Plasma emission source

Claim 1

A plasma emission source, said source comprising: a radio-frequency power generator, including an oscillator for generating a radio-frequency signal; and means for amplifing said radio-frequency signal; a plasma torch, said torch having an RF load coil associated therewith, said coil receiving RF power from said generator; said plasma torch including: a glass chamber having an inlet for gas for forming a plasma and an inlet for a sample mixture which mixture is atomized in said plasma; means for automatically and continuously maximizing the RF power transferred from said generator to said load coil, said means including: means for continuously monitoring the impedence match between said generator and said coil, said monitoring means producing a signal indicative of an impedance mismatch; and means responsive to said signal, for automatically matching the impedance of said generator and said coil; said continuously monitoring means including: a dual phase detector network, said dual phase detector network having a series phase detector and a shunt phase detector, said series phase detector producing a series mismatch signal and said shunt phase detector producing a shunt mismatch signal; said automatic matching means including: a variable impedance network; and a control unit, said control unit being responsive to said signal and controlling the impedance of said variable impedance network; said variable impedance network including: a series variable impedance network; and a shunt variable impedance network; said control unit including: a series variable impedance network control motor, said series control motor being responsive to said series detector signal; and a shunt variable impedance network control motor, said shunt control motor being responsive to said shunt detector signal; said series variable impedance network including two serially connected variable capacitors in parallel with a fixed capacitor; and said shunt variable impedance network including two parallel connected variable capacitors; and said series and said shunt variable capacitors being air dielectric capacitors.