System and method for fabricating silicon targets
AssigneeSharp Laboratories of America, Inc.
InventorsApostolos Voutsas, John Hartzell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for fabricating silicon tiles and silicon tile targets has been provided, such as may be used in the sputter deposition of thin film transistor (TFT) silicon films. The method describes processes of cutting the tiles, beveling the tiles edges, etching the tiles to minimize residual damage caused by cutting the tiles, polishing the tiles to a specified flatness, and attaching the tiles to a backing plate. All these processes are performed with the aim of minimizing contamination and particle formations when the target is used for sputter deposition.
Claims61
In the fabrication of integrated circuit (IC) sputter deposited silicon films, a method for forming silicon (Si) target tiles, the method comprising:
- shaping silicon tiles;
- and
- treating the silicon tile edges to minimize the generation of contaminating particles.
In the fabrication of integrated circuit (IC) sputter deposited silicon films, a method for a forming a silicon (Si) target, the method comprising:
- cutting silicon tiles to a thickness in the range from 7 millimeters (mm) to 10 mm;
- subjecting the silicon tile top and bottom surface edges to a treatment selected from the group including beveling and radiusing;
- beveling the silicon tile corners approximately 1.5 mm;
- chemically etching the silicon tile surfaces to remove silicon material within the range of 50 microns (um) to 500 um;
- polishing the silicon tile top and bottom surfaces to a predetermined flatness within the range of 0.1 um to 10 um;
- and,
- attaching a plurality of the silicon tiles to a backing plate to form a completed silicon target.
In the fabrication of integrated circuit (IC) sputter deposited silicon films, a silicon (Si) target tile comprising:
- a silicon tile having a predetermined thickness;
- silicon tile treated top and bottom surface edges;
- silicon tile treated corners;
- and
- a predetermined flatness across the top and bottom surfaces of the silicon tile.
In the fabrication of integrated circuit (IC) sputter deposited silicon films, a silicon (Si) target comprising:
- a backing plate;
- a plurality of silicon tiles attached to the backing plate;
- and
- wherein each silicon tiles has a predetermined thickness, treated top and bottom surface edges, treated corners, and a predetermined flatness across the top and bottom surfaces.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.