Tekna was founded in 1990 to commercialize a patented inductively coupled plasma (ICP) torch technology developed by Professors Maher Boulos and Jerzy Jurewicz at University of Sherbrooke. Their new ICP torch design featured a robust ceramic plasma confinement tube, surrounded by a high-velocity water film cooling that protects the tube from the high-energy fluxes emitted by the plasma. A gas distribution head was mounted on top of the polymer-based torch body which houses the coaxial induction coil, and a water-cooled nozzle was mounted at the exit of the torch. A specifically engineered gas flow pattern in the confinement tube creates a virtual boundary the plasma cannot cross; this is what prevents the plasma from contacting the real walls and maintains the integrity of the torch components. The basic concept of ICP torches manufactured by Tekna today remains essentially unchanged, but improvements in torch design were made to achieve energy efficiency that meets industrial scale operation requirements, and to adapt it to specific applications.
