Abstract: The invention provides methods and apparatus for treating hazardous biological wastes. According to one exemplary method, a biological waste material is placed into a chamber and a vacuum is applied to the chamber. After the pressure within the chamber is sufficiently reduced, water vapor is introduced into the chamber and electromagnetic radiation energy is applied to produce a plasma. In one particularly preferable aspect, the chamber is allowed to reach a static condition before the water vapor is introduced. In this way, the water vapor is able to equally distribute itself throughout the volume of the chamber so that an equally distributed plasma can be produced upon application of the electromagnetic radiation energy.

Abstract: The invention provides methods and systems for identifying compounds released from a semi-conductor wafer. Compounds are released from the wafer by subjecting the wafer to a rapid temperature excursion in a very low pressure chamber. The released compounds are often isolated using gas chromatography. Diffusion between the layers of a multiple layer semi-conductor structure can be minimized by directly heating a target surface of the wafer using radiant heating.

Abstract: The invention provides methods and apparatus for treating substrates and hazardous biological wastes. According to one exemplary method, at least one substrate is placed into a chamber and a vacuum is applied to the chamber. After the pressure within the chamber is sufficiently reduced, water vapor is introduced into the chamber and electromagnetic radiation energy is applied to produce a plasma. In one particularly preferable aspect, the chamber is allowed to reach a static condition before the water vapor is introduced. In this way, the water vapor is able to equally distribute itself throughout the volume of the chamber so that an equally distributed plasma can be produced upon application of the electromagnetic radiation energy.