Patent ID: 7674724

Claim:
An oxidizing method for an object to be processed, the oxidizing method comprising: an arranging step of arranging a plurality of objects to be processed in a processing container whose inside can be vacuumed, the processing container having a predetermined length, a supplying unit of an oxidative gas being provided at one end of the processing container, a plurality of supplying units of a reducing gas being provided at a plurality of positions in a longitudinal direction of the processing container; an atmosphere forming step of supplying the oxidative gas and the reducing gas into the processing container in order to form an atmosphere having active oxygen species and active hydroxyl species in the processing container; and an oxidizing step of oxidizing surfaces of the plurality of objects to be processed in the atmosphere; wherein the atmosphere forming step has: a selecting step of selecting a predetermined supplying unit among the plurality of reducing gas supplying units of, based on the number of the objects to be processed in the processing container, and based on respective arrangement positions of the plurality of objects to be processed in the processing container; an oxidative-gas supplying step of supplying the oxidative gas into the processing container from the oxidative gas supplying unit; and an reducing-gas supplying step of supplying the reducing gas into the processing container only from the reducing gas supplying unit selected by the selecting step.