Abstract: Stainless steel member for semiconductor fabrication equipment having a passive state coating on the surface of the stainless steel comprising, in weight percent, 0.1% or less of C, 2.0% or less of Si, 3.0% or less of Mn, 10% or more of Ni, 15 to 25% of Cr, 1.5 to 4.5% of Mo, 0.5% or less of one or more rare earth element and Fe for substantially the whole remainder. Said passive state coating has a pitting potential of at least 900 mV (when the current density of the anode polarization curve determined with a potentiostat in 3.5% aqueous sodium chloride solution is 10 .mu.A/cm.sup.2) and has a thickness of 0.5 to 20 nm. The invention also includes a surface treatment method for the stainless steel.