Magnetron with controlled DC power
AssigneeAgilent Technologies, Inc.
InventorsYury Oshmyansky, Sergey Mishin, Richard C. Ruby, John D. Larson III
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Abstract
A magnetron with mechanisms for smoothly and continuously adjusting a DC power applied to its targets to compensate for the changes in the sputtering characteristics of the targets that occur with target aging. A magnetron according to the present teachings includes a set of concentric targets for sputtering a film onto a wafer in response to an AC power and a DC power applied to the targets and a power controller that adjusts the DC power. The adjustments to the DC power enable the magnetron to maintain uniformity in the thicknesses of films formed with the magnetron throughout the life of its targets.
Claims15
A magnetron, comprising:
- a set of concentric targets for sputtering a film onto a wafer in response to an AC power and a DC power applied to the targets;
- power controller that adjusts the DC power to maintain a substantially uniform thickness of the film sputtered onto the wafer throughout a life of the targets.
A method for sputtering a film onto a wafer in a magnetron, comprising the steps of:
- applying an AC power and a DC power to a set of concentric targets;
- adjusting the DC power to maintain a substantially uniform thickness of the film sputtered onto the wafer throughout a life of the targets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.