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Monitoring a discharge in a plasma process

  • US 10,181,392 B2
  • Filed: 04/01/2016
  • Issued: 01/15/2019
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2013
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method of monitoring a discharge in a plasma process, the method comprising:

  • detecting a first signal profile of a plasma supply signal in a first time range of a first time period of the plasma supply signal, the plasma supply signal being a periodically changing signal supplied to the plasma process;

    detecting a second signal profile of the plasma supply signal in a second time range of a second time period of the plasma supply signal, points that the second time range is located in the second time period corresponding to points that the first time range is located in the first time period;

    determining a threshold by carrying out a calculation from the first signal profile, a minimum time difference, and a minimum signal amplitude difference, such that the threshold has the minimum time difference in a time direction and the minimum signal amplitude difference in a signal amplitude direction; and

    in response to determining that a difference between the first signal profile and the second signal profile is beyond the threshold, generating an identification signal that indicates a state or error in the plasma process.

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