An Radio Frequency Impedance Matching Control Benchmark System for Advanced Control Strategies Evaluation

Abstract

An impedance matching network is mandatory between the source and the load to obtain the maximum power transfer in a system. For example, in the plasma processing technology widely used in semiconductor wafer processing, guaranteeing the maximum transference of power is the main goal. This paper presents the problem definition and guidelines for a radio-frequency (RF) impedance matching benchmark. This benchmark system we developed in public domain is useful in studying and evaluating various impedance patching algorithms fairly. The goal is to match the impedance of the source with its complex conjugate of the load in a minimum time. The reflection coefficient is used as an evaluation metric to measure the reflected power, which has to be zero to guarantee the maximum power transfer. Some impedance matching controllers proposed in the literature are tested as sample applications on this benchmark in a fair manner to check and evaluate its robustness and stability performance against different initial conditions, load conditions and perturbations on the impedance matching network control system. We also suggested a novel Feedforward Control (FF) profile generation method with a primitive sample feedback control strategy (proportional-integral (PI) controller) as a baseline reference for the benchmark.