Patent ID: 8105440

Claim:
A cleaning method executed in a vacuum vessel which has a partition plate which divides an interior space of the vacuum vessel into a first space and a second space in which a substrate to be processed is arranged and has a plurality of through-holes for communicating between the first space and the second space, the method comprising: feeding one or more types of fluoride gas and any of He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe as cleaning gas into the first space; a plasma generating step of generating active species by applying high-frequency electric power to electrodes arranged in the first space; and feeding the active species generated in the plasma generating step from the first space into the second space through the plurality of through-holes, wherein a peripheral portion of the partition plate is fixed to an inner wall of the vacuum vessel via an electrically conductive member which has spring properties, and the partition plate is kept at a ground potential.