Method and apparatus for inspecting process performance for use in a plasma processing apparatus

An apparatus for inspecting a process performance of a capacitively coupled plasma processing apparatus which generates a plasma for a plasma processing by applying a radio frequency wave between a first electrode attached to a depressurizable processing vessel and a second electrode disposed in the processing vessel to face the first electrode in parallel, the first electrode being ungrounded, the apparatus comprising:

• an impedance measuring unit for measuring an impedance of a radio frequency transmission path ranging from a rear surface of the first electrode to a ground potential part;
• a real resistance component frequency characteristic acquiring unit for acquiring a frequency characteristic of a real resistance component of the impedance by allowing the impedance measuring unit to measure the impedance of the radio frequency transmission path while sweeping a frequency;
• a peak reading unit for reading a value of a specific property of a peak which appears from the frequency characteristic of the real resistance component;
• and
• a determination unit for determining adequacy or inadequacy of the process performance of the plasma processing apparatus based on the value of the property of the peak.