Patent ID: 7575382

Claim:
A coating/developing apparatus comprising: a carrier block configured to place therein a carrier that stores a plurality of substrates, and including a first transfer device configured to transfer substrates to and from the carrier; a process block including a plurality of processing modules configured to perform resist coating on substrates transferred from the first transfer device and to perform development on substrates processed by the resist coating and light exposure, and a device configured to transfer substrates to and from the processing modules; an examination block including a plurality of examination modules configured to perform examinations on substrates, and a second transfer device configured to transfer substrates to and from the examination modules; a first stage, a second stage, a third stage, and a fourth stage configured to allow substrates to be transferred between the first transfer device in the carrier block and the second transfer device in the examination block; a controller configured to control the first transfer device in the carrier block and the second transfer device in the examination block, wherein the controller includes a function of executing a first operation mode preset to transfer substrates from the process block and substrates from the carrier block into the examination block in parallel, and the first operation mode comprises transferring substrates processed by the process block to either one of the third and fourth stages through or not through at least one of the examination modules by the second transfer device, transferring substrates to be only examined from a carrier in the carrier block to the second stage by the first transfer device, and transferring these substrates from the second stage to at least one of the examination modules by the second transfer device, and transferring substrates thus examined from the examination block to either one of the third and fourth stages by the second transfer device.