Patent ID: 7768269

Claim:
In a plasma reactor comprising a chamber with plural plasma power applicators and plural power generators coupled to said power applicators and a workpiece support pedestal with a workpiece support surface, a method of monitoring arcing in said chamber, comprising: carrying out a plasma process in accordance with a process recipe comprising a succession of process steps; monitoring voltage or current transients at each of said power applicators and at said workpiece support surface; for each of at least respective ones of said process steps and for each of at least respective ones of said power applicators and said workpiece support surface, determining an arc detection threshold lying above a noise level; comparing each transient with the threshold determined for the corresponding power applicator or workpiece support surface, and issuing an arc detect flag if said transient exceeds said threshold, said arc detect flag being associated with one of said power generators or said workpiece support surface; determining the identity or location of the power applicator or workpiece support surface for which a corresponding threshold value was exceeded by a transient, and displaying said identity or location at a user interface; turning off said plural power generators in response to said arc flag; and wherein: said plural power applicators comprise a sputter target at a ceiling of the reactor, and a coil antenna at a side wall of said reactor; and said plural power generators comprise a first power generator coupled to said target, a second power generator coupled to said coil antenna and a third power generator coupled to the electrode of said workpiece support pedestal.