Patent ID: 8808798

Claim:
A coating method comprising: holding a back side central portion of a substrate by a substrate holding member and thereby supporting the substrate in a horizontal state; supplying a coating liquid onto a front side central portion of the substrate from a coating nozzle; rotating the substrate holding member about a vertical axis by a rotational driving unit at a first rotational speed, so as to spread the coating liquid supplied on the front side central portion of the substrate toward a peripheral portion of the substrate by a centrifugal force and thereby form a film of the coating liquid; forming a liquid film of a process liquid for preventing a contaminant derived from the coating liquid from being deposited or left on a back side peripheral portion of the substrate by a liquid film forming mechanism including a counter face portion facing the back side peripheral portion of the substrate, while supplying the process liquid onto the counter face portion from a process liquid supply portion of the liquid film forming mechanism, so that the process liquid is adsorbed by a surface tension of the process liquid on the counter face portion and the peripheral portion of the substrate being rotated and the liquid film is thereby formed; damping a vertical wobble of the peripheral portion of the substrate being rotated, by a posture regulating mechanism disposed around the substrate holding member and including delivery holes arrayed in a rotational direction of the substrate, while delivering a gas from the delivery holes onto a back side region of the substrate on an inner side of the peripheral portion on which the liquid film is formed; and moving up and down the posture regulating mechanism, respectively, before and after the damping of the vertical wobble, between a working position for regulating the vertical wobble of the peripheral portion of the substrate and a waiting position below the working position.