Pre-Grant Publication Number: 20090077150
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Discussion (2)
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Eric Christenson (almost 3 years ago)
In essence, the patent claims an adaptive control method wherein the controlled object is a plasma etcher which is controlled by an RF amplifier stage, and the system as a whole is too complex to analyze the transfer function analytically.
This could be referred to as adaptive pre-distortion using fourier transforms and an arbitrary waveform generator. Or maybe it's just a "tailored waveform", like the ones used for electronic warfare. Or maybe it's just "autotuning" as used in control systems.
Utility? Yes.
Novel? Possibly, but only within plasma devices. In radio engineering, especially Software-defined radio, very doubtful. In control engineering, no, this would be referred to as systems identification.
Nonobvious? Maybe in plasma engineernig, but definitely not if the goal is radios or control systems, where frequency analysis is king, and an FFT is a standard way of analyzing an unknown plant.
Jason DeVeau Rosen (almost 3 years ago)
The solution to this problem seems obvious. Don't people commonly control energy output by changing the frequency of a wave? Isn't it normal to just adjust the amount of power so as to not damage the circuit during the fabrication process? I feel as if laser microscopes might have the same problems and may thus use the same control mechanisms as the methods for integrated circuit production. Are there any peer reviewed journal articles that address the control of energy when synthesizing an IC?