Substrate treatment apparatus

1. A substrate treatment apparatus comprising:

a treatment chamber in which a substrate is treated;

a substrate holder which horizontally holds the substrate with a surface thereof facing upward in the treatment chamber, and rotates the substrate about a rotation axis passing through a center of the substrate;

a tubular treatment cup which is disposed in the treatment chamber, and surrounds the substrate holder and accommodates the substrate holder in the treatment chamber;

a shield member disposed above the substrate holder in the treatment chamber and having an opposing surface configured to be brought into opposed relation to the substrate holder;

a gas supply unit which has a downward gas supply port having an annular shape to surround the shield member when viewed in a direction along the rotation axis and is disposed in an upper portion of the treatment chamber for supplying a gas into the treatment chamber from outside of the treatment chamber, the gas supply port being spaced radially from and not overlapping the shield member when viewed in the direction along the rotation axis;

a shield member lifter that moves the shield member up and down along the rotation axis between a treatment position close to the substrate at a lower portion of the treatment chamber and a spaced-apart position spaced away from the substrate, wherein the gas supply port is kept fixed to the upper portion of the treatment chamber while the shield member lifter moves the shield member, and

a vent container which surrounds the treatment cup in the treatment chamber and has a gas outlet port for introducing an internal atmosphere of the treatment chamber into a gas outlet pipe connected to the treatment chamber,

wherein the gas supply unit supplies the gas downwardly from the gas supply port toward the gas outlet port, outside the treatment cup, thereby forming a downward gas current in the treatment chamber from an upper area to a lower area thereof.

2. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the shield member is supported by a shield member supporting member disposed outside the treatment chamber.

3. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the gas supply port and the gas outlet port overlap each other when viewed in the direction along the rotation axis.

4. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a partition plate disposed between an inner surface of the treatment chamber and an outer surface of the vent container so as to partition an upper space and a lower space of the treatment chamber, wherein the gas outlet port includes a first gap defined between the partition plate and the outer surface of the vent container.

5. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the substrate treatment apparatus comprises a plurality of the partition plates, and the gas outlet port further includes a second gap defined among the plurality of partition plates.

6. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the gas outlet port further includes a third gap defined between the partition plate and the inner surface of the treatment chamber.

7. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the downward gas supply port has an inner periphery that has a diameter greater than an outer diameter of the shield member.

8. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the opposing surface of the shield member is positioned at a same height as, or higher than, the gas supply port when the shield member is in the spaced-apart position.