Patent ID: 7733472

Claim:
A process condition determining method for determining a condition of an edge process performed on an edge portion of a coating film formed in a process target, the method comprising: preparing a test target, which comprises a sample film corresponding to the coating film and subjected to the edge process under a certain condition; performing a test process on the test target in a testing unit, which imitates an immersion light exposure apparatus, under a condition corresponding to a designated immersion light exposure condition; performing examination on a state of an edge portion of the sample film after the test process; performing judgment as to whether or not the state of the edge portion of the sample film is within an allowable range, based on a result of the examination; in response to a case where the state of the edge portion of the sample film is out of the allowable range, performing the test process, the examination, and the judgment on another test target prepared by use of a different condition of the edge process; and in response to a case where the state of the edge portion of the sample film is within the allowable range, determining a condition of the edge process to be used for the process target, based on the condition of the edge process used for preparing this test target.