1. Circuit arrangement for operating a high pressure discharge lamp equipped with
input terminals for connection to poles of a supply voltage source,
a DC-DC-converter coupled to the input terminals and comprising
an inductive element L1,
a unidirectional element D1,
a switching element S1,
output terminals,
a first control circuit coupled to a control electrode of the switching element S1 for generating a control signal for rendering the switching element S1 alternately conductive and non-conductive,
a second control circuit, coupled with the first control circuit for controlling the level of an output voltage of the DC-DC converter that is present between the output terminals,
a DC-AC-converter coupled to the output terminals and
equipped with lamp connection terminals for generating an
AC lamp current out of the output voltage, characterized in that the second control circuit is further equipped with a state control circuit for changing the level at which the output voltage is controlled from a first level associated with the starting of the high pressure discharge lamp to a second level associated with the stationary operation of the high pressure discharge lamp.
2. Circuit arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the first level is higher than the second level.
3. Circuit arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the circuit arrangement is equipped with means for generating a power signal that represents the power supplied to the high pressure discharge lamp and for activating the state control circuit after the power signal has increased above a predetermined reference value.
4. Circuit arrangement according to claim 3, wherein the circuit arrangement is further equipped with a delay circuit coupled to the state control circuit for timing a predetermined delay time interval after the power signal has increased above the predetermined reference value and for activating the state control circuit after said predetermined delay time interval has timed out.
5. Circuit arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the second control circuit is equipped with a third control circuit coupled to the lamp connection terminals for controlling the second level in dependency of the width of a reignition voltage peak present between the lamp terminals when the DC-AC-converter changes the polarity of the lamp voltage.
6. Circuit arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the DC-AC-converter is a bridge circuit comprising at least two bridge switching elements and a bridge control circuit coupled with control electrodes of the bridge switching elements.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An ion implanter system comprising:
an ion beam generator for transmitting an ion beam to a target in an implant chamber; and
a laser particle detector for detecting at least one particle level within the ion beam based on a received laser beam that has been transmitted through the ion beam,
wherein the received laser beam passes in close proximity to the target.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the laser particle detector is coupled to a system controller including a beam controller configured to control the ion beam generator based on the at least one particle level during an ion implantation.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the beam controller stops ion implantation in the case that the at least one particle level exceeds a preset value.
4. The system of claim 2, wherein the beam controller is further configured to control the ion beam generator during a tuning of the ion beam based on the at least one particle level.
5. The system of claim 2, wherein the beam controller is further configured to control the ion beam generator during a uniformity procedure of the ion beam based on the at least one particle level.
6. The system of claim 2, wherein the system controller is also configured to control the ion beam based on the at least one particle level during at least one of a tuning stage of operation and a cleaning stage of operation.
7. The system of claim 2, wherein the laser particle detector includes a bright-field sensing laser and a particle level calculator.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the bright-field sensing laser includes a transmitter positioned in a first window in the implant chamber and a receiver positioned in an opposing second window in the implant chamber to receive the received laser beam.
9. The system of claim 7, wherein the laser beam passes no less than one eighth of an inch from the target and no greater than four inches from the target.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the laser particle detector includes a bright-field sensing laser.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein the bright-field sensing laser transmits a laser beam substantially transversely across the ion beam.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the laser beam passes no less than one eighth of an inch from the target and no greater than four inches from the target.
13. The system of claim 10, wherein the bright-field sensing laser includes a transmitter positioned in a first window in the implant chamber and a receiver positioned in an opposing second window in the implant chamber to receive the received laser beam.
14. A method of controlling an ion implanter system that generates an ion beam, the method comprising the steps of:
transmitting a laser beam through at least a portion of the ion beam;
receiving the laser beam;
determining at least one particle level in the at least a portion of the ion beam based on the received laser beam; and
controlling the ion implanter system during implantation based on the at least one particle level.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the transmitting step includes transmitting the laser beam substantially transversely across the at least a portion of the ion beam.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein the controlling step further includes controlling the ion implanter system during at least one of a tuning stage of the ion implanter system, a uniformity procedure of the ion implanter system and a cleaning stage of the ion implanter system.
17. The method of claim 14, wherein the controlling step includes stopping ion implantation in the case that the at least one particle level exceeds a preset value.