Durable sputtered metal oxide coating
First Claim
1. The method of producing a substantially amorphous metal film by cathode sputtering comprising the steps of:
- placing a substrate in an evacuated chamber having an atmosphere comprising argon and up to 30% oxygen; and
sputtering a titanium cathode target below its switch point in the chamber wherein the atmosphere is sufficiently inert that the titanium is sputtered to deposit a titanium film and sufficiently reactive that the titanium film deposited is substantially amorphous; and
after the practice of the sputtering step, oxidizing the titanium film.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and resultant product are disclosed wherein a metal film is deposited by sputtering a metal cathode target in an essentially nonreactive atmosphere comprising inert gas and a reactive gas, wherein the concentration of reactive gas is sufficiently low that the sputtering is accomplished in the metallic mode, i.e. the film is deposited as metal. The metal film of the present invention is harder than a metal film sputtered in an atmosphere consisting of only inert gas. The method and resultant product may further comprise thermal oxidation of the metal film, which proceeds more efficiently than oxidation of a metal film sputtered in an atmosphere consisting of only inert gas.
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Citations
45 Claims
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1. The method of producing a substantially amorphous metal film by cathode sputtering comprising the steps of:
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placing a substrate in an evacuated chamber having an atmosphere comprising argon and up to 30% oxygen; and
sputtering a titanium cathode target below its switch point in the chamber wherein the atmosphere is sufficiently inert that the titanium is sputtered to deposit a titanium film and sufficiently reactive that the titanium film deposited is substantially amorphous; and
after the practice of the sputtering step, oxidizing the titanium film. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of producing a substantially amorphous metal film by cathode sputtering comprising the steps of:
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placing a substrate in an evacuated chamber having an atmosphere comprising argon and up to 30% oxygen;
sputtering a titanium metal cathode target in the chamber wherein the sputtering step is practiced by energizing the titanium metal cathode target and regulating the atmosphere to operate below the switch point of the target to have a predominantly inert gas and sufficient reactive gas to deposit a substantially amorphous titanium metal film, and after the practice of the sputtering step, oxidizing the titanium film. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of sputter coating a substantially amorphous metal film on a substrate, comprising the steps of:
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positioning a metal cathode target and a substrate to be coated in a chamber, the metal of the metal cathode target having a reactive gas switch point and the metal cathode target when operated in an inert gas below the switch point deposits a metal film having a crystalline structure defined as a crystalline metal film, and when operated above the switch point deposits a reacted metal film having an amorphous structure defined as an amorphous reacted metal film;
moving into the chamber a ratio of inert gas and reactive gas to provide in the chamber an atmosphere, and energizing the metal cathode target and regulating the atmosphere to operate below the switch point of the metal cathode target to have a predominately inert gas and sufficient reactive gas to deposit a metal film on the substrate having a substantially amorphous structure defined as an amorphous metal film. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
the crystalline metal film has a predetermined property value, the amorphous reacted metal film has a predetermined property value different than the predetermined property value of the crystalline metal film;
the predetermined property value of the crystalline metal film defines a first limit and the predetermined property value of the amorphous reacted metal film defines a second limit wherein the first limit and second limit define a predetermined value range, and the crystalline metal film has a predetermined property value different than the predetermined property value of at least one of the crystalline metal films and the amorphous metal reacted film.
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29. The method according to claim 28, wherein the metal of the metal cathode target is selected from the group consisting of titanium and zirconium.
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30. A method according to claim 29, wherein the metal is titanium.
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31. The method according to claim 28, wherein the amorphous metal film is an amorphous titanium film and further comprising the step of oxidizing the amorphous titanium film.
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32. The method according to claim 28, wherein the reactive gas is selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen and mixtures thereof.
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33. The method according to claim 32, wherein the predetermined property value of the amorphous metal film is different than the predetermined property value of the crystalline metal film and of the amorphous reacted metal film and within the predetermined value range.
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34. The method according to claim 33, wherein the predetermined property is hardness and the amorphous metal film is harder than crystalline metal film and softer than the amorphous reacted metal films.
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35. The method according to claim 34, wherein the inert gas is argon.
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36. The method according to claim 33, wherein the reactive gas is oxygen and the inert gas is argon.
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37. The method according to claim 36, wherein the metal of the metal cathode target is selected from the group consisting of titanium and zirconium.
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38. The method according to claim 37, wherein the metal of the metal cathode target is titanium, and the atmosphere comprises from 2 to 30 percent oxygen in argon.
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39. A method according to claim 33, wherein the reactive gas is oxygen.
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40. The method according to claim 39, wherein the predetermined property is hardness and the amorphous metal film is harder than the crystalline metal film and softer than the amorphous reacted metal film.
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41. The method according to claim 39, wherein the predetermined property is visible light transmittance and the crystalline metal film has a percent transmission lower than the percent transmission of the amorphous reacted metal film and the amorphous metal film has a percent transmission greater than the percent transmission of the crystalline metal film and less than the percent transmission of the amorphous reacted metal film wherein the thickness of the crystalline metal film, amorphous reacted metal film and amorphous metal film being substantially equal.
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42. The method according to claim 41, wherein the difference between the percent transmission of the crystalline metal film and the amorphous metal film is less than the difference between the percent transmission of the amorphous metal film and the amorphous reacted metal film.
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43. The method according to claim 39, wherein the predetermined property is electrical conductivity and the crystalline metal film has an electrical conductivity greater than the electrical conductivity of the amorphous reacted metal film and the amorphous metal film has an electrical conductivity greater than the electrical conductivity of the amorphous reacted metal film and less than the electrical conductivity of the crystalline metal film wherein the thickness of the crystalline metal film, amorphous reacted metal film and amorphous metal film being substantially equal.
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44. The method according to claim 39, wherein the predetermined property is percent reflectance with the crystalline metal film having a percent reflectance greater than the percent reflectance of the amorphous reacted metal film and the amorphous metal film having a percent reflectance higher than the percent reflectance of the amorphous reacted metal film and lower than the crystalline metal film wherein the thickness of the crystalline metal film, amorphous reacted metal film and the amorphous metal film are substantially equal.
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45. The method according to claim 39, wherein the predetermined property is density and the amorphous metal film has a density less than the density of crystalline metal film and greater than the density of amorphous reacted metal film.
Specification