The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 10, 2022
Filed:
Feb. 17, 2020
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Teryl Pratt, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Rongping Wang, Cupertino, CA (US);
Guomin Mao, San Jose, CA (US);
Andy Chuang, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A plasma ignition circuit includes a transformer having a primary coil configured to couple an RF power supply. A first secondary coil is configured to couple a remote plasma source (RPS), and a second secondary coil. The plasma ignition circuit further includes a control switch having an input configured to couple the second secondary coil and an output configured to capacitively couple the RPS and a switch controller. The switch controller is configured to upon sensing a secondary RF voltage applied to the second secondary coil in response to an RF voltage applied by RF power supply to the primary coil, enable the control switch to capacitively apply the secondary RF voltage to the RPS to ignite a plasma within the RPS. Upon sensing a drop in plasma impedance when the plasma is ignited, disable the control switch to discontinue applying the secondary RF voltage to the RPS.