FIG. 1 is a general perspective view of a substrate processing apparatus 1 according to the present invention; and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the substrate processing apparatus 1 as viewed from above (in a negative Z direction in FIG. 1). Designed to clean substrates W held in a vertical attitude by dipping them into processing fluid such as chemical liquid or pure water, the substrate processing apparatus 1 is mainly composed of a carrier placing unit 2 and a substrate processing unit 3. The carrier placing unit 2 receives and transfers a carrier SC (used to transfer substrates between the apparatuses, and hereinafter referred to as a common carrier) from and to the outside of the apparatus, and turns the substrates W held in a horizontal attitude into a vertical attitude to transport it to the substrate processing unit 3. The substrate processing unit 3 dips the substrate W received from the carrier placing unit 2 into processing fluid for cleaning.