Patent ID: 9666417
Date: 2017-05-30
CPC Classifications: C23C,G01R,G08B,H01J

Claim:
1. A plasma processing apparatus which generates plasma in a processing vessel supplied with a gas by applying a high-frequency voltage between first and second electrodes and performs plasma processing on a substrate to be processed, the plasma processing apparatus comprising: a recording medium on which values are recorded in a time series, the values represent a characteristic of the plasma processing performed on the substrate to be performed; a controller which identifies a tendency of a time-series change of the values recorded on the recording medium, and determines whether an alarm is required based on the identified tendency of the time-series change; and an alarm device indicating a fact that some type of abnormality occurs in the processing vessel when it is determined that the alarm is required, wherein the controller determines whether the values are continuously increased or decreased, derives a maximum value and a minimum value of the values in a predetermined period including a period in which the values are continuously increased or decreased, and determines whether a difference between the maximum value and the minimum value is greater than or equal to a threshold value, and wherein the controller determines that the alarm is required when the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value is greater than or equal to the threshold value.