Granted Patent B2

US 12,272,533 · App. 17/132,007 · Granted Apr 8, 2025

Inventors: Corneluis Erasmus van Greunen (Fort Collins, CO); Masahiro Watanabe (Windsor, CO)

Assignee: Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.

H01J37/32926G01R31/245H01J37/32183H03H7/40H01J2237/24564

Abstract

Claims (80)

1. A system for assessing a match network, the system comprising:

non-volatile memory comprising a stored model that characterizes a variable reactance section of the match network in terms of s-parameters for each combination of, at least, a portion of available combinations of settings of switched capacitors; and

a controller comprising:

a reactance controller configured to control the setting of the switched capacitors; and

a damage detection component configured to:

obtain a present setting of the variable reactance section from the reactance controller;

access s-parameters of the stored model for the present setting;

obtain, using the s-parameters and at least one measurement-based-attribute at a first side of the match network, at least one expected-attribute at a second side of the match network; and

contrast the at least one measurement-based-attribute at the second side of the match network with the at least one expected-attribute to assess whether the match network is damaged.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to:

obtain a measure of at least one of voltage or current at the second side of the match network to obtain the at least one measurement-based-attribute at the second side of the match network; and

obtain a measure of at least one of voltage or current at the first side of the match network to obtain the at least one measurement-based-attribute at the first side of the match network.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein:

the at least one measurement-based-attribute at the first side and the at least one measurement-based-attribute at the second side of the match network comprise a measured voltage value each, and the at least one expected-attribute comprises an expected voltage value.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein:

the at least one measurement-based-attribute at the first side and the at least one measurement-based-attribute at the second side of the match network comprise a measured current value each, and the at least one expected-attribute includes an expected current value.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein:

the at least one measurement-based-attribute at the first side and the at least one measurement-based-attribute at the second side of the match network include both a measured voltage value and a measured current value each and the at least one expected-attribute includes both an expected voltage value and an expected current value, wherein the controller is configured to contrast the at least one measurement-based-attribute at the second side of the match network with the at least one expected-attribute by:

determining a difference between the measured voltage value and the expected voltage value; and

determining a difference between the measured current value and the expected current value;

wherein at least one of a difference between the measured voltage value and the expected voltage value or a difference between the measured current value and the expected current value exceeds a corresponding threshold.

6. The system of claim 2 , wherein the measurement-based-attribute at the second side of the match network includes an output impedance calculated based at least in part upon the voltage and current measured at an output of the match network;

wherein the measurement-based-attribute at the first side of the match network includes an input impedance calculated based at least in part upon the voltage or current values;

wherein the expected-attribute includes an expected impedance at the output of the match network obtained from the present settings of the match network;

wherein the controller is configured to contrast the output impedance at the output of the match network with the expected impedance at the output of the match network to determine operational changes of the match network.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to obtain the one or more parameters with a sensor located within the generator.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of outputs from the match network to a plurality of plasma loads.

9. A match system comprising:

a variable reactance section comprising a plurality of switched capacitors;

at least one first sensor to measure one or more first parameter values at a first side of the variable reactance section;

at least one second sensor to measure one or more second parameter values at a second side of the variable reactance section;

non-volatile memory comprising a stored model that characterizes the variable reactance section in terms of s-parameters for each combination of, at least, a portion of available combinations of settings of the switched capacitors; and

a controller comprising:

a reactance controller configured to control a setting of the variable reactance section;

a damage detection component configured to:

obtain a present setting of the variable reactance section from the reactance controller;

access s-parameters of the stored model for the present setting;

obtain, using the s-parameters and one or more of the first parameter values measured at the first side of the variable reactance section, at least one expected parameter value for the second side of the variable reactance section; and

contrast the one or more second parameters values with the at least one expected parameter value to assess whether the match system is damaged.

10. The match system of claim 9 , wherein:

the at least one first sensor includes at least one of a voltage sensor or a current sensor at an input of the variable reactance section;

the at least one second sensor includes at least one of a voltage sensor or a current sensor at an output of the variable reactance section.

11. The match system of claim 9 , wherein

the at least one first sensor includes a voltage sensor and a current sensor at a first side of the match system;

the at least one second sensor includes a voltage sensor and a current sensor at a second side of the match system; and

wherein the controller is configured to:

calculate an impedance at the second side of the match system based upon voltage and current measured at the second side of the match system;

calculate an impedance at the first side of the match system based upon voltage and current measured at the first side of the match system;

obtain an expected impedance at the second side of the match system and contrasting the expected impedance at the second side of the match system with the calculated impedance at the second side of the match system to determine operational characteristics of the match system.

12. The match system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one first sensor, the at least one second sensor, and the controller are one of: integrated with a common housing or distributed among two or more separate components.

13. A match system comprising:

a variable reactance section comprising a plurality of switched capacitors;

a first sensor to measure one or more first-parameters at a first side of the match system;

a second sensor to measure one or more second parameters at a second side of the match system;

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising:

a model that characterizes the variable reactance section in terms of s-parameters for each combination of, at least, a portion of available combinations of settings of the switched capacitors; and

instructions stored thereon, for execution by a processor, the instructions including instructions to:

to create a reactance controller to control a setting of the match system;

measure one or more parameters at the first sensor to obtain at least one measurement-based-attribute at the first side of the match system;

measure one or more parameters at the second sensor to obtain at least one measurement-based-attribute at the second side of the match system;

obtain a present setting of the variable reactance section from the reactance controller;

accessing s-parameters of the stored model for the present setting;

obtain, using the s-parameters and the at least one measurement-based-attribute at the first side of the match system, at least one-expected-attribute at the second side of the match system; and

contrast the at least one measurement-based-attribute at the second side of the match system with the at least one expected-attribute to assess operational changes of the match system.

14. The match system of claim 13 , wherein the instructions to measure one or more output-parameters include instructions to obtain at least one of voltage or current at an output of the match system, wherein the output of the match system comprises the second side of the match system; and the instructions to measure one or more input-parameters include instructions to obtain at least one of voltage or current at an input of the match system, wherein the input of the match system comprises the first side of the match system.

15. The match system of claim 14 , wherein:

the at least one measurement-based-attribute includes a measured voltage value and the at least one expected-attribute includes an expected voltage value.

16. The match system of claim 14 , wherein:

the at least one measurement-based-attribute includes a measured current value and the at least one expected-attribute includes an expected current value.

17. The match system of claim 14 , wherein:

the at least one measurement-based-attribute includes both a measured voltage value and a measured current value and the at least one expected-attribute includes both an expected voltage value and an expected current value, wherein the instructions to contrast include instructions to:

determine a difference between the measured voltage value and the expected voltage value; and

determine a difference between the measured current value and the expected current value;

wherein at least one of a difference between the measured voltage value and the expected voltage value or a difference between the measured current value and the expected current value exceeds a corresponding threshold.

18. The match system of claim 14 , wherein the at least one measurement-based-attribute includes an output impedance calculated based upon the voltage and current measured at the output of the match system;

wherein the at least one measurement-based-attribute includes an input impedance calculated based upon one or more measured input-parameter values;

wherein the expected-attribute includes an expected impedance at the output of the match system that is obtained by accessing a model using the input impedance and a present reactance setting of the match system, wherein the present setting comprises at least the present reactance setting;

wherein the instructions to contrast include instructions to contrast the output impedance at the output of the match system with the expected impedance at the output of the match system to assess whether the match system is at least one of damaged or operating outside of specifications.

19. The match system of claim 14 , wherein the instructions to measure one or more output-parameters include instructions to obtain at least one of forward or reflect power at the output of the match system; and

the instructions to measure one or more input-parameters include instructions to obtain at least one of forward or reflect power at the input of the match system.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (26)