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:
Jun. 04, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 21, 2001
Tihiro Ohkawa, La Jolla, CA (US);
Robert L. Miller, San Diego, CA (US);
Sergei Putvinski, La Jolla, CA (US);
Richard L. Freeman, Del Mar, CA (US);
Archimedes Technology Group, Inc., San Diego, CA (US);
Abstract
A filter and a method for separating ions in a partially ionized plasma according to their mass includes a chamber with crossed electric and magnetic fields established therein. A feed, including metal atoms having ionization potentials in a low range, and gas atoms having an ionization potential in a high range, is introduced into the chamber. An electron temperature below the low range is generated to partially ionize the feed by dissociating the metal atoms from the gas atoms, and by ionizing the metal atoms into light and heavy ions according to their mass to charge ratio. The light and heavy ions are then influenced by the crossed electric and magnetic fields to separate the light ions from the heavy ions.