Patent ID: 8138456

Claim:
A heat processing method of mounting and heat-processing a substrate on a heat processing plate, comprising the steps of: measuring an amount of deformation of the substrate; setting suction start timings via a plurality of suction ports in a substrate mounting surface of the heat processing plate, based on the measured amount of deformation of the substrate to be heat-processed; when mounting the substrate onto the heat processing plate, sucking the substrate via the suction ports based on the set suction start timings to attract the substrate onto the heat processing plate; and heat-processing the substrate on the heat processing plate; and setting suction end timings via the suction ports such that the suction end timing via at least one of the suction ports is different from the suction end timings via another suction port, wherein in said step of setting suction start timings, the suction start timing via a suction port corresponding to a portion of the substrate deformed upward is set to be earlier than the suction start timing via another suction port.