PVD tool to deposit highly reactive materials
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsStephen L. Brown, Bruce B. Doris, Mark C. Reuter
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A deposition tool includes a vacuum chamber and a physical vapor deposition module including a target source in the vacuum chamber. The target source includes a target material for depositing on a workpiece. An evaporator module is independent of the physical vapor deposition module and is mounted within an enclosure in the vacuum chamber. A gate is configured to selectively open the enclosure to permit evaporation of a coating element to coat the target source in the physical vapor deposition module.
Claims19
A method for protecting a target source in a deposition tool, comprising:
- depositing a thin film on a workpiece using a target source in a physical vapor deposition module, wherein the physical vapor deposition module includes a vacuum chamber with an electrically grounded chamber sidewall;
- opening a gate of an enclosure automatically using a control mechanism, including an actuator operatively connected to the gate and a computer system in operative communication with the actuator, to expose an evaporator module within the enclosure to an interior of a vacuum chamber that houses the physical vapor deposition module, wherein the control mechanism selectively closes the gate during an entire deposition of the thin film, and wherein the gate and the evaporator module are facing the target source;
- evaporating a coating from the evaporator module onto the target source of the physical vapor deposition module to protect the target source from exposure to reactants subsequent to depositing the thin film on the workpiece;
- and
- opening the vacuum chamber to remove the workpiece with the deposited thin film, wherein opening the vacuum chamber exposes the target source with the coating to a degrading environment.
A method for protecting a target source in a deposition tool, comprising:
- depositing a thin film of material from a target source on a workpiece in a physical vapor deposition module;
- opening a gate of an enclosure automatically using a control mechanism, including an actuator operatively connected to the gate and a computer system in operative communication with the actuator, after depositing the thin film to expose an evaporator module within the enclosure to an interior of a vacuum chamber that houses the physical vapor deposition module, wherein the control mechanism selectively closes the gate during the entire deposition of the thin film, and wherein the gate and the evaporator module are facing towards the target source and away from the workpiece;
- and
- evaporating a coating from the evaporator module onto the target source of the physical vapor deposition module to protect the target source from exposure to reactants subsequent to depositing the thin film on the workpiece and after opening the gate.
A method for protecting a target source in a deposition tool, comprising:
- depositing a thin film of material from a target source on a workpiece in a physical vapor deposition module, wherein the target source is made of a material selected from the group consisting of Magnesium Oxide (MgO), Iridium (Ir), Beryllium (Be), Lutetium (Lu), Tellurium (Te), Cerium (Ce), Holmium (Ho), and Hafnium (Hf);
- opening a gate of an enclosure automatically using a control mechanism, including an actuator operatively connected to the gate and a computer system in operative communication with the actuator, after depositing the thin film to expose an evaporator module within the enclosure to an interior of a vacuum chamber that houses the physical vapor deposition module, wherein the control mechanism selectively closes the gate during deposition of the thin film;
- and
- evaporating a coating from the evaporator module onto the target source of the physical vapor deposition module to protect the target source from exposure to reactants subsequent to depositing the thin film on the workpiece and after opening the gate, wherein the coating is selected from the group consisting of silicon (Si) and chromium (Cr).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.