The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 09, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 11, 2002
Mitsuhiro Tachibana, Yamanashi-Ken, JP;
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo-To, JP;
Abstract
This cleaning method and cleaning apparatus for a film deposition apparatus includes a processing container accommodating a mounting table for mounting an object W to be processed, a gas-introduction unit for introducing a designated gas into the processing container, a vacuum exhausting system for exhausting an atmosphere in the processing container in vacuum, and an automatic pressure regulating valve interposed in the vacuum exhausting system so that a pressure in the processing container can be maintained at a constant value by changing an opening degree of the automatic pressure regulating valve. The cleaning method and cleaning apparatus further includes a cleaning-gas supplying unit for supplying the gas-introduction unit with a cleaning gas, a valve-opening monitoring unit for monitoring an opening degree of the automatic pressure regulating valve, a change detecting unit for detecting a change in the opening degree on a basis of an output from the valve-opening monitoring unit and a cleaning-end recognizing unit for recognizing an end point of cleaning on a basis of an output from the change detecting unit . Consequently, the cleaning method and cleaning apparatus can detect the end point of an appropriate etching with ease.