one can precisely adjust the voltage across lower electrode 1106 thereby improving the uniformity of the resulting plasma also by monitoring the currents and voltages of individual diodes one can pinpoint the location where an arc may potentially occur in this manner during operation the presence of potential arcing events are easily detected isolated and prevented the method of arc detection isolation and prevention of system 1100 while wafer processing will now be more explicitly explained with reference to fig1 fig1 is a flowchart of an example method 1200 of implementing arc detection within system 1200 in accordance with an aspect of the present invention method 1200 starts s 1202 and a parameter threshold for identifying potential arcs is established s 1204 the parameter may be a voltage current or another parameter that will be monitored in order to identify the potential presence of an arc for example one may establish a threshold of leakage current sensed by current sensor 1218 such that above a certain leakage threshold a non uniformity in voltage or charge on lower electrode 1206 is assumed which may indicate a potential for an arc to occur then the plasma chamber is activated such that system 1100 begins wafer processing s 1206 for example rf source 1202 may be activated to supply rf power to lower electrode 1206 such that a plasma may be formed between upper electrode 1104 and lower electrode 1106 then the parameter used to identify arcs is measured s 1208 for example if a leakage current through current sensor 1218 is the parameter being monitored then adc 1214 samples this current at this point it is determined whether the monitored parameter.