Patent ID: 6938638
Filing Date: 2005-09-06
Classification: G05D,Y10S,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A gas-circulating processing apparatus which comprises: a processing chamber in which processing is performed; a gas supply piping communicated with a processing gas source; a first exhaust mechanism discharging a gas from said processing chamber; a second exhaust mechanism discharging a portion of the gas discharged from said first exhaust mechanism; a back pressure adjusting mechanism interposed between said first exhaust mechanism and said second exhaust mechanism to adjust a back pressure of said first exhaust mechanism; a gas circulating piping which is configured to combine another portion of the gas that has been discharged from said first exhaust mechanism with a processing gas supplied from said gas supply piping; and a gas feeding piping connected with a confluence zone where the processing gas from said gas supply piping is combined with the gas from said gas circulating piping to form a confluent gas, said gas feeding piping functioning to introduce said confluent gas into said processing chamber and having a larger inner diameter than that of said gas supply piping in the vicinity of said confluence zone thereby making it possible to improve the efficiency of gas circulation and to reduce the quantity of gas employed.