Sputtering target material, silicon-containing film forming method, and photomask blank

Abstract

Provided is a silicon target material in which particles are not easily generated during a sputtering process and to form a low-defect (high quality) silicon-containing film. A silicon target material having a specific resistance of 20 Ω·cm or more at room temperature is used for forming a silicon-containing film. The silicon target material may be polycrystalline or noncrystalline. However, when the silicon target material is single-crystalline, a more stable discharge state can be obtained. Also, a single-crystal silicon in which crystals are grown by an FZ method is a preferable material as a highly-pure silicon target material because its content of oxygen is low. Further, a target material having n-type conductivity and containing donor impurities is preferable to obtain stable discharge characteristics. Only a single or a plurality of silicon target materials according to the present invention may be used for sputtering film formation of the silicon-containing film.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.