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US 7,115,185 B1Granted
Pulsed excitation of inductively coupled plasma sources
AssigneeAdvanced Energy Industries, Inc.
InventorsJuan Jose Gonzalez, Fernando Gustavo Tomasel, Andrew Shabalin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The reaction rate of a feed gas flowed into a plasma chamber is controlled. In one embodiment a pulsed power supply repeatedly applies a high power pulse to the plasma chamber to increase the reaction rate of plasma within the chamber, and applies a low power pulse between applications of the high power pulses.
Claims28
A method comprising:
- applying repeatedly a high power pulse to a plasma chamber to increase the reaction rate of plasma within the chamber;
- and
- applying, between applications of the high power pulses, a low power pulse wherein applying the low power pulse comprises actively detuning a pulsed power generator with respect to the plasma by changing the operating frequency of the power generator beyond the range of an active matching network between the power generator and the plasma.
An apparatus comprising:
- a coil to couple power to a plasma in a plasma chamber;
- and
- a pulsed power generator coupled to the coil to apply power to the coil
- to repeatedly apply a high power pulse to the coil to increase the reaction rate of the plasma within the chamber, and to apply a low power pulse to the coil between applications of the high power pulses;
- and
- an active matching network between the pulsed power generator and the coil and wherein the pulsed power generator applies the low power pulse by changing the operating frequency of the power generator beyond the range of the active matching network.
3 more elements
A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
- applying repeatedly a high power pulse to a plasma chamber to increase the reaction rate of plasma within the chamber;
- applying, between applications of the high power pulses, a low power pulse;
- and
- changing the operating frequency of a power generator beyond the range of an active matching network that is connected between the power generator and the plasma.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- applying repeatedly a high power pulse to a plasma chamber to increase the reaction rate of plasma within the chamber;
- and
- applying, between applications of the high power pulses, a low power pulse wherein applying the low power pulse comprises actively detuning a pulsed power generator with respect to the plasma by changing the settings of an active matching network that is coupled between the power generator and the plasma.
An apparatus comprising:
- a coil to couple power to a plasma in a plasma chamber;
- a pulsed power generator coupled to the coil to repeatedly apply a high power pulse to the coil to increase the reaction rate of the plasma within the chamber and to apply a low power pulse to the coil between applications of the high power pulses:
- and
- an active matching network between the pulsed power generator and the coil and wherein the pulsed power generator applies the low power pulse by changing the settings of the active matching network.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.