Patent ID: 8304020

Claim:
An adhesion promoting process comprising the steps of: placing a workpiece horizontally on a support table disposed in a processing space defined by a processing vessel; adjusting the temperature of the workpiece placed on the support table to a first temperature at which an adhesion promoting gas does not condense on the workpiece in dew drops, the first temperature being 30° C. or below and being low enough for suppressing a production of ascending air currents rising from the workpiece while the adhesion promoting gas is supplied; supplying the adhesion promoting gas downward to a surface of the workpiece to flow from a center part of the surface of the workpiece toward to a peripheral part of the surface of the workpiece, the workpiece being adjusted at the first temperature to make the surface of the workpiece hydrophobic through the interaction of molecules contained in the adhesion promoting gas and the surface of the workpiece; adjusting the temperature of the workpiece to a second temperature, the second temperature being higher than the first temperature and being at a high enough temperature for supplying thermal energy to the molecules contained in the adhesion promoting gas and which are excessively remaining on the surface of the workpiece, and evacuating the processing space to remove the molecules which are excessively remaining on the surface of the workpiece and which are provided with the thermal energy.