Patent ID: 7120556

Claim:
A performance evaluation method for a plasma processing apparatus which is disassembled before transfer, is transported to a customer, and is reassembled at a customer site, the plasma processing apparatus comprising: a plasma processing chamber including an electrode to excite a plasma and a radiofrequency feeder, the electrode being connected to an output end of the radiofrequency feeder; a radiofrequency generator to supply a radiofrequency voltage to the electrode; and a matching circuit having an input terminal and an output terminal, the input terminal being connected to the radiofrequency generator and the output terminal being connected to an input end of the radiofrequency feeder so as to achieve impedance matching between the plasma processing chamber and the radiofrequency generator, the method comprising: determining that the plasma processing apparatus maintains a required level of performance when three times a first series resonant frequency f 01 of the plasma processing chamber, after delivery of the apparatus, is larger than a power frequency f e of a radiofrequency at the output terminal of the radiofrequency generator and that the plasma processing apparatus does not maintain the required level of performance when three times the first series resonant frequency f 01 is not larger than the power frequency f e , wherein the first series resonant frequency f 01 is measured at the input end of the radiofrequency feeder.