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:
May. 18, 2004
Filed:
Nov. 27, 2000
Natsuko Ito, Tokyo, JP;
Tsuyoshi Moriya, Tokyo, JP;
Fumihiko Uesugi, Tokyo, JP;
Yoshinori Kato, Yamanashi, JP;
Masaru Aomori, Yamanashi, JP;
Shuji Moriya, Yamanashi, JP;
Mitsuhiro Tachibana, Yamanashi, JP;
Other;
Abstract
A cleaning end point detecting apparatus detects an end point of a cleaning process in which contamination attached to an inner wall of a reaction chamber is removed by introducing a cleaning gas into the chamber to produce a cluster cloud and detached particles. An irradiating unit irradiates a laser beam onto the cluster cloud and the detached particles within the reaction chamber to produce a scattered laser beam. A monitoring unit monitors the scattered laser beam as a two-dimensional image information. A judging unit judges the end point of the cleaning process on the basis of the two-dimensional image information. Preferably, the judging unit judges, as the end point of the cleaning process, a time instant when neither the detached particles nor the cluster cloud are detected on the basis of the two-dimensional image information.