Method for reducing agglomeration of Si layer, method for manufacturing semiconductor device and vacuum treatment apparatus

The present invention provides a method for reducing the agglomeration of a Si layer in an SOI substrate, which can prevent the agglomeration of the Si layer from occurring in a heating and temperature-raising process for the Si layer, when heating and temperature-raising the Si layer that is the outermost surface of the SOI substrate and is in an exposed state, and can prevent the agglomeration further without forming a protective film on the SOI substrate. The method for reducing the agglomeration of the Si layer in the SOI substrate is a method of supplying a hydride gas in a heating and temperature-raising process for the Si layer, when heating and temperature-raising the Si layer which is in an exposed state in the SOI substrate that has an insulation layer and the Si layer sequentially stacked on a Si substrate. In this method, the hydride gas dissociates before the Si layer coheres, at a temperature at which the Si layer does not yet start agglomeration, and terminates a dangling bond of the Si layer with a predetermined atom such as H.