Gas branching apparatus and method for manufacturing fine glass particle deposited body using the same

A gas branching apparatus that branches and supplies a gas to first to N-th supply targets (where N is an integer of 2 or more), comprising:

• a controller;
• and
• first to N-th pipes,
• wherein the first to N-th pipes are each branched into first to N-th branch pipes on a downstream end side,
• wherein the i-th branch pipes of the respective first to N-th pipes are connected in common to the i-th supply target, and the i-th branch pipes of the respective first to N-th pipes are provided with respective valves, where i denotes each of integers of 1 to N,
• wherein the gas branching apparatus is arranged between a mass flow controller and the first N-th supply targets,
• wherein the controller is configured to control opening and closing of the valves provided on the first to N-th branch pipes of the first to N-th pipes, and
• wherein the controller controls the opening and closing of the valves while satisfying a first condition where one of the N valves provided on the first to N-th branch pipes of the j-th pipe is set to an opened state and the rest are set to a closed state, where j notes each of integers of 1 to N, and satisfying a second condition where one of the N valves provided on the k-th branch pipes of the respective first to N-th pipes is set to the opened state and the rest are set to the closed state, where k denotes each of integers of 1 to N.