Abstract: There is provided an expandable modular display that is generally comprised of display modules that may be wall mounted, utilized as a desktop or countertop display, or vertically stacked with a plurality of like display modules in a display stand. The display stand is disposed to be connected by hand utilizing connecting apertures and pins. The display stand may be expanded horizontally using the connecting apertures and pins to receive additional display modules. The display is disposed to mount display modules vertically in a back to back position.

Abstract: There is provided by this invention a unique ion source for depositing thin films on a substrate in a vacuum chamber that neutralizes the positive electric charges that develop on the substrate and vacuum chamber apparatus that may cause arcing and degradation of the film deposition. A power supply with a reversing voltage waveform is utilized that neutralizes the electric charge on the substrate and the vacuum chamber apparatus. A power supply applies an ac voltage to the anode of the ion source and a rectified ac voltage to the cathode. The ground terminal of the power supply is connected to the vacuum chamber. The rectifying circuit is comprised of zener diodes that clamp the voltage in the circuit from spikes during plasma ignition and a capacitor connected to negatively bias the cathode when there is no plasma discharge.

Abstract: There is provided by this invention an apparatus and method of supplying to ignite a plasma wherein in the event of an arc a shunt switch is used to divert the power away from the plasma that is incorporated into an over-voltage protection circuit that controls the shunt switch to act as a boost switch when the arc is extinguished such that the stored inductor energy is used to boost the ignition voltage for reigniting the plasma if it is extinguished. When the arc is extinguished, the inductor current is diminished, and the plasma is ignited, then the switch S1 is turned OFF and the inductor energy goes to the plasma and the power supply operates in its normal operating mode.

Abstract: There is provided by this invention soft switching interleaved power converters that are suitable for high power and high voltage applications such as plasma processing. They have greatly reduced switching losses and diode reverse-recovery losses which allows operation at high switching frequencies. The peak values of the reverse-recovery currents of the diodes are substantially less then their peak forward operating currents. The power converters incorporate power converter cells that comprise a plurality of switching assemblies that are operated with an interleaved switching pattern, and that are each connected to an input terminal of an inductor assembly that also has a common terminal. The inductance between each pair of input terminals is less than the inductance between each input terminal and the common terminal of the inductor assembly.

Abstract: There is disclosed a dual magnetron sputtering apparatus that is comprised of a balancing circuit connected to the output of an ac power source that supplies ac power to at least two target materials such that the balancing circuit allows the power supply to deliver equal power to each target material. In those applications where there may be an erosion of one target material faster than the other, the balancing circuit allows the power supply to deliberately unbalance the power to at least one of the target materials to reduce power to the target to compensate for faster erosion of the target.

Abstract: There is provided by this invention a novel apparatus and method of operating a dc plasma process that diverts the power supply current from the plasma at the initiation of an arc, thereby inhibiting energy from flowing from the power supply to the plasma, and then to allow energy to flow again when the power supply re-enables energy flow to the plasma. The diverting means is connected to the output of the power supply to divert current away from the plasma at the initiation of an arc wherein the diverting means is actuated when the arc is detected on the output and diverts the current for a first pre-determined time. The diverting means is released at the end of the first pre-determined time before the current reaches zero wherein current is redirected to the plasma and the diverting means is reactivated at the end of a second pre-determined time in the event the arc is not extinguished.

Abstract: There is provided a secondary reactive termination circuit connected between the output of the RF power generator and the input of the plasma chamber to allow the tight regulation or limiting of the voltage and current components of the secondary frequencies within the process plasma. The secondary reactive circuit controls the impedance of the match network designed primarily to operate at the fundamental frequency of the RF power generator as seen by secondary frequencies in the system. A variable capacitor gives the operator the advantage of being able to tightly regulate the voltage, current, and power within a process at discrete frequencies without concern for impedance variability induced by other components in the system.

Abstract: This invention teaches an arc detection and arc reduction circuit for use with power supplies for delivering power to a plasma processing system that utilizes a resonant circuit that stores energy and when the voltage drops between the cathode and anode of the processing chamber the stored energy generates a current in a current transformer in response to the voltage change to switch a magnetically coupled inductor in parallel with the cathode and anode causing a reversal of the voltage that reduces arcs in the plasma chamber. In an alternate embodiment the magnetically coupled inductor is replaced by a pulse transformer and the pulse transformer is placed in parallel with the cathode and anode causing a reversal of the voltage that reduces arcs in the plasma chamber.

Abstract: There is provided by this invention a wafer probe for measuring plasma and surface characteristics in plasma processing environment that utilizes integrated sensors on a wafer substrate. A microprocessor mounted on the substrate receives input signals from the integrated sensors to process, store, and transmit the data. A wireless communication transceiver receives the data from the microprocessor and transmits information outside of the plasma processing system to a computer that collects the data during plasma processing. The integrated sensors may be dual floating Langmuir probes, temperature measuring devices, resonant beam gas sensors, or hall magnetic sensors. There is also provided a self-contained power source that utilizes the plasma for power that is comprised of a topographically dependent charging device or a charging structure that utilizes stacked capacitors.

Abstract: There is provided by this invention novel magnetron sputtering apparatus that is generally comprised of a pulsed dc power supply capable of delivering peak powers of 0.1 megaWatts to several megaWatts with a peak power density greater than 1 kW/cm2. The power supply has a pulsing circuit comprised of an energy storage capacitor and serially connected inductor with a switching means for disconnecting the pulsing circuit from the plasma and recycling the inductor energy back to the energy storage capacitor at the detection of an arc condition. The energy storage capacitor and the serially connected inductor provide an impedance match to the plasma, limits the current rate of rise and peak magnitude in the event of an arc, and shapes the voltage pulses to the plasma.

Abstract: There is provided by this invention an improved rf power control device for plasma applications for optimization of the feedback control voltage in the presence of harmonic and non-harmonic spurious frequencies. In this system, an oscillator and mixer, similar to those normally used in radio receiver applications are placed at the sampled output of the solid state rf signal source used for plasma ignition. The sampled output is mixed to a low frequency and filtered to remove the spurious frequencies that is created in the non-linear plasma. In this way, the feedback power control essentially ignores the spurious frequencies. In this application, the oscillator and mixer do not interfere with other desirable system characteristics and effectively isolate the feedback control voltage from changes in plasma spurious content. This allows rf power to be delivered to the plasma with greater accuracy than would otherwise be possible with conventional power control device and methods.

Abstract: There is provided by this invention a dc power supply that utilizes capacitors in parallel with the diodes of the rectifier bridge in order to increase the full-power load impedance range of the power supply. In addition it has the capability to selectively couple the capacitors to the diodes over a predetermined frequency. This invention applies to both single phase and multiphase converters.

Abstract: The invention pertains to the use of enhanced electron emitting surfaces to increase the supply of electrons in a thin film deposition system including the ion source in order to enhance the deposition rates of thin film materials. The use of enhanced electron emitting surfaces reduces the erosion of component parts in the ion source while increasing the rate and quality of the film deposited on the substrate. Allowing for ion source operation at lower gas pressure also increases the range of cold-cathode applications and improving operation at all pressures. The cathode section of the ion source is comprised of a reactive material that upon reaction with a reactive gas forms an insulating thin film on the cathode surface that provides an addition source of electrons for the ion beam source. Also, electron emitters located outside of the ion beam source have cathode sections that comprise enhanced electron emitting surfaces to provide electron flow to the ion beam.

Abstract: A voltage and current sensor comprised of a plurality of surface mounted inductors serially connected around the circumference of a current carrying conductor and a plurality of surface mounted resistors each connected in parallel with an inductor wherein an electrical circuit connected to the inductors and resistors provide a measurement of current in the conductor. The inductors and resistors are mounted on a printed circuit board that has a plated aperture for receiving the current carrying conductor there through. An electrical circuit connected to the plated aperture provides a voltage measurement.

Abstract: There is provided by this invention a novel and unique configuration for combining multiple die such as metal oxide field effect transistors (MOSFETS) in high power high frequency applications to prevent internal oscillation. A first embodiment of this invention comprises a split gate design wherein the gate distribution network for multiple semiconductor devices is split to provide individual gate feeds to each device. A second embodiment provides a plurality of semiconductors devices arranged in a configuration such that the reference terminals are connected together at a common point at the approximate center of the configuration that allows external connections to the semiconductor devices' input and output terminals positioned on the outer periphery of the configuration design.

Abstract: There is provided by this invention novel and unique circuit topology for controlling the delivery of power to de components that is generally comprised of a combination of a free running unregulated AC generator with a synchronous rectifier working at the same switching frequency as the AC generator. The AC generator operates in zero-voltage switching mode, and the synchronous rectifier operates in both zero-voltage and zero-current modes which allows the use of frequency conversion rates up to 10 MHz. Changing the phase of commutation of the synchronous rectifier in reference to that of the AC generator controls the output power. Resonant sinusoidal and pulse gate drivers are used for both the AC generator and the synchronous rectifier. A low loss current combiner is used at the output of the system.

Abstract: There is provided by this invention an apparatus and method for generating voltage pulses to first and second magnetron devices in a plasma chamber. An isolation transformer is connected to a pulsed DC power supply having a flux sensor, such as a Hall effect sensor, in close proximity to its air gap to monitor the transformer flux. A control circuit is connected to the flux sensor to control the duty cycle of the transformer by controlling the flux of the transformer such that the maximum and minimum peak transformer fluxes are equal in magnitude and opposite in sign to prevent saturation.

Abstract: There is provided by this invention a novel inductively coupled plasma source apparatus that utilizes a transformer to induce closed path secondary plasma currents in a hollow metal housing that is directly cooled by a fluid. This plasma source apparatus is particularly useful for generating a high charged particle density source of ions, electrons, and chemically active species to serve various plasma related processes that may require high power densities. A hollow metal vacuum chamber is coupled to and electrically insulated from a metal vacuum process chamber by means of dielectric gaps that are well shielded from direct exposure to the plasma body. Electrons, photons and excited gaseous species are generated within the metal hollow chamber and process chamber to serve a wide variety of material, surface and gas processing applications. There is also provided by this invention a means of ganging together several hollow metal vacuum chamber assemblies about a single vacuum process chamber.

Abstract: There is provided a high frequency pulse generator having inlet ports for receiving a fluid mass flow rate and output ports that produce a pulse flow rate therefrom by being opened and closed by a chopper wheel. The duty cycle of the generator is controlled by the ratio of the aperture sections of the chopper wheel to the closure sections of the wheel. The housing of the pulse generator may be divided into separate sealed chambers for receiving independent fluid mass flow rates in each chamber and providing independent variable phased pulsed output flow rates.

Abstract: The invention is a motorized linkage for operating a door strike. A six volt power source, controlled by a security code, rotates a small electric motor when a proper security code is given. The motor rotates a shaft which engages a coil spring. This moves a locking cam. When a catch on the locking cam separates from the locking lever catch, the latch bolt keeper may be manipulated by a user.