Non-planar magnet tracking during magnetron sputtering
First Claim
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1. A magnetron sputtering apparatus, comprising:
- a magnet member having a magnetic field emanating therefrom disposed in the proximity of a sputtering target,a magnet member cycling system which during sputtering of said sputtering target causes said magnet member to move in a set pattern,wherein said set pattern of motion is defined by a set of points defining a pattern reference surface, wherein the pattern reference surface is defined by a set of lateral coordinates and a set of vertical coordinates of the pattern,wherein said set of lateral coordinates establish a defined set of locations on an offset reference surface which is approximately parallel to a reference surface of said sputtering target and offset from it,wherein said set of vertical coordinates establish a defined set of elevations for said set pattern at each respective lateral coordinate of said set of lateral coordinates,wherein said pattern reference surface includes a divergent portion having a subset of said defined set of elevations establishing the elevation of the pattern reference surface within said divergent portion at a distance from said offset reference surface at each respective lateral coordinate of said set of lateral coordinates, wherein the elevation of the pattern reference surface within said divergent portion falls outside a range of tolerance for parallelism between said offset reference surface and said reference surface of said sputtering target.
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Abstract
The structure and method which improves the film thickness uniformity or thickness control when using magnetron sputtering by adjusting the distance between the magnetron or a portion of the magnetron and the sputtering target to provide an improvement in the film thickness uniformity. Shimmed rails, contoured rails, contoured surfaces, cam plates, and cam plate control followers are utilized to achieve an improvement in film thickness uniformity or thickness control due to anomalies in magnetic field as a magnetron assembly moves back and forth when sputtering substrates (utilized primarily for rectangularly shaped substrates).
124 Citations
42 Claims
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1. A magnetron sputtering apparatus, comprising:
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a magnet member having a magnetic field emanating therefrom disposed in the proximity of a sputtering target, a magnet member cycling system which during sputtering of said sputtering target causes said magnet member to move in a set pattern, wherein said set pattern of motion is defined by a set of points defining a pattern reference surface, wherein the pattern reference surface is defined by a set of lateral coordinates and a set of vertical coordinates of the pattern, wherein said set of lateral coordinates establish a defined set of locations on an offset reference surface which is approximately parallel to a reference surface of said sputtering target and offset from it, wherein said set of vertical coordinates establish a defined set of elevations for said set pattern at each respective lateral coordinate of said set of lateral coordinates, wherein said pattern reference surface includes a divergent portion having a subset of said defined set of elevations establishing the elevation of the pattern reference surface within said divergent portion at a distance from said offset reference surface at each respective lateral coordinate of said set of lateral coordinates, wherein the elevation of the pattern reference surface within said divergent portion falls outside a range of tolerance for parallelism between said offset reference surface and said reference surface of said sputtering target. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A magnetron sputtering apparatus comprising:
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a sputtering target assembly having a first side opposite a second side wherein a target surface on said first side is exposed to a sputtering chamber; a traveling magnet member disposed to travel along a track on a second side of said target assembly, said magnet member including components which produce a magnetic field extending beyond the surface of said magnet member toward said target surface, wherein a portion of said magnet member travels in a plane approximately parallel to an unused pre-sputtering configuration of said surface of said first side of said target, except in a divergent portion, where the distance of a portion of the magnetic member and said unused configuration of said surface of said first side of said target assembly exceed a range of tolerance for parallelism between said plane and said unused pre-sputtering configuration of said surface of said first side of said target. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A magnetron scanning apparatus comprising:
a magnet member running as a truck on a set of separated linear bearing rails which are approximately parallel, where during sputtering to improve the uniformity of film thickness sputter deposited on a substrate opposite a target disposed between said target assembly and said magnet member a first end of a first rail of said set of bearing rails is raised to be further from the target than a second end of said first rail of said set of bearing rails. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36)
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37. A method for selectively controlling the film thickness deposited on a substrate during sputtering comprising the steps of:
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moving a magnet member laterally in an approximately linear pattern in the proximity of a sputtering target and varying the strength of the magnetic field enhancing sputtering at the target surface as the magnet member moves laterally to deposit a particular film thickness pattern on the substrate during processing during sputtering. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40)
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41. A method for selectively controlling the film thickness deposited on a substrate during sputtering comprising the steps of:
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moving a magnet member laterally along an approximately linear track and moving portions of the magnet member in a vertical direction simultaneously with the lateral motion of the magnet member to change the magnetic field intensity utilized for sputtering at one or more locations along the track to improve the control of the film thickness deposited during sputtering.
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42. A method for selectively controlling the film thickness deposited on a substrate during sputtering comprising the steps of:
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locating a magnetic field opposite a sputtering target; moving the magnetic field laterally across the target; varying the strength of the magnetic field at locations where a localized change in the deposited film thickness is desired wherein the step of varying the strength of the magnetic field includes changing the strength of electro-magnets in said magnetic member according to a pattern depending on the lateral location of the magnet member.
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Specification