According to a coating method of the present invention, a second member 107 associated with the type of a silicon wafer 101 to be coated is selected, transferred into a coating chamber 102, and placed on a first member 103 thereby forming a susceptor 110. The associated second member 107 is most suitable for providing a uniform temperature distribution across the surface of the silicon wafer 110 and has a nonuniform thickness designed to correct the uniformity of the temperature distribution across the wafer. This arrangement allows minimization of the temperature variation across the surface of different types of silicon wafers 101 when a film is formed on them. The storage chamber 130 preferably includes heating means 131 for heating the second member.