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:
Mar. 09, 2010
Filed:
Jun. 24, 2008
Keisuke Suzuki, Tokyo-To, JP;
Toshiyuki Ikeuchi, Tokyo-To, JP;
Kota Umezawa, Tokyo-To, JP;
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An oxidizing method for an object to be processed according to the present invention includes: 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. The atmosphere forming step has: a selecting step of selecting a predetermined supplying unit of a reducing gas among the plurality of supplying units of a reducing gas, based on an arrangement number and 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 by means of the supplying unit of an oxidative gas; and an reducing-gas supplying step of supplying the reducing gas into the processing container by means of only the supplying unit of a reducing gas selected by the selecting step.