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:
Sep. 11, 2012
Filed:
Aug. 10, 2007
Kiyoshi Komiyama, Tokyo, JP;
Akitoshi Tsuji, Tokyo, JP;
Takuya Fujiwara, Tokyo, JP;
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A gas supplying system includes a processing gas supply pipe for supplying a processing gas from a gas cylinderinto a processing apparatus and a nonreactive gas supply sourcefor supplying a nonreactive gas into the gas supply pipe. While the system is in operation, the gas supply pipe is charged with the nonreactive gas and a control unit is in a standby state. If a processing gas use start signal is received from the processing apparatus, the system exhausts the nonreactive gas from the gas supply pipe to create a vacuum therein; charges the gas supply pipe with the processing gas; and starts a supply of the processing gas from the processing gas supply source. If a processing gas use finish signal is received from the processing apparatus, the system stops the supply of the processing gas from the processing gas supply source; exhausts the processing gas from the gas supply pipe to create a vacuum therein; and charges the gas supply pipe with the nonreactive gas. Accordingly, the gas pipe from the processing gas supply source to the processing apparatus can be kept charged with the nonreactive gas when the processing gas is not used in the processing apparatus. Therefore, a deposit generation inside the gas pipe can be prevented during that period.