Ion assisted deposition process including reactive source gassification
AssigneeUniversity of Houston
InventorsJohn C. Wolfe, Wong S. Ho, Darian L. Licon, Yat-Lung Chau
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process for depositing a compound of a metal and a reactive gas includes heating a metal target (32), in an evacuated chamber (22) to a predetermined reaction temperature. The reaction temperature is above a critical temperature which is higher than about half the melting point of the metal but below the vaporization temperature of the metal target. At this reaction temperature, the metal target reacts with the reactive gas to produce, in gaseous form, the compound or a sub-compound of the metal and the reactive gas. The gaseous compound or sub-compound is reacted with the reactive gas on a substrate (36) to form a solid layer of the compound on the substrate.
Claims17
A method of vacuum depositing a compound of a metal and a reactive first gas, the metal having a vaporizing temperature which is one of an evaporation temperature and a sublimation temperature, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a vacuum chamber and means for evacuating the chamber;
- (b) providing means for admitting a controlled flow of the first gas into the chamber;
- (c) providing a target of the metal within the vacuum chamber;
- (d) providing a plasma source for activating the reactive gas;
- (e) providing a substrate in the chamber for accumulating a layer of the metal compound;
- (f) admitting the first gas into the chamber at a predetermined flow-rate;
- (g) activating said plasma source to activate the first gas;
- (h) heating the target to a predetermined reaction temperature at which that the first gas reacts with the metal target to form a second gas, said reaction temperature being less than the vaporization temperature of the metal, and said second gas including at least one of the compound of the metal and the first gas and a sub-compound of the metal and the first gas;
- and
- (g) while maintaining the target at about said reaction temperature, reacting said second gas and the first gas on said substrate to accumulate a layer of the compound in solid form.
A method of vacuum depositing silicon dioxide comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a vacuum chamber and means for evacuating the chamber and maintaining the chamber at a predetermined pressure;
- (b) providing means for admitting a controlled flow of oxygen into the chamber;
- (c) providing a sputtering device including a metallic silicon target within the vacuum chamber, said sputtering-cathode configured such that when activated said target reaches a predetermined reaction temperature at which silicon will react with oxygen at the predetermined pressure to form a gaseous sub-oxide of silicon;
- (d) providing a substrate in the chamber for accumulating a layer of the silicon dioxide;
- (e) admitting oxygen into the chamber at a predetermined flow-rate;
- (f) activating the sputtering device thereby heating the target to the reaction temperature and reacting the target with the oxygen to provide the gaseous sub-oxide of silicon;
- and
- (g) while maintaining the chamber at the predetermined pressure and while maintaining the target at the predetermined temperature, reacting the gaseous suboxide of silicon and the oxygen on the substrate to accumulate a layer of solid silicon dioxide.
A method of vacuum depositing solid molybdenum oxide comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a vacuum chamber and means for evacuating the chamber and maintaining the chamber at a predetermined pressure;
- (b) providing means for admitting a controlled flow of oxygen into the chamber;
- (c) providing a sputtering device including a metallic molybdenum target within the vacuum chamber, said sputtering-cathode configured such that when activated said target reaches a predetermined reaction temperature at which molybdenum will react with the oxygen at the predetermined pressure to form gaseous molybdenum oxide;
- (d) providing a substrate in the chamber for accumulating a layer of the solid molybdenum oxide;
- (e) admitting oxygen into the chamber at a predetermined flow-rate;
- (f) activating the sputtering device thereby heating the target to the reaction temperature and reacting the target with the oxygen to provide the gaseous molybdenum oxide;
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- (g) while maintaining the target at the reaction temperature, reacting the gaseous oxide of molybdenum and the oxygen on the substrate to accumulate a layer of solid molybdenum oxide.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.