Arc recovery with over-voltage protection for plasma-chamber power supplies
First Claim
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1. A system for supplying energy to a plasma processing chamber, the system comprising:
- a power supply;
a plasma processing chamber coupled to the power supply via a first power line and a second power line;
an arc management component configured to extinguish an arc in the plasma processing chamber; and
an arc recovery component configured to apply power to the plasma processing chamber after the arc has been extinguished, the arc recovery component including;
an energy diversion component coupled by a switch across the first power line and the second power line to draw current away from the plasma processing chamber while power is applied to the plasma processing chamber during an initial period of time after the arc is extinguished, the amount of current being drawn away decreasing during the initial period of time so as to gradually increase an amount of power applied to the plasma processing chamber during the initial period of time; and
a control component that controls the switch to couple the energy diversion component across the first power line and the second power line during the initial period of time after the arc is extinguished and decouple the energy diversion component from being across the first power line and the second power line after the initial period until another arc is detected.
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Abstract
A system and method for managing power delivered to a processing chamber is described. In one embodiment current is drawn away from the plasma processing chamber while initiating an application of power to the plasma processing chamber during an initial period of time, the amount of current being drawn away decreasing during the initial period of time so as to increase the amount of power applied to the plasma processing chamber during the initial period of time.
173 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A system for supplying energy to a plasma processing chamber, the system comprising:
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a power supply; a plasma processing chamber coupled to the power supply via a first power line and a second power line; an arc management component configured to extinguish an arc in the plasma processing chamber; and an arc recovery component configured to apply power to the plasma processing chamber after the arc has been extinguished, the arc recovery component including; an energy diversion component coupled by a switch across the first power line and the second power line to draw current away from the plasma processing chamber while power is applied to the plasma processing chamber during an initial period of time after the arc is extinguished, the amount of current being drawn away decreasing during the initial period of time so as to gradually increase an amount of power applied to the plasma processing chamber during the initial period of time; and a control component that controls the switch to couple the energy diversion component across the first power line and the second power line during the initial period of time after the arc is extinguished and decouple the energy diversion component from being across the first power line and the second power line after the initial period until another arc is detected. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for supplying energy to a plasma processing chamber, comprising:
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detecting an arc in the plasma chamber; diverting, responsive to the detected arc, current away from the plasma processing chamber to extinguish the arc; placing a current diversion path across inputs to the plasma chamber in response to the arc being detected; drawing current away from the plasma processing chamber through the diversion path while initiating an application of power to the plasma processing chamber during an initial period of time after the arc is extinguished, the amount of current being drawn away decreasing during the initial period of time so as to increase the amount of power applied to the plasma processing chamber during the initial period of time; removing the current diversion path after the initial period of time until another arc is detected; converting the current that is drawn away from the plasma processing chamber to stored energy; and discharging the stored energy. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. An apparatus for supplying energy to a plasma processing chamber, comprising:
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an input terminal adapted to receive power that is generated by a power supply; an output terminal configured to apply the power generated by a power supply so that the power may be utilized by a plasma processing chamber; an energy diversion component configured to draw a decreasing amount of energy away from the output terminal so that the output terminal is capable of gradually increasing a level of energy from a low level of energy that is insufficient to ignite the plasma in the plasma processing chamber to a level sufficient to ignite plasma in the plasma processing chamber; a first switch disposed to couple the output terminal to the energy diversion component, the energy diversion component including a capacitor to draw current away from the output terminal and convert the current to stored energy, the energy discharge component including an inductor configured to draw the stored energy from the capacitor so as to enable the capacitor to draw more current; a second switch disposed in series with the first switch, the series combination of the first and second switches creating, when the first and second switches are closed, a current path to shunt current away from the output terminal so as to extinguish an arc in the plasma processing chamber; and an energy discharge component configured to draw energy away from the energy diversion component so as enable the energy diversion component to draw more energy away from the output terminal. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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Specification