Patent ID: 7592569

Claim:
A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a processing chamber in which a substrate is processed by using a processing gas; a partitioning plate that is disposed inside said processing chamber so as to partition said processing chamber into a processing space in which the substrate is processed and an evacuation space through which said processing chamber is evacuated, having formed therein a plurality of communicating holes communicating between said processing space and said evacuation space; a processing gas supply means for supplying the processing gas into said processing space within said processing chamber; a pressure adjusting gas supply means for supplying a pressure adjusting gas to be used to adjust the pressure inside said processing chamber into said evacuation space within said processing chamber; and a pressure control means for executing pressure control by supplying the pressure adjusting gas into said evacuation space via said pressure adjusting gas supply means while supplying the processing gas into said processing space via said processing gas supply means, so as to set the pressure in said processing space to a predetermined level.