"Moreover, as shown in FIG. 1, the pressure P2 in the processing station 3 is set to be lower than a pressure P5 in the resist coating units 17 and 19 and the developing processing units 18 and 20 which independently control the atmosphere therein as described above, thereby preventing the atmosphere in the processing station 3 from flowing into the unit such as the resist coating unit 17 and the l" . . . .