Patent ID: 6873113

Claim:
A stand alone plasma vacuum pump for pumping gas from a low pressure inlet end to a high pressure outlet end, said plasma pump comprising: a housing enclosing at least one pumping region located between said inlet end and said outlet end; a permanent magnet assembly providing at least one magnetic field that extends in said pumping region between said inlet end and said outlet end, said magnetic field providing a magnetic flux channel for guiding and confining a plasma, said channel having a first portion in which the magnetic field has a negative intensity gradient in the direction from said inlet end to said outlet end; and a microwave source providing microwave energy into said flux channel to create a plasma by ionizing gas in said channel and to excite electrons in said first portion of said channel to a resonance state such that interaction between the electrons and the magnetic field creates forces that propel the electrons and ions in the plasma to the outlet end.