RF Wattmeter & Impedance Analyzer- The New Industry Standard
The Octiv Mono is a through-line RF Wattmeter, directional power sensor and impedance analyzer. It measures a single fundamental frequency and it has a NIST traceable full scale accuracy of 1%.
It measures forward power, reflected power, absorbed power, VSWR and complex impedance. It connects directly to a PC via USB or over the network.
The Octiv Mono is a precision RF Wattmeter used in a large number of laboratory applications. The Octiv Mono operates to 1% true accuracy and is immune to harmonics making it the most trusted power sensor for applications such as semiconductor manufacturing.
The Octiv Mono is calibrated to five fundamental frequencies of your choice, for example:
2MHz
13.56MHz
27.12MHz
40.68MHz
60MHz
Each frequency can be selected via a drop down menu. The sensor has an output power range from 100 mW* to 12 kW*. *Customisable to your needs
The rf wattmeter technology helps solve issues of poor production yields, tool matching and fault detection. It helps to define exact process windows and determines the health of power subsystems and determines 'process run to run' stability. It gives you the confidence to trust the accuracy of the most complex process input, RF power delivery.
RF Parameters Measured
Real Power
Forward Power
Reflected Power
Impedance
Measurement Functionality
Time Averaged Measurements This provides an average over time of the RF power measurements required.
Time Resolved Measurements This allows the user to synchronise measurements with an external synchronisation signal. The user can then obtain detailed information on the power distribution as a function of time or phase through the synchronisation pulse period. Typically the pulse period would be on a timescale of milliseconds to microseconds.
Time Trend Measurements This allows the user to obtain information on the variation of power as time progresses through a particular process. This feature does not require external synchronisation and the timescales involved can be in range of seconds to hours.
Smith Chart Measurements Monitor the Load Impedance as it is displayed on a Smith Chart and track Impedance variations throughout the process cycle.
Features
Probe
Compact Design The Octiv Mono is designed to be compact and easy to install. It is mounted between the match unit and the generator to give the most accurate measurement of the RF delivery into the plasma chamber.
Octiv Mono Pulsed Power Measurement The Octiv Mono measures the pulsed power time profile at micro second resolution while maintaining a very high degree of accuracy (1%). It measures a single frequency at a time and 15 of its harmonics. The user can select the frequency they wish to analyse from a drop down menu of 5 frequencies or the user can request 5 specific frequencies at the time of order.
Meter View View process parameters as they are acquired by the sensor. This feature provides a useful way of monitoring RF power delivery during process hardware setup and installation. Data can be recorded to a file for analysis.
Smith Chart View Monitor the Load Impedance as it is displayed on a Smith Chart and track Impedance variations throughout the process cycle.
Time Trend View Use the Time Trend view to monitor each RF parameter in real-time. Visualise time-series data as it is acquired. Acquire an overview of each parameter during the process run and monitor run-to-run or chamber-to-chamber variations.
Software
Frequency Agility The Octiv Mono allows the user to accurately measure the RF parameters while tracking a rapidly varying fundamental frequency. For example: in variable frequency tuning to match the plasma.
Software Application Programmers Interface (API) A comprehensive API is provided with the sensor to facilitate integration with 3rd party software applications. Sensor initialisation, configuration, and data transfer functions are easily implemented on all of the common software platforms.
Communications Interface The standard Octiv communications interface is USB 2.0, which provides power to the sensor, and supports sensor configuration and data transfer activities in a laboratory environment. For integration with industrial equipment and manufacturing automation systems, alternative communications interfaces are available and based on RS-232 or Ethernet. Electrical isolation ensures the reliable transfer of data even in RF environments.
The Octiv Mono used in RF Match Network Characterization applications
Octiv Mono used in RF Match Network Characterization to measure match-unit range, efficiency, quality and internal resistance
Abstract
It is reported that a RF match network can have up to 50% power loss in a plasma process or any process with a RF power delivery system to a non-50ohm load causing variability within the process. In this document we discuss a novel method to characterize a matching network using two Octiv Monos
The Octiv VI probe is an advanced RF voltage and current sensor, which can provide real-time information on complex loads. Real-time information the Octiv provides includes voltage, current, phase, power and impedance on all harmonics of a chosen frequency simultaneously, as well as transmission line parameters such as forward power, reflected power, standing wave ratio (SWR) and reflection coefficient. The Octiv sensor was designed to meet the need for post-match voltage and current measurements in RF excited plasma processes.
High power radio-frequency (RF) voltage and current sensors need to be accurately calibrated to a traceable standard. Calibrating to high accuracy can be the most challenging aspect of high power, voltage-current sensor manufacture. This is due to the many sources of error in any calibration process. If the calibration is performed accurately and correctly, then most errors can be characterized and removed.
Plasma Parameter Aspects in the Fabrication of Stable Amine Functionalized Plasma Polymer Films
Carla Daunton, Louise E. Smith, Jason D. Whittle, Robert D. Short, David A. Steele and Andrew Michelmore
Published 12th February 2015
Abstract
Amine containing plasma polymer films are of interest due to their ability to bind biomolecules either covalently or electrostatically. One issue with generating such plasma polymers is the need to generate sufficient amine density on the surface to enable binding, while simultaneously maintaining the chemical, physical stability of the surface in aqueous media. Here we investigate the relationship between plasma parameters, film stability for two commonly used monomers, allylamine AA, ethylenediamine EDA. Plasma polymer films from AA, EDA were produced at radio frequency RF powers between 2 and 20 W at a constant monomer flowrate. Deposition rate, ion flux, ion energy, plasma phase mass spectrometry were used to investigate the plasma-surface interactions. Film stability was assessed by comparing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy XPS, atomic force microscopy AFM measurements before, after washing in phosphate buffered saline PBS. The results show that films generated from EDA plasmas are generally unstable in aqueous media, while films generated from AA plasmas exhibit higher stability, particularly those deposited at high RF power. The chemical, physical stability of the films is then related to the mechanisms of deposition, the energy density provided to the surface during film growth.
An Experimental and Analytical Study of an Asymmetric Capacitively Coupled Plasma Used for Plasma Polymerization
Andrew Michelmore, Jason D. Whittle, Robert D. Short, Rod W. Boswell, Christine Charles
Published 4th June 2014
Abstract
Plasma processing is widely used to provide novel surface modifications to materials for a variety of
applications. Typically, the systems used to carry out these modifications are poorly characterised. Here we describe the basics of a global model for a capacitively coupled asymmetric parallel plate radiofrequency plasma system routinely used to produce plasma polymers. An analytical global model was developed for argon, for which cross-sections are known, at a constant pressure of 1 Pa, and includes an electrical model and a power balance. The main parameters of interest were ion flux and self-bias voltages. The argon modelling results were then compared to experimental results for a range of operating gases (argon, oxygen, amines, acids, alcohols, ethers, siloxanes) including both saturated and unsaturated compounds with molecular weights ranging from 40 to 162 g mol1, for different inter-electrode separations and from 2 to 50 W using an Impedans OctIV probe. Importantly, it is shown that the RF power transfer efficiency is dependent on the gas. The results show that the argon model results can be used to predict the plasma parameters for other gases when the RF power transfer efficiency is taken into account.
Octiv Mono used in RF Matching Network Characterization.pdf