Accurate coating and developing having high intrasurface uniformity is
achieved by suppressing the influence of components of a resist that may
be eluted while a substrate coated with the resist is processed by
immersion exposure. A coating unit coats a surface of a substrate with a
resist. then, a first cleaning means including a cleaning nozzle cleans
the substrate and then the substrate is subjected to an exposure process.
Since only a small amount of components of the resist dissolves in a
transparent liquid layer formed on the substrate for exposure, an
exposure process can form lines in accurate line-widths. Consequently, a
resist pattern of lines having accurate line-widths having high
intrasurface uniformity can be formed on the substrate by developing the
exposed resist.