Self-ionized and capacitively-coupled plasma for sputtering and resputtering
First Claim
1. A method of sputter depositing deposition material onto a substrate supported by a pedestal in a chamber, comprising:
- rotating a magnetron about the back of a target in the chamber, said magnetron having an area of no more than about 1/4 of the area of the target and including an inner magnetic pole of one magnetic polarity surrounded by an outer magnetic pole of an opposite magnetic polarity, a magnetic flux of said outer pole being at least 50% larger than the magnetic flux of said inner pole;
applying power to said target to thereby sputter material from said target onto said substrate at a first rate;
applying RF power to said pedestal to provide a plasma to resputter deposition material on said substrate; and
confining said plasma using a magnetic field generated by electromagnetic coils disposed around the periphery of the pedestal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A DC magnetron sputter reactor for sputtering deposition materials such as tantalum and tantalum nitride, for example, and its method of use, in which self-ionized plasma (SIP) sputtering and capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) sputtering are promoted, either together or alternately, in the same chamber. Also, bottom coverage may be thinned or eliminated by inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) resputtering. SIP is promoted by a small magnetron having poles of unequal magnetic strength and a high power applied to the target during sputtering. CCP is provided by a pedestal electrode which capacitively couples RF energy into a plasma. The CCP plasma is preferably enhanced by a magnetic field generated by electromagnetic coils surrounding the pedestal which act to confine the CCP plasma and increase its density.
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Citations
50 Claims
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1. A method of sputter depositing deposition material onto a substrate supported by a pedestal in a chamber, comprising:
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rotating a magnetron about the back of a target in the chamber, said magnetron having an area of no more than about 1/4 of the area of the target and including an inner magnetic pole of one magnetic polarity surrounded by an outer magnetic pole of an opposite magnetic polarity, a magnetic flux of said outer pole being at least 50% larger than the magnetic flux of said inner pole;
applying power to said target to thereby sputter material from said target onto said substrate at a first rate;
applying RF power to said pedestal to provide a plasma to resputter deposition material on said substrate; and
confining said plasma using a magnetic field generated by electromagnetic coils disposed around the periphery of the pedestal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of sputter depositing a layer of metal material into a plurality of holes on a substrate, comprising:
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providing a chamber having a target spaced from a pedestal for holding a substrate to be sputter coated by a throw distance that is greater than 50% of a diameter of the substrate;
rotating a magnetron about the back of the target, said magnetron having an area of no more than about 1/4 of the area of the target and including an inner magnetic pole of one magnetic polarity surrounded by an outer magnetic pole of an opposite magnetic polarity, the magnetic flux of said outer pole being at least 50% larger than the magnetic flux of said inner pole;
applying at least 10 kW of DC power to said target while said chamber is pumped to a vacuum pressure, to thereby sputter material from said target onto said substrate and to maintain a self ionizing plasma to ionize at least a portion of said material sputtered from said target;
biasing said substrate to attract sputtered material ions;
reducing said DC power applied to said target after depositing a layer of target material into holes on said substrate;
supplying a precursor gas into said chamber;
applying RF power to said pedestal to capacitively couple RF energy into a plasma to ionize said precursor gas and to bias said substrate to attract ionized gas to resputter target material from the bottom of the holes of said substrate; and
generating a magnetic field to surround said pedestal and confine said plasma to increase the density of said plasma.
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25. A plasma sputter reactor system for sputter depositing a film on a substrate, comprising:
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a vacuum chamber containing a pedestal aligned to a chamber axis and having a support surface for supporting a substrate to be sputter deposited;
a first power source coupled to said pedestal and adapted to provide RF power to said pedestal;
a target comprising a material to be sputter deposited on said substrate and electrically isolated from said vacuum chamber;
a second power source coupled to said target and adapted to provide power to said target to bias said target;
a magnetron disposed adjacent said target and having an area of no more than about ¼
of the area of the target and including an inner magnetic pole of one magnetic polarity surrounded by an outer magnetic pole of an opposite magnetic polarity, the magnetic flux of said outer pole being at least 50% larger than the magnetic flux of said inner pole;
a first electrically conductive shield generally symmetric about said axis, supported on and electrically connected to said chamber, and extending away from said target along a wall of said chamber to an elevation behind said support surface;
an electromagnetic coil carried by said first shield and surrounding said shield;
a third power source coupled to said coil and adapted to energize said coil to generate a magnetic field surrounding said pedestal; and
a controller adapted to control said second power source to sputter said target in a first interval at a first power level and to reduce said power level to a second level in a second interval wherein target material is sputtered on said substrate primarily in said first interval, said controller being further adapted to control said first power source to provide RF power to said pedestal to bias a substrate on said pedestal and to capacitively couple RF power to maintain a plasma in said chamber in said second interval wherein target material deposited on said substrate in said first interval is resputtered from said substrate in said second interval, and said controller being further adapted to control said third power source to provide a magnetic field to surround said pedestal and confine said plasma to increase the density of said plasma in said second interval. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A reactor system for depositing conductive material onto a substrate, comprising:
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target means for sputter depositing a layer of conductive material onto said substrate, and for generating a self ionized plasma to ionize a portion of said conductive material sputtered from said target means prior to being deposited onto said substrate;
capacitively coupled plasma means including a pedestal electrode, for generating a capacitively coupled plasma, and for biasing a substrate to attract plasma ions to resputter a portion of said conductive material from said substrate; and
electromagnetic coil means for generating a magnetic field to surround said pedestal and confine said plasma to increase the density of said plasma adjacent said pedestal electrode. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50)
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Specification