Apparatus for plasma-processing a disk substrate and method of manufacturing a magnetic disk

摘要

A continuous electrode (5) entirely held at substantially the same potential is disposed in a plasma processing chamber (4) to define the inner wall thereof. A disk substrate (1) is placed in the electrode, and a plasma is generated around the disk substrate in a uniform state. A cross-sectional area of the plasma extending over the upper and lower surfaces of the disk substrate is made larger than a combined area of the disk substrate and its holder (2). The plasma uniformly surrounds the outer periphery and a central hole of the disk substrate. Further, a gas exhaust system (10, 32, 33, 331) for exhausting a reactive gas from the plasma processing chamber is made up of a main exhaust path (10) and a bypass exhaust path (33) such that the bypass exhaust path is used to exhaust the reactive gas at a stroke from the plasma processing chamber after plasma processing has been performed on the disk substrate, thus reducing a time required to exhaust the reactive gas. This structure enables a diamond-like carbon (DLC) protective film (36) to be uniformly formed on both surfaces of the disk substrate while improving the productivity of magnetic disk substrates. <IMAGE>