TRANSPORT APPARATUS

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive transport apparatus having high processing capability of eliminating impurities deposited on a workpiece during transportation by controlling the transport speed of the workpiece and the gas flow rate of a gas curtain. SOLUTION: A substrate 4 is transported by a transport means from an opening portion 3 to a substrate processing means 2. The substrate transport direction is the thickness direction of the opening portion 3 and the vertical direction of the thickness direction of the substrate 4. A gas is jetted from a gas nozzle 5 fixed near the opening portion 3 outside the substrate processing means 2 in a longitudinal direction of the opening portion 3 to form a gas curtain 7. The direction 8 of gas jet is vertical to the substrate transport direction 9. A control means controls a transport speed V and the gas flow velocity v so that a non-dimension speed V/v as the transport speed V of the workpiece in the thickness direction of the opening portion with respect to the gas flow velocity v in the longitudinal direction of the opening portion may be substantially 0.5 times the non-dimension length w/W as an average length w of the gas curtain in the thickness direction of the opening portion with respect to the length W of the workpiece in the longitudinal direction of the opening portion. COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT