A method of processing a substrate including loading the substrate into a plasma-processing apparatus. The plasma-processing apparatus includes a focus ring. The substrate is processed in the plasma-processing apparatus using plasma. The substrate is unloaded from the plasma-processing apparatus. A layer is formed on the focus ring. The layer is formed by an in-situ process in the plasma-processing apparatus.

A substrate supporting member provided in a processing chamber for processing the substrate and configured to support the substrate, has on its upper surface, a protruding area that supports an edge side of the substrate from below; a recessed area provided inside of the protruding area so as not to be brought into contact with the substrate supported by the protruding area; and an auxiliary protruding area formed lower than the protruding area and provided in the recessed area, and has a flow passage that is communicated with inside of the recessed area, for escaping gas between the substrate and the substrate supporting member from the recessed area side.

A plasma chemical vapor deposition device includes an adhesion suppressing sheet suppressing a processing gas from adhering to an inner wall of a reactor. The adhesion suppressing sheet is arranged between a placement position of a workpiece and the inner wall of the reactor. The adhesion suppressing sheet is a fabric that includes first fiber bundles and second fiber bundles that extend in directions different from each other. In the first fiber bundles, front side portions and rear side portions are alternately arranged in a first direction. In the second fiber bundles, front side portions and rear side portions are alternately arranged in a second direction.

Methods and apparatus for reducing particles generated in a process carried out in a process chamber are provided herein. In some embodiments, a process kit shield includes: a body having a surface facing a processing volume of a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process chamber, wherein the body is composed of aluminum oxide (Al.sub.2O.sub.3); and a silicon nitride layer on the surface of the body.

Processing methods and apparatus for increasing a reaction chamber batch size. Such a method of processing deposition substrates (e.g., wafers), involves conducting a deposition on a first portion of a batch of deposition wafers in a reaction chamber, conducting an interval conditioning reaction chamber purge to remove defects generated by the wafer processing from the reaction chamber; and following the interval conditioning mid-batch reaction chamber purge, conducting the deposition on another portion of the batch of wafers in the reaction chamber. The interval conditioning reaction chamber purge is conducted prior to exceeding a baseline for acceptable defect (e.g., particle) generation in the chamber and is performed while no wafers are positioned in the reaction chamber.

A method for cleaning a vacuum chamber, particularly a vacuum chamber used in the manufacture of OLED devices is described. The method includes cleaning at least one of an inside of the vacuum chamber and a component inside the vacuum chamber with active species, a process gas for generating the active species includes at least 90% oxygen and 5 at least 2% argon, particularly, wherein the process gas includes about 95% oxygen and about 5% argon.

Methods of cleaning a PVD chamber component, for example, process kit components are disclosed. The method comprises at least one of directing a jet of pressurized fluid at a surface of the PVD chamber component, directing pressurized carbon dioxide at the surface of the PVD chamber component, placing the PVD chamber component in a liquid and producing ultrasonic waves in the liquid to further remove contaminants from the surface of the PVD chamber component, using a plasma to clean the surface of the PVD chamber component, subjecting the PVD chamber component to a thermal cycle by heating up to a peak temperature of at least 50° C. and subsequently cooling down to room, placing the PVD chamber component in a process chamber, reducing the pressure in the process chamber below atmospheric pressure and purging the process chamber with a gas, surface conditioning the surface of the PVD chamber component, and drying the surface of the PVD chamber component by directing a gas on the surface of the PVD chamber component.

An ex situ physical vapor deposition (PVD) process kit conditioning apparatus configured to condition process kit components of a PVD substrate processing chamber, the ex situ PVD process kit conditioning apparatus comprising a chamber assembly, a central cathode assembly configured to mount one or more targets. The apparatus is configured to receive one or more components of a process kit of a PVD substrate processing chamber and the central cathode assembly is positioned and configured so that the apparatus deposits the defect reduction coating substantially uniformly on an inner surface of a process kit component of the PVD substrate processing chamber.

Cleaning fixtures for cleaning a showerhead assembly are disclosure. The cleaning fixtures include: a fixture body incorporating three or more cavities, each cavity being separate from an adjacent cavity by a partition, and a number of channels associated with each cavity for fluidly connecting the cavities with an upper surface of the fixture body.

The present application provides a detaching and installing device for a gas distribution plate of an etching machine, and the etching machine, and relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing technologies, aiming at addressing the problems that it is quite difficult to detach and install the gas distribution plate of the etching machine and that the gas distribution plate is highly likely to be polluted. The detaching and installing device for the gas distribution plate of the etching machine includes a gripping member, a connecting member and a fixing member, the fixing member is detachably connected to the gas distribution plate of the etching machine, and the gripping member and the fixing member are connected through the connecting member; the gripping member is provided thereon with a gripping portion for grip by a user hand.