Plasma equipment and methods of using the same

• US 9,184,031 B2
• Filed: 07/16/2012
• Issued: 11/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., TOS Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Bongsun, Jun, Hyun Su, Kim, YongKyu, Park, DooByeong, Lee, Dongbock, Na, Minjae, Lee, Dongyoon, Jeong, Jaehong
• Primary Examiner(s): Lau, Tung S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sun, Xiuquin
• Application Number:
  US13/550,303
• Publication Number:
  US 20130103347A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,212 Days
• Field of Search: 702/181
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32944 Arc detection
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32972 Spectral analysis

Abstract

Plasma equipments are provided. The plasma equipment includes a chamber in which a plasma reaction occurs, a detector outputting a spectrum signal in response to light generated from the plasma reaction, and a plasma monitoring module determining whether the spectrum signal includes an arcing signal or a hunting signal. Related methods are also provided.

Claims

1. Plasma equipment comprising:

a chamber in which a plasma reaction occurs;

a detector configured to output a spectrum signal in response to light generated from the plasma reaction; and

a plasma monitoring module configured to determine whether the spectrum signal includes an arcing signal or a hunting signal,

wherein the plasma monitoring module comprises a high pass filter configured to output a high frequency signal in response to the spectrum signal,

wherein the plasma monitoring module further comprises a probability analyzer configured to apply an amplitude variation of the high frequency signal to a probability function to determine whether the high frequency signal includes the arcing signal or the hunting signal.

2. The plasma equipment of claim 1, wherein the high pass filter is configured to remove a low frequency noise signal from the spectrum signal.

3. The plasma equipment of claim 1, wherein the probability function comprises a Gaussian distribution function.

4. The plasma equipment of claim 3, wherein the Gaussian distribution function includes an amplitude and a variance of the high frequency signal as variable parameters.

5. The plasma equipment of claim 4, wherein the probability analyzer is configured to calculate a normalized probability value of the high frequency signal using the Gaussian distribution function and regards a signal having an amplitude over the normalized probability value as the arcing signal or the hunting signal.

6. The plasma equipment of claim 1, wherein the plasma monitoring module further comprises:

a gain adjustor configured to amplify the spectrum signal; and

an analog-to-digital converter configured to convert the amplified spectrum signal into a digital signal.