Patent ID: 7195930

Claim:
A cleaning method for use in an apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: measuring components of gas in a process chamber of an apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device, or at least two different gases selected from a group comprising gas in the process chamber, a process gas to be introduced into the process chamber, and gas discharged from the process chamber, and measuring concentration of each component of any of these gases, at two or more positions selected from a group comprising a position in the process chamber, a position in a gas inlet pipe, and a position in a gas outlet pipe for discharging gases from the process chamber, the process gas having been introduced into the process chamber which holds a substrate to undergo a prescribed process, the gas inlet pipe connected and communicating with an interior of the process chamber to introduce the process gas into the process chamber, and the gas outlet pipe connected and communicating with the interior of the process chamber to discharge gases from the process chamber; performing the prescribed process on the substrate, while adjusting the components of the process gas, the concentration of each component of the process gas, and an atmosphere in the process chamber, on the basis of the values measured, so that the process is performed on the substrate in an appropriate manner, and taking the substrate from the process chamber after the substrate has been subjected to the prescribed process; and generating a cleaning gas on the basis of the values measured, the cleaning gas having such components and such concentration as to remove residues from the gas inlet pipe, process chamber, and gas outlet pipe of the apparatus, and applying the cleaning gas from the gas inlet pipe to the gas outlet pipe through the process chamber.