Plasma process control system comprising a programmable process controller and an external computer for downloading a control program to the process controller

摘要

Plasma process control arrangement controls a plasma generator (12) that provides electrical power to a plasma chamber (18) for an RF or DC plasma process. A sensor system (16) detects operating parameters of the electrical power, including voltage and current levels. A process detection system(PDS)controller (26) has inputs coupled to the sensor system (16) to receive the operating parameters, a programmable memory unit (30) for storing a control program to compute an output control signal based on said operating parameters, and a control output coupled to a control input of the plasma generator. An external computer device (42), includes a monitor (46), an icon copying device, e.g., a mouse (50) suitable for drag-and-drop operation, and a memory storing a suitable code-building program (44) for generating a user-selected control program according to user-determined process requirements. Respective graphical icons are presented on the monitor and are selected and connected by use of the icon copying device to represent logic processing of the operational parameters, and the external computer device (42) creates the corresponding user-selected control program. The user-selected control program is downloaded from the external computer device to the programmable memory (30) of the pds controller (26), e.g., using standard connectors and cables.