Document No.: 1P0446-1 Rev. B, April 7, 2014
8
TIMER
The IoN 3 timer will only start or keep count of elapsed time when the system is tuned and in a
working mode. This proprietary design means that the set time is the actual amount of time that the
samples are exposed to a working plasma. Many competitive plasma systems merely start the timer
when the system starts tuning
—
not when the system is actually processing samples with an active
plasma.
The RF timer will abort the process if the reflected power exceeds its threshold. So should the
system loose the plasma, the process timer stops since the RF reflected power will be over limit. An
audible alarm will beep until the system tunes and the reflected power drops within acceptable limits.
In cases where the process pressure is too high to tune, the system will fault out in 25 seconds. The
user has the ability to abort the process if they choose to do so by depressing the PROCESS ABORT
toggle switch. This gives the system the ability to run a full length process under potentially marginal
conditions, where competitive plasma systems would turn out unfinished parts. It also removes the
variability of the operator--whether or not they waited until the system had reached base pressure
before starting.
The timer displays a selectable range of 6 second to 999.9 minutes.
Figure 1-3
Timer
