Patent ID: 7845310

Claim:
A plasma generating apparatus for processing one or a plurality of substrates within a single vacuum process chamber, the apparatus comprising: a gas source; a vacuum process chamber adapted to process the one or a plurality of substrates, the process chamber having a top wall, a bottom wall and sidewalls extending therebetween, the top wall including one or more openings in fluid communication with the gas source and wherein the vacuum process chamber includes a plurality of wafer pedestals; an antenna array intermediate the one or more openings and the plurality of wafer pedestals, wherein the antenna array comprises a plurality of conductor segments serially coupled together through capacitors, each one of the conductor segments comprising a floating electrode and a dielectric tube concentrically disposed about the floating electrode, wherein the floating electrode is free from contact with the dielectric tube and the electrode floats in a washer disposed intermediate the electrode and the dielectric tube, and wherein the dielectric tube is hermetically sealed at each end against the sidewalls of the process chamber such that the vacuum process chamber can be evacuated during operation thereof while the floating electrode is at atmospheric pressure; a power source in electrical communication with two of the conductor segments.