Graham, Michael C.; Seeley, Andrew J.; Price, Duncan M.; Optimising operating conditions in an abatement apparatus. GB Patent Application 2,587,393 March 31 (2021)
An abatement apparatus (10, Fig. 2) treats an effluent stream containing perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) from a process tool. An operating parameter which controls the apparatus is changed at step S4 and a change of PFC concentration in an exhaust stream of the apparatus is measured at S5. At steps S6 & S7 it is determined whether to retain the operating parameter based on the change in PFC concentration. An initial PFC concentration may be measured at S3. The operating condition may be the operating temperature or the oxidising/reducing environment of the apparatus. The apparatus may have an abatement chamber (30, Fig. 2). The operating parameter may be a power supplied to heat the chamber, a plasma supplied to the chamber, or an oxidant or fuel amount supplied to the chamber. A PFC concentration profile of a processing cycle may be determined before changing the operating parameter. The optimisation may be done iteratively by repeating the steps of changing the operating parameter and determining the change in PFC concentration.