temperature within the chamber the controller 38 provides for monitoring as well as controlling the various processes and steps that occur during the lyophilization process the controller 38 is also utilized to monitor the length of the power cycle and the various power levels depending on the requirements of the product undergoing processing the controller 38 utilizes processing information from prior processed batches to provide optimal settings for various inputs and to optimize adjustments as processing occurs to begin the lyophilization process the refrigeration unit 26 is activated and monitored as shown in fig4 following activation of the refrigeration unit 26 the condenser 24 is also energized and its temperature controlled the condenser 24 is cooled until predetermined temperature values have been obtained and the vacuum pump 34 is activated and pressures monitored the present invention provides a system 20 that may be operated as a conventional lyophilizer using conduction radiation and or convection energy without microwaves operated with a combination of conventional lyophilization and microwave energy and operated using only microwave energy to facilitate lyophilization when the chamber atmospheric conditions have reached a temperature and vacuum combination at which sublimation will occur the magnetrons 40 are energized followed by the sensors including pressure and temperature sensors in the processing chamber 22 the controller 38 utilizes stored information from previous processing to initialize power levels and other settings and make adjustments throughout the processing for optimizing processing the microwave stirrers 70 are also energized so that the microwave field is dispersed in a pattern that substantially uniformly reaches all the product within the chamber 22 the processing chamber 22 is continually monitored.