Patent 7227097 was granted and assigned to BTU International on June, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Plasma-assisted methods and apparatus that use multiple radiation sources are provided. In one embodiment, a plasma is ignited by subjecting a gas in a processing cavity to electromagnetic radiation having a frequency less than about 333 GHz in the presence of a plasma catalyst, which may be passive or active. A controller can be used to delay activation of one radiation source with respect to another.