PHOTOLIGHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a photolithographic apparatus that given high yield without substantially increasing the cost or the footprint not reducing the throughput of the overall apparatus. SOLUTION: A cassette 7 for storing work pieces such as semiconductor wafers or thin film transistor substrates is inserted into a loader 1. The work pieces are removed one by one from the cassette 7 by a robot 6a and sent to a resist applying unit 2. After applying a resist, the work pieces are sent to a foreign matter detection unit 8 to measure the amount of foreign matter stuck on the work pieces before exposure. If foreign matter is detected, an alarm notifies that dust contamination has occurred, before or after the resist application and terminates the process of the subsequent work pieces and the subsequent lots. If no foreign matter is detected, the work piece is sent to an exposure unit 3 for exposure using a robot 6e and then it is sent to a development unit 4, to be developed using a robot 6c. The work piece is sent to and stored in a cassette of an unloader 5 using a robot 6d, thus photolithogrtaphic process is completed.