light exposure apparatus; a drying section disposed in the interface section and configured to dry the substrate after the immersion light exposure process; and a post-light exposure cleaning unit disposed in the interface section and having a cleaning liquid supply mechanism configured to supply a cleaning liquid onto the substrate after the immersion light exposure process and before the drying section dries the substrate, wherein the drying section includes a process container configured to accommodate the substrate, a substrate support member configured to place the substrate thereon inside the process container, a temperature-adjusted gas supply mechanism configured to supply a temperature-adjusted gas into the process container, and an exhaust mechanism configured to exhaust an interior of the process container, wherein the drying section is arranged to dry the substrate by supplying the gas from the temperature-adjusted gas supply mechanism into the process container with the substrate placed on the substrate support member, while exhausting the interior of the process container by the exhaust mechanism, wherein the process section includes a protection film forming unit configured to form a protection film on the resist film formed on the substrate, before the immersion light exposure process, and wherein the cleaning liquid supply mechanism is configured to supply the protection film formed on the substrate with the cleaning liquid, which is a cleaning liquid having a function of decreasing a contact angle of the protection film or a cleaning liquid having a surface tension.