Patent ID: 11956885
Assignee: MKS INSTRUMENTS, INC.
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A plasma-generating system comprising:
a variable-frequency microwave generator configured to generate microwave power;
a plasma applicator configured to use the microwave power from the microwave generator to (i) ignite a process gas therein for initiating a plasma in a plasma ignition process and (ii) maintain the plasma in a steady state process; and
a coarse tuner connected between the microwave generator and the plasma applicator, the coarse tuner located immediately adjacent to the plasma applicator without a coaxial cable connection therebetween, wherein the coarse tuner includes an integrated coupling element for coupling the microwave power from the microwave generator to a microwave cavity of the plasma applicator, and wherein at least one physical parameter of the coarse tuner is adapted to be set to achieve coarse impedance matching between the microwave generator and the plasma generated during both the plasma ignition process and the steady state process, wherein a load impedance of the plasma generated during the plasma ignition process and the steady state process is adapted to vary over an impedance range;
wherein the microwave generator is configured to tune an operating frequency at the set physical parameter of the coarse tuner to achieve at least one of (i) ignition of the process gas during the plasma ignition process or (ii) maximization of the microwave power delivered to the plasma in the steady state process.