PURPOSE: To quickly and surely detect gas leak from the processing tube of a heat-treatment furnace for semiconductors with a simple constitution.
CONSTITUTION: A gas pressure detector 17 detects the pressure of an exhaust gas from a processing tuber 11 and sends gas pressure information to a valve controller 18. The controller 18 adjusts the flow rate of a valve 19 by sending a control signal based on the gas pressure information. An arithmetic device 20 calculates a reference gas discharging amount and its deviation based on the control signal and, when the deviation is larger than a reference deviation, sends abnormality signals to an abnormality alarm 21, gas supplying device 15, and gas force-discharging device 22. The alarm 21 alarms the occurrence of abnormality and the device 15 stops the supply of a hydrogen gas, and then, the device 22 discharges the hydrogen gas from the tube 11.
KATO ETSUSHI
SATO TAKAHIRO