Class E amplifier with inductive clamp
AssigneeMKS Instruments, Inc.
InventorsDaniel J. Lincoln, Paul G. Bennett
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A power supply including an inverter receiving a DC input signal from a DC input source (11). The inverter is implemented as a single-ended inverter. Each inverter is driven by a signal source (13A, 13B), which outputs an AC signal. The output from each inverter is input to a first stage harmonic filter. The power supply includes an output circuit that includes a rectifier (D1) arranged about a point so that if the inverter attempts to drive the point beyond a predetermined voltage, the rectifier conducts in order to return at least one of power and current to the DC input source. The output from the first harmonic filter (L1A, C1; L1B, C1) is output to a second harmonic filter (L2, C2) and is then output from the power supply.
Claims20
A power supply circuit for supplying alternating power to a load, comprising:
- a source of direct current (DC) voltage;
- a class E amplifier, the class E amplifier receiving the DC input voltage and generating an alternating current (AC) output signal;
- a first filter at the output of the amplifier, the first filter filtering out predetermined components of the AC signal to generate a filtered AC signal;
- and
- an output circuit at the output of the first filter for receiving the filtered AC signal and feeding the filtered AC signal to a load, wherein the output circuit includes a rectifier connected relative to a point in the output circuit such that if the voltage at the point exceeds a predetermined threshold, the rectifier conducts to cause voltage or current to return to the source of DC voltage and to clamp the point to a predetermined voltage.
A power supply circuit for supplying alternating power to a load, comprising:
- a source of direct current (DC) voltage;
- a pair of class E amplifiers for receiving the DC input voltage and for generating an alternating current (AC) output signal, the class E amplifiers being arranged in a push-pull configuration;
- a first filter at the output of each amplifier, the first filter filtering out predetermined components of the AC signal to generate a filtered AC signal;
- and
- an output circuit at the output of each first filter for receiving the filtered AC signal and feeding the filtered AC signal to a load, wherein the output circuit includes a rectifier connected relative to a point in the output circuit such that if the voltage at the point exceeds a predetermined threshold, the rectifier conducts to clamp the point to a predetermined voltage.
A plasma control system comprising:
- a plasma chamber excited by a radio frequency (RF) signal;
- a plasma controller for measuring operating conditions of the plasma chamber and generating control signals for varying conditions within the plasma chamber;
- and
- a RF generator for generating an RF signal to the plasma chamber, the RF generator including:
- a RF controller, the RF controller receiving the control signal from the plasma controller and generating a power supply control signal, and
- a power supply for receiving the power supply control signal and generating a RF signal in accordance with the power supply control signal, the power supply including:
- a source of direct current (DC) voltage;
- a class E amplifier, the class E amplifier receiving the DC input voltage and generating an alternating current (AC) output signal;
- and
- a first filter at the output of the amplifier, the first filter filtering out predetermined components of the AC signal to generate a filtered AC signal;
- wherein the power supply includes a protection circuit including a rectifier connected relative to a predetermined point such that such that if the voltage at the point exceeds a predetermined threshold, the rectifier clamps the voltage at the point to a predetermined voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.