Patent ID: 8894775

Claim:
A substrate processing method for processing a substrate in a substrate processing apparatus that is arranged adjacent to an exposure device and includes a processing section and an interface, the substrate processing method comprising the steps of: subjecting the substrate to processing before exposure processing by the processing section; transferring and receiving the substrate processed by the processing section from the processing section to the exposure device by said interface; transferring and receiving the substrate after the exposure processing by the exposure device from the exposure device to the processing section by the interface; subjecting the substrate to processing after the exposure processing by the processing section; and subjecting the substrate to drying processing in at least one of the processing section or the interface, wherein the step of subjecting the substrate to the drying processing includes the steps of: rotating the substrate around an axis perpendicular to the substrate while holding the substrate substantially horizontally, supplying a rinse liquid to a center of the rotated substrate by a rinse liquid supplier, to form a liquid layer of the rinse liquid on the substrate, and moving the rinse liquid supplier, to continuously supply the rinse liquid from the center of the rotated substrate to its peripheral portion, and the step of rotating the substrate includes a step of adjusting a rotation speed of the substrate such that by a centrifugal force, a thin layer region of the liquid layer of the rinse liquid whose thickness is smaller than a thickness of the remaining region of the liquid layer is formed at the center of the substrate, and the thin layer region gradually expands, by moving the rinse liquid supplier; and the step of supplying the rinse liquid includes the steps of: moving the rinse liquid supplier such that the rinse liquid is continuously supplied from the center of the substrate to a predetermined position between the center and the peripheral portion of the substrate; temporarily stopping the movement of the rinse liquid supplier for a predetermined time period with the rinse liquid supplied to the predetermined position of the substrate, such that the enlargement of the thin layer region is stopped; and restarting the movement of the rinse liquid supplier such that the rinse liquid is continuously supplied from the predetermined position to the peripheral portion of the substrate, wherein the predetermined position and the predetermined time period are previously set such that only one drying core is formed at the center of the substrate only by a centrifugal force caused by the rotation of the substrate at the step of temporarily stopping the movement of the rinse liquid supplier.