Patent ID: 6936107

Claim:
A coating film forming apparatus for forming a coating film by applying a coating solution to a substrate comprising: a cassette mounting section on which a substrate cassette housing a plurality of substrates is mounted; a coating unit for applying the coating solution to the substrate taken out of the substrate cassette which is mounted on said cassette mounting section; plural treatment units for performing at least either pre-treatment or post-treatment for treatment of applying the coating solution; a reduced-pressure drying unit for drying under a reduced-pressure atmosphere the substrate which is applied with the coating solution in said coating unit, provided as one of said plural treatment units; and a main transfer mechanism for transferring the substrate between said coating unit and said treatment units, wherein said coating unit has a substrate holding portion for holding the substrate, a coating solution nozzle for discharging the coating solution to the substrate, provided to be opposed to the substrate held by the substrate holding portion, and a drive mechanism for moving the coating solution nozzle relatively to the substrate along a surface thereof while discharging the coating solution to the surface of the substrate from the coating solution nozzle, and said main transfer mechanism has a holding member for holding the substrate, a cover body for surrounding the holding member provided with an opening portion for allowing the holding member to advance and retract and which moves up and down with the holding member and atmosphere forming means for making an atmosphere in which the substrate is held by the holding member an atmosphere in which vaporization of solvent is inhibited.