Integrated pressure and flow ratio control system
US7706925B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 10, 2007 |
| Grant date | Apr 27, 2010 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 24, 2027 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG05D16/2046
- WIPO fieldControl
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An integrated pressure and flow ratio control system includes N mass flow controllers MFCi (i=1, . . . , N) that each control the flow rate of a fluid Fi (i=1, . . . , N) flowing into a processing chamber. These N mass flow controllers are linked together by a digital communication network. One of the mass flow controllers is a master MFC, and the remaining N−1 MFCs are slave MFCs. The master MFC receives a pressure set point and a plurality N of flow ratio set points from a host controller, and communicates these set points to all the slave MFCs. In this way, the pressure in the chamber is maintained at the pressure set point and the flow ratios Qi/QT are maintained at the flow ratio set points, where Qi is flow rate of the i-th fluid Fi, and QT=Q1+Q2+ . . . QN is the sum of all N flow rates.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.