Patent ID: 7592261
Filing Date: 2009-09-22
Classification: H01J

Abstract:
1. A semiconductor device manufacturing method using a plasma processor, wherein said plasma processor includes: a vacuum processing chamber in which plasma is generated to plasma-process an object to be processed; a block having a flow path of a heat medium in an inner part thereof; and a component in the vacuum processing chamber disposed to be in contact with the block and made at least partly of an insulative material, and wherein said plasma processor controls a temperature of the component in the vacuum processing chamber by circulating an insulating fluid as the heat medium in the flow path, and said method comprising: carrying the object to be processed into the vacuum processing chamber, generating plasma to plasma-process the object to be processed, and carrying the object to be processed that has undergone the processing out of the vacuum processing chamber; between said processing of the object to be processed and processing of a subsequent object to be processed, circulating the insulating fluid in the flow path while the object to be processed is not in the vacuum processing chamber and no plasma is generated, and controlling pressure in the vacuum processing chamber to a predetermined pressure while supplying inert gas as a purging gas into the vacuum processing chamber; and determining and applying a pressure of said inert gas on a Paschen's curve so that electrical charging of the component in the vacuum processing chamber is suppressed.