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US 11,306,388 B2Granted
Sputtering targets and devices including Mo, Nb, and Ta, and methods
AssigneeH.C. Starck GmbH
InventorsShuwei Sun, Gary Alan Rozak, Qi Zhang, Barbara Cox, Yen-Te Lee
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Abstract
Sputtering targets including molybdenum, niobium and tantalum are found to be useful for sputtering films for electronic devices. Sputtering targets with about 88 to 97 weight percent molybdenum show improved performance, particularly with respect to etching, such as when simultaneously etching an alloy layer including the Mo, Nb, and Ta, and a metal layer (e.g., an aluminum layer). The targets are particularly useful in manufacturing touch screen devices.
Claims11
A method of fabricating an electronic device, the method comprising:
- sputtering a sputtering target to form an alloy layer over a substrate, wherein (a) the sputtering target comprises (i) about 88 atomic percent to about 97 atomic percent molybdenum, (ii) about 2 atomic percent to about 8 atomic percent niobium, and (iii) about 0.5 atomic percent to about 5 atomic percent tantalum, and (b) the alloy layer comprises molybdenum, niobium, and tantalum;
- forming a metal layer over the alloy layer, wherein the metal layer comprises at least one of Al, Fe, Cu, Ag, Au, W, Zn, Pt, or Sn;
- after forming the metal layer, sputtering the sputtering target in a presence of oxygen to form an oxide layer over the alloy layer and the metal layer, wherein the oxide layer comprises molybdenum, niobium, tantalum, and oxygen, and wherein the alloy layer and the oxide layer have the same atomic ratio of Mo:Ta, Nb:Ta, and Mo:Nb;
- and
- with a PAN etchant comprising phosphoric acid, acetic acid, nitric acid, and water, etching away portions of the alloy layer, the metal layer, and the oxide layer.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.