Patents by Inventor Victor Brouk

Victor Brouk has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 12142452
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for applying a periodic voltage function are disclosed. An exemplary method comprises applying a modified periodic voltage function to an electrical node and monitoring the modified periodic voltage function over multiple cycles to monitor a relationship d ? V 0 dt - I c C 1 = D to represent a status of a plasma process or the plasma processing chamber, where Ic represents a controllable ion compensation current, D is a unitless value, d ? V 0 dT represents a portion of the modified periodic voltage function that includes a negative voltage ramp, and C1 is an effective capacitance including a capacitance of a substrate support.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2024
    Assignee: Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel Carter, Victor Brouk, Daniel J. Hoffman
  • Patent number: 11978611
    Abstract: An apparatus and method to produce a waveform. The apparatus includes a first node, a first power supply coupled to a second node, a first switch that couples the second node to the first node, and responsive to the first switch being closed, a peak voltage is applied at the first node. The apparatus also includes a second switch that couples a third node to the first node, and responsive to the second switch being closed, a voltage step is applied at the first node. In addition, a second power supply is coupled to the first node to produce a ramped voltage at the first node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel Carter, Randy Heckman, Victor Brouk, Daniel J. Hoffman
  • Publication number: 20240071721
    Abstract: Systems and methods for plasma processing are disclosed. An exemplary system may include a plasma processing chamber including a source to produce a plasma in the processing chamber and at least two bias electrodes arranged within the plasma processing chamber to control plasma sheaths proximate to the bias electrodes. A chuck is disposed to support a substrate, and a source generator is coupled to the plasma electrode. At least one bias supply is coupled to the at least two bias electrodes, and a controller is included to control the at least one bias supply to control the plasma sheath(s) proximate to the bias electrodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2023
    Publication date: February 29, 2024
    Inventors: Victor Brouk, Daniel J. Hoffman, Daniel Carter
  • Publication number: 20240055225
    Abstract: An apparatus and method to produce a waveform. The apparatus includes a first node to couple to a substrate support and a power supply coupled to a second node wherein the power supply is configured to provide a DC voltage to set an ion-energy at a surface of the substrate. The apparatus also includes a first switch that couples the second node to the first node, and responsive to the first switch being closed, a first voltage is applied at the first node. A second switch of the power supply couples a third node to the first node, and responsive to the second switch being closed, a second voltage is applied at the first node to effectuate a negative voltage at the surface of the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2023
    Publication date: February 15, 2024
    Inventors: Victor Brouk, Randy Heckman
  • Publication number: 20230377839
    Abstract: An apparatus and method to produce a waveform. The apparatus includes a first node, at least one switch that couples a second node to the first node, and responsive to the at least one switch being closed, a peak voltage is produced at the first node before a voltage at the first node drops by a voltage step. A power supply is coupled to the first node to produce, after the voltage step, a ramped voltage at the first node.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 17, 2023
    Publication date: November 23, 2023
    Inventors: Daniel Carter, Randy Heckman, Victor Brouk, Daniel J. Hoffman
  • Publication number: 20230377840
    Abstract: An apparatus and method to produce a waveform. The apparatus includes a first node, a first power supply coupled to a second node, a first switch that couples the second node to the first node, and responsive to the first switch being closed, a peak voltage is applied at the first node. The apparatus also includes a second switch that couples a third node to the first node, and responsive to the second switch being closed, a voltage step is applied at the first node. In addition, a second power supply is coupled to the first node to produce a ramped voltage at the first node.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 17, 2023
    Publication date: November 23, 2023
    Inventors: Daniel Carter, Randy Heckman, Victor Brouk, Daniel J. Hoffman
  • Publication number: 20230369016
    Abstract: An apparatus and method to produce a waveform. The apparatus includes a first node, at least one switch that couples a second node to the first node, and responsive to the at least one switch being closed, a peak voltage is produced at the first node before a voltage at the first node drops by a voltage step. A power supply is coupled to the first node to produce, after the voltage step, a ramped voltage at the first node.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2023
    Publication date: November 16, 2023
    Inventors: Daniel Carter, Victor Brouk, Daniel J. Hoffman
  • Publication number: 20230116058
    Abstract: Systems and methods for plasma processing are disclosed. An exemplary system may include a plasma processing chamber comprising a source to produce a plasma in the processing chamber and at least two bias electrodes arranged within the plasma processing chamber to control plasma sheaths proximate to the bias electrodes. A chuck is disposed to support a substrate, and a source generator is coupled to the plasma electrode. At least one bias supply is coupled to the at least two bias electrodes, and a controller is included to control the at least one bias supply to control the plasma sheaths proximate to the bias electrodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 5, 2022
    Publication date: April 13, 2023
    Inventors: Daniel Carter, Kevin Fairbairn, Denis Shaw, Victor Brouk
  • Patent number: 11615941
    Abstract: Systems and methods for plasma processing are disclosed. An exemplary system may include a plasma processing chamber including a source to produce a plasma in the processing chamber and at least two bias electrodes arranged within the plasma processing chamber to control plasma sheaths proximate to the bias electrodes. A chuck is disposed to support a substrate, and a source generator is coupled to the plasma electrode. At least one bias supply is coupled to the at least two bias electrodes, and a controller is included to control the at least one bias supply to control the plasma sheath(s) proximate to the bias electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2023
    Assignee: Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Victor Brouk, Daniel J. Hoffman, Daniel Carter
  • Patent number: 11437221
    Abstract: Systems and methods for plasma processing are disclosed. An exemplary system may include a plasma processing chamber comprising a source to produce a plasma in the processing chamber and at least two bias electrodes arranged within the plasma processing chamber to control plasma sheaths proximate to the bias electrodes. A chuck is disposed to support a substrate, and a source generator is coupled to the plasma electrode. At least one bias supply is coupled to the at least two bias electrodes, and a controller is included to control the at least one bias supply to control the plasma sheaths proximate to the bias electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel Carter, Kevin Fairbairn, Denis Shaw, Victor Brouk
  • Publication number: 20220157555
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for applying a periodic voltage function are disclosed. An exemplary method comprises applying a modified periodic voltage function to an electrical node and monitoring the modified periodic voltage function over multiple cycles to monitor a relationship d ? V 0 dt - I c C 1 = D to represent a status of a plasma process or the plasma processing chamber, where Ic represents a controllable ion compensation current, D is a unitless value, d ? V 0 dT represents a portion of the modified periodic voltage function that includes a negative voltage ramp, and C1 is an effective capacitance including a capacitance of a substrate support.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2021
    Publication date: May 19, 2022
    Inventors: Daniel Carter, Victor Brouk, Daniel J. Hoffman
  • Patent number: 11189454
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for regulating ion energies in a plasma chamber and chucking a substrate to a substrate support are disclosed. An exemplary method includes placing a substrate in a plasma chamber, forming a plasma in the plasma chamber, controllably switching power to the substrate so as to apply a periodic voltage function (or a modified periodic voltage function) to the substrate, and modulating, over multiple cycles of the periodic voltage function, the periodic voltage function responsive to a defined distribution of energies of ions at the surface of the substrate so as to effectuate the defined distribution of ion energies on a time-averaged basis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: AES Global Holdings, PTE. LTD.
    Inventors: Daniel Carter, Victor Brouk, Daniel J. Hoffman
  • Publication number: 20210327679
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for regulating ion energies in a plasma chamber and chucking a substrate to a substrate support are disclosed. An exemplary method includes placing a substrate in a plasma chamber, forming a plasma in the plasma chamber, controllably switching power to the substrate so as to apply a periodic voltage function (or a modified periodic voltage function) to the substrate, and modulating, over multiple cycles of the periodic voltage function, the periodic voltage function responsive to a defined distribution of energies of ions at the surface of the substrate so as to effectuate the defined distribution of ion energies on a time-averaged basis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2021
    Publication date: October 21, 2021
    Inventors: Daniel Carter, Daniel J. Hoffman, Victor Brouk
  • Publication number: 20210241996
    Abstract: Systems and methods for plasma processing are disclosed. An exemplary system may include a plasma processing chamber comprising a source to produce a plasma in the processing chamber and at least two bias electrodes arranged within the plasma processing chamber to control plasma sheaths proximate to the bias electrodes. A chuck is disposed to support a substrate, and a source generator is coupled to the plasma electrode. At least one bias supply is coupled to the at least two bias electrodes, and a controller is included to control the at least one bias supply to control the plasma sheaths proximate to the bias electrodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2021
    Publication date: August 5, 2021
    Inventors: Daniel Carter, Kevin Fairbairn, Denis Shaw, Victor Brouk
  • Patent number: 11011349
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for regulating ion energies in a plasma chamber and chucking a substrate to a substrate support are disclosed. An exemplary method includes placing a substrate in a plasma chamber, forming a plasma in the plasma chamber, controllably switching power to the substrate so as to apply a periodic voltage function (or a modified periodic voltage function) to the substrate, and modulating, over multiple cycles of the periodic voltage function, the periodic voltage function responsive to a defined distribution of energies of ions at the surface of the substrate so as to effectuate the defined distribution of ion energies on a time-averaged basis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: AES GLOBAL HOLDINGS, PTE. LTD.
    Inventors: Victor Brouk, Daniel J. Hoffman, Daniel Carter
  • Publication number: 20210141865
    Abstract: A multi-tenant system performs custom configuration of a tenant-specific chatbot to process and act upon natural language requests. The multi-tenant system configures the tenant-specific chatbots without requiring tenant-specific training. The multi-tenant system providing a user interface for configuring a tenant-specific set of permitted actions. The multi-tenant system determines a set of example phrases for each of the selected permitted actions. The multi-tenant system receives a natural language request from a user and identifies the action that the user wants to perform. The multi-tenant system uses a neural network to compare the natural language request with example phrases to identify an example phrase that matches the natural language request. The multi-tenant system performs the action corresponding to the matching example phrase.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 11, 2019
    Publication date: May 13, 2021
    Inventors: Michael Machado, James Douglas Harrison, Caiming Xiong, Xinyi Yang, Thomas Archie Cook, Roojuta Lalani, Jean-Marc Soumet, Karl Ryszard Skucha, Juan Manuel Rodriguez, Manju Vijayakumar, Vishal Motwani, Tian Xie, Bryan McCann, Nitish Shirish Keskar, Armen Abrahamyan, Zhihao Zou, Chitra Gulabrani, Minal Khodani, Adarsha Badarinath, Rohiniben Thakar, Srikanth Kollu, Kevin Schoen, Qiong Liu, Amit Hetawal, Kevin Zhang, Kevin Zhang, Victor Brouk, Johnson Liu, Rafael Amsili
  • Publication number: 20200090905
    Abstract: This disclosure describes systems, methods, and apparatus for controlling ion energy in a plasma processing chamber. In particular, a system for plasma processing includes a plasma processing chamber, a plasma source coupled to the plasma processing chamber, a plasma power supply coupled to the plasma source that is configured to apply power to the plasma processing chamber in periodic pulse envelopes to control a density of a plasma in the plasma processing chamber, and a support within the plasma processing chamber to support a substrate. A bias supply is configured to provide a modified periodic voltage function to the substrate support within each of the periodic pulse envelopes to control an energy of ions impacting the substrate support in the plasma processing chamber.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2019
    Publication date: March 19, 2020
    Inventors: Victor Brouk, Daniel J. Hoffman, Daniel Carter, Dmitri Kovalevskii
  • Publication number: 20190180982
    Abstract: Systems and methods for plasma processing are disclosed. An exemplary system may include a plasma processing chamber including a source to produce a plasma in the processing chamber and at least two bias electrodes arranged within the plasma processing chamber to control plasma sheaths proximate to the bias electrodes. A chuck is disposed to support a substrate, and a source generator is coupled to the plasma electrode. At least one bias supply is coupled to the at least two bias electrodes, and a controller is included to control the at least one bias supply to control the plasma sheath(s) proximate to the bias electrodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 19, 2019
    Publication date: June 13, 2019
    Inventors: Victor Brouk, Daniel J. Hoffman, Daniel Carter
  • Patent number: 10269540
    Abstract: An impedance matching system includes an impedance matching network coupled between an alternating current (AC) generator and electrodes of a plasma chamber. The AC generator is configured to generate a multi-level pulse signal of cyclically recurring pulse intervals with differing amplitude levels. A controller or other device identifies each recurring pulse interval, and for each pulse interval, determines an impedance mis-match level between the AC generator and the electrodes, adjusts a configuration of the impedance matching network according to the determined impedance mis-match level, and stores information associated with the adjusted configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel Carter, Victor Brouk
  • Publication number: 20180019100
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for regulating ion energies in a plasma chamber and chucking a substrate to a substrate support are disclosed. An exemplary method includes placing a substrate in a plasma chamber, forming a plasma in the plasma chamber, controllably switching power to the substrate so as to apply a periodic voltage function (or a modified periodic voltage function) to the substrate, and modulating, over multiple cycles of the periodic voltage function, the periodic voltage function responsive to a defined distribution of energies of ions at the surface of the substrate so as to effectuate the defined distribution of ion energies on a time-averaged basis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 2, 2017
    Publication date: January 18, 2018
    Inventors: Victor Brouk, Daniel J. Hoffman, Daniel Carter