Patent ID: 8460476

Claim:
A method of processing a plurality of substrates subjected to an exposure process of photolithography, said method comprising the steps of: performing an exposure process to a substrate in the plurality of substrates with a resist film formed thereon by a resist coating process; transporting the substrate subjected to the exposure process to a cleaning processing part, wherein transporting the substrate is performed during a transport time; performing a cleaning process in said cleaning processing part on said substrate subjected to the exposure process, wherein performing the cleaning process is performed during a cleaning time and at least one of the transport time or the cleaning time differs substrate-to-substrate; transporting said substrate subjected to the cleaning process from said cleaning processing part to a heating processing part; performing a heating process in said heating processing part on said substrate subjected to the cleaning process; and performing a development process on said substrate subjected to the heating process, wherein a first interprocess time interval between the instant at which the exposure process of a substrate is completed and the instant at which the heating process of the substrate is started is a first predetermined constant value substrate-to-substrate, and a second interprocess time interval between the instant at which the cleaning process of the substrate is completed and the instant at which the heating process of the substrate is started is a second predetermined constant value substrate-to-substrate.