Patent ID: 7560657

Claim:
A method of plasma-assisted processing a plurality of work pieces within a localized irradiation zone that occupies some portion of a radiation chamber, the method comprising: placing each of the plurality of work pieces in or on a corresponding movable carrier that is disposed within the radiation chamber; sequentially moving each of the movable carriers on a conveyor into the localized irradiation zone of the radiation chamber; flowing a gas into the localized irradiation zone; igniting the gas in the localized irradiation zone to form a hot plasma; sustaining the hot plasma for a period of time sufficient to at least partially plasma-process at least one of the work pieces in the localized irradiation zone; and advancing the conveyor to move the at least one plasma-processed work piece out of the localized irradiation zone and into a portion of the radiation chamber in which the at least one plasma-processed work piece is not exposed to the plasma-forming localized irradiation zone.