Temperature sensing system for use in a radio frequency environment
First Claim
1. A temperature sensing system, comprising:
- a sensor probe having a housing and a thermal sensing device positioned within the housing, the thermal sensing device produces an electrical signal based on a measured temperature;
a shielded cable coupled to said sensor probe, said shielded cable includes at least one wire;
a RF filter circuit coupled to the at least one wire within said shielded cable, said RF filter circuit receives the electrical signal produced by said sensor probe via said shielded cable and removes significant amounts of RF interference from the electrical signal and outputs a filtered electrical signal; and
a control circuit coupled to said RF filter circuit, said control circuit amplifies the filtered electrical signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to a temperature sensing system that accurately measures temperatures of articles or areas using a contact sensor even in a high radio frequency environment. The temperature sensing system includes a sensor probe that contacts with an article or area that is to have its temperature monitored, and a control circuit to amplify signals from the sensor probe. When significant amounts of radio frequency (RF) interference are present, the temperature sensing can be provided with RF shielding, RF filtering, isolated amplifying and/or multiple stages of low pass filtering that suppress the RF interference. The temperature sensing system is particularly well suited for monitoring and measuring temperatures within semiconductor manufacturing equipment, such as etching, deposition, and other processing chambers.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A temperature sensing system, comprising:
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a sensor probe having a housing and a thermal sensing device positioned within the housing, the thermal sensing device produces an electrical signal based on a measured temperature; a shielded cable coupled to said sensor probe, said shielded cable includes at least one wire; a RF filter circuit coupled to the at least one wire within said shielded cable, said RF filter circuit receives the electrical signal produced by said sensor probe via said shielded cable and removes significant amounts of RF interference from the electrical signal and outputs a filtered electrical signal; and a control circuit coupled to said RF filter circuit, said control circuit amplifies the filtered electrical signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A temperature sensing probe, comprising:
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a housing containing a thermal sensing device positioned within the housing, the thermal sensing device produces an electrical signal based on a measured temperature; and a shielded cable containing a least one wire, the at least one wire receives the electrical signal from the thermal sensing device. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A temperature sensing system, comprising:
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a temperature sensing device that produces an electrical signal based on a measured temperature; RF filter means for receiving the electrical signal produced by said temperature sensing device and removing significant amounts of RF interference from the electrical signal and outputs a filtered electrical signal; isolation means for rejecting residual RF interference from the filtered electrical signal; and amplification means for amplifying the filtered electrical signal. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification