Patent ID: 7976671

Claim:
A plasma reactor comprising: a vacuum chamber comprising a cylindrical side wall, a ceiling overlying said side wall and a ring supported on a top edge of said side wall and supporting said ceiling, said ring comprising an external surface and an interior surface; an RF plasma source power applicator and an RF source power generator coupled to said applicator; plural passages extending in a radial direction through said ring from said external surface to said interior surface and being spaced apart along a circumference of said ring; a process gas supply; a succession of detachable gas flow lines spaced from and outside of said ring and of said chamber and arranged end-to-end around a circumference of said chamber and a single gas supply line coupled between said succession of gas flow lines and said process gas supply; plural external gas flow valves outside of said chamber and coupled between successive ones of said gas flow lines at respective locations spaced apart relative to said circumference, each of said valves having: (a) a controlled gas output port individually coupled to a respective one of said plural passages at said external surface of said ring, (b) a valve control input governing gas flow through said controlled gas output port, (c) an input flow-through port connected to a first one of the corresponding pair of gas flow lines, (d) an output flow-through port connected to the other one of said corresponding pair of gas flow lines, (e) an unblockable flow-through passage between said input and output flow-through ports, wherein each of said gas flow lines is separately disconnectable from the valve to which it is connected; a workpiece support within said chamber having a support surface for supporting a workpiece facing said ceiling and generally parallel to and concentric with said ring; and a gas valve configuration controller controlling the valve control input of each of said valves.