US 7,455,755 B2
	Vacuum plasma generator
Gerhard Tuymer, Bad Schallerbach (Austria); Jürgen Ramm, Maienfeld (Switzerland); and Daniel Lendi, Grabs (Switzerland)
Assigned to Oerlikon Trading AG, Trubbach, Trubbach (Switzerland)
Appl. No. 11/817,443 PCT Filed Mar. 20, 2006, PCT No. PCT/CH2006/000124 § 371(c)(1), (2), (4) Date Aug. 30, 2007, PCT Pub. No. WO2006/099759, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 28, 2006.
Claims priority of application No. 0518/05 (CH), filed on Mar. 24, 2005; and application No. 1290/05 (CH), filed on Aug. 03, 2005.
Prior Publication US 2008/0143260 A1, Jun. 19, 2008
Int. Cl. C23C 14/00 (2006.01)

U.S. Cl. 204—298.08  [204/192.12; 204/298.23; 363/124; 363/125; 315/111.21; 315/247; 315/282]

19 Claims

1. Vacuum plasma generator with a generator output (9, 9′) for feeding a plasma discharge (10) for the treatment of workpieces (5) in a vacuum chamber (2) with an AC voltage mains connection (6a), a mains rectifier configuration (6) for the conversion of the mains AC voltage into a DC voltage, a smoothing capacitor (6b), a first stage as a clocked DC/DC voltage converter (7) with means for setting the DC output voltage which forms an intermediate circuit voltage (Uz), comprising a controlled power switch (7a) which feeds the primary winding of a transformer (14) and whose secondary winding is connected to a rectifier (15) and a downstream intermediate circuit capacitor (12) and forms a floating transformer secondary circuit (23), wherein this circuit is connected with a downstream second stage which forms a pulse output stage (8) and this output stage is connected to the generator output (9, 9′), characterized in that the DC-DC voltage converter (7) comprises at least two floating transformer secondary circuits (23) and includes a change-over device (20) with a switch control (22) for the optional parallel or serial connection of the floating transformer secondary circuits (23).