MONITORING SYSTEM COMPRISING INFRARED THERMOPILE DETECTOR
First Claim
1. A system for treatment of an effluent material, said system comprising:
- an inlet conduit arranged to receive the effluent material from an upstream processing unit;
a sampling region for the effluent material in flow communication with the inlet conduit, the sampling region defining a radiation transmission path;
an infrared radiation source constructed and arranged to emit infrared radiation into the sampling region; and
a thermopile detector constructed and arranged to receive at least a portion of the infrared radiation following passage thereof through the sampling region, and arranged to responsively generate an output signal correlative of at least one of (i) effluent material composition and (ii) concentration of an abatable component of the effluent material within the sampling region; and
a control element arranged to receive the output signal from the thermopile detector and arranged to adjust an effluent treatment media flow based on the received output signal to maintain effluent material and/or abatable component discharge below a predetermined level.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to a semiconductor processing system that employs infrared-based thermopile detector for process control, by analyzing a material of interest, based on absorption of infrared light at a characteristic wavelength by such material. In one embodiment, an infrared light beam is transmitted through a linear transmission path from an infrared light source through a sampling region containing material of interest into the thermopile detector. The linear transmission path reduces the risk of signal loss during transmission of the infrared light. The transmission path of the infrared light may comprise a highly smooth and reflective inner surface for minimizing such signal loss during transmission.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for treatment of an effluent material, said system comprising:
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an inlet conduit arranged to receive the effluent material from an upstream processing unit; a sampling region for the effluent material in flow communication with the inlet conduit, the sampling region defining a radiation transmission path; an infrared radiation source constructed and arranged to emit infrared radiation into the sampling region; and a thermopile detector constructed and arranged to receive at least a portion of the infrared radiation following passage thereof through the sampling region, and arranged to responsively generate an output signal correlative of at least one of (i) effluent material composition and (ii) concentration of an abatable component of the effluent material within the sampling region; and a control element arranged to receive the output signal from the thermopile detector and arranged to adjust an effluent treatment media flow based on the received output signal to maintain effluent material and/or abatable component discharge below a predetermined level. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of generating an output signal indicative of presence or concentration of a desired component of a material, said method comprising emitting infrared radiation generated by an infrared radiation source into a sampling region defining a radiation transmission path and a material flow path, receiving at least a portion of said emitted infrared radiation with a thermopile detector, generating the output signal from said thermopile detector indicative of the presence or concentration of the desired component of said material in the sampling region, wherein the method is further characterized by any of the following:
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(a) flowing a gas through at least one gas introduction element between the infrared radiation source and the thermopile detector; (b) transmitting the infrared radiation along a transmission path that comprises an inner surface characterized by a roughness in a range of from about 0.012 μ
m Ra to about 1.80 μ
m Ra; and(c) heating at least a portion of said radiation transmission path with a heating element that is distinct from the infrared radiation source.
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Specification