An apparatus and to a method for treating layers using a plasma zone sealed from the outer atmospheric pressure are provided. The apparatus and method include a plasma reactor including a substrate carrier in form of a container receiving means, and a closing element that is joined with the substrate carrier by means of a lifting device.

Sterilisation apparatus comprising a sterilisation instrument configured to be inserted through the instrument channel of a surgical scoping device and a withdrawal device for withdrawing the sterilisation instrument from the instrument channel at a predetermined rate. The sterilisation instrument comprises an elongate probe having a probe tip with a first electrode and a second electrode arranged to produce an electric field from received RF and/or microwave frequency EM energy. In operation the instrument may disinfect an inner surface of the instrument channel by emitting energy whilst being withdrawn through the channel.

An apparatus for coating a PET container in a coating chamber includes a lance that introduces material and energy into the container while it is in the coating chamber. This results in a reaction that coats the bottle's interior with a silicon oxide. Before reaching the coating chamber, the bottle will have passed through a cooling system connected to coating chamber. The cooling system passes cooled gas through a feed, thereby cooling said bottle before it reaches the coating chamber.

A plasma CVD device which comprises a substrate having a three-dimensional shape such as that of a bottle and which can form a coating on the surface of various substrates under atmospheric pressure, and a coating forming method are provided. This atmospheric pressure remote plasma CVD device is provided with a dielectric chamber which has a gas inlet, an inner space and a plasma outlet, and a plasma generation device which generates plasma in the inner space. The plasma outlet is provided with a nozzle that has an opening area smaller than the average cross-sectional area of the cross-sections perpendicular to the direction of gas flow in the inner space.

The present invention resides in the unifying idea of synchronizing a positive voltage pulse supplied to an electrically conductive or ferromagnetic tube and a exciting negative voltage pulse on a hollow cathode induced on the background of a high-frequency capacitive discharge. In one embodiment, the invention relates to a method of generating low-temperature plasma in a vacuum chamber comprising a hollow cathode and an electrode, the method comprising the step of igniting the pulsed DC discharge in the hollow cathode wherein the positive voltage pulse at least partially overlaps with the negative voltage pulse, and the positive voltage pulse at least partially overlaps with the negative voltage pulse on the hollow cathode. In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of coating the inner walls of hollow tubes which utilizes the above-mentioned low-temperature plasma generation process. In another embodiment, the invention relates to a low-temperature plasma generating device comprising a hollow cathode located in the vacuum chamber, a RF plasma source, a pulse DC burst source, and a bipolar pulse source. In another embodiment, an object of the invention is an apparatus adapted to coat the inner sides of hollow tubes comprising a low-temperature plasma generating device.

A system for use in coating an interior surface of an object is provided. The system includes a vacuum chamber enclosure defining an interior configured to receive the object, and a cathode coupled to the vacuum chamber enclosure. The cathode is fabricated from a coating material and has an outer surface. The cathode is configured such that when a current is applied to the cathode, an arc is formed on the outer surface and the coating material is removed from the cathode to form a cloud of coating material. The system also includes a collimator configured to be positioned between the cathode and the object configured to focus the cloud into a beam of coating material and to direct the beam towards the object, and a magnet configured to alter a path of the beam such that the beam is directed towards the interior surface of the object.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber, a rotation table installed in the processing chamber and configured to load a substrate on an upper surface of the rotation table along a circumferential direction of the rotation table, and a plasma generator including an antenna located above an upper surface of the processing chamber and installed to be able to move in a radial direction of the rotation table, wherein the plasma generator is configured to locally apply plasma to the rotation table in the radial direction.

Provided are a method and a system for managing semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The method may be performed using an equipment computer and may include ordering to perform a preventive maintenance to a chamber and parts in the chamber, monitoring a result of the preventive maintenance to the chamber and the parts, and performing a manufacturing process using plasma reaction in the chamber, if the result of the preventive maintenance is normal. The monitoring the result of the preventive maintenance may include a pre-screening method monitoring the result of the preventive maintenance using electric reflection coefficients obtained from the chamber and the parts without using the plasma reaction.

A device for coating an interior surface of a housing defining a volume comprising a plurality of reactant gas sources including reactant gases for one or more surface coating processes; first and second closures to sealingly engage with an inlet and outlet of the volume of the housing to provide an enclosed volume; a delivery line fluidically coupled to the first closure and the plurality of reactant gas sources to deliver the reactant gases to the enclosed volume; and an output line fluidically coupled to the second closure to remove one or more reactant gases, byproduct gases, or both from the enclosed volume. A method for coating an interior surface of a housing is also provided.

A method of coating an interior surface of a housing defining a volume includes partitioning the volume into a first zone and a second zone, the first zone isolated from fluid communication with the second zone; introducing one or more reactant gases, plasma, ions, or a combination thereof to the first zone and the second zone; and forming one or more coating layers on all or a portion of the interior surface within the first and second zones via reaction of the reactant gases, the plasma, or the combination thereof. A device for coating an interior surface of a housing is also provided.