Patent ID: 8394230

Claim:
A plasma processing method comprising: loading a target substrate into a processing chamber and placing the target substrate on lift pins which are protrusible from an inside of a mounting table; mounting the target substrate on an electrostatic chuck of the mounting table by lowering the lift pins; attracting the target substrate to the electrostatic chuck by applying a DC voltage to the electrostatic chuck; performing a plasma processing on the target substrate in the processing chamber; detecting a state of residual charges of the electrostatic chuck when the target substrate on which the plasma processing has been performed is lifted up from the electrostatic chuck by the lift pins after the application of the DC voltage; and detecting a replacement timing of the electrostatic chuck based on the detected state of the residual charges, wherein the detecting the state of the residual charges of the electrostatic chuck detects the state of the residual charges of the electrostatic chuck based on a torque or a rotational speed of a driving motor which operates to protrude the lift pins from the mounting table.