Scanning ion beam deposition and etch
AssigneePlasma-Therm NES LLC
InventorsSarpangala Hariharakeshava Hegde, Vincent Lee
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Abstract
The present disclosure provides a method to adjust asymmetric velocity of a scan in a scanning ion beam deposition or etch process to correct asymmetry of depositing or etching between the inboard side and the outboard side of device structures on a wafer, while maintaining the overall uniformity of the respective deposition or etch across the full wafer.
Claims21
In an ion-beam sputtering system having a vacuum chamber, a wafer on a stage, a target material, an ion-beam source, a method of depositing a uniform layer of sputtered material onto said wafer in said ion-beam sputtering system, comprising the steps of:
- generating ions from the ion beam source;
- directing the generated ions at the target material whereby a portion of the target material is sputtered toward said wafer as part of a deposition plume;
- exposing the wafer to the deposition plume within a deposition zone;
- and
- scanning the wafer across the deposition zone along a scan path relative to the deposition plume, wherein a scan velocity of the wafer is varied as the wafer travels along the scan path, wherein the scan velocity decreases as an area of the wafer exposed to the deposition plume decreases.
In an ion-beam sputtering system having a vacuum chamber, a wafer on a stage, a target material, an ion-beam source, a method of depositing a uniform layer of material on said wafer in said ion-beam sputtering system, comprising the steps of:
- generating ions from the ion beam source;
- directing the generated ions at the target material whereby a portion of the target material is sputtered toward said wafer as part of a deposition plume;
- exposing the wafer to the deposition plume within a deposition zone;
- and
- scanning the wafer across the deposition zone along a scan path relative to the deposition plume in accordance with a scan velocity function, wherein a scan velocity of the wafer is varied as the wafer travels along the scan path, wherein the scan velocity decreases as an area of the wafer exposed to the deposition plume decreases.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.