In order to obtain a thin plate manufacturing method capable of extremely increasing manufacturing efficiency by enlarging the production scale and remarkably reducing the manufacturing cost per unit area and an apparatus for manufacturing this thin plate, a method and an apparatus performing introduction of a substrate into a main chamber and discharge of the substrate from the main chamber through at least one subsidiary chamber adjacent to the main chamber are employed when manufacturing a silicon thin plate by dipping a surface layer part of the substrate into a silicon melt in a crucible arranged in the main chamber for bonding silicon to the surface of the substrate.