Magnetron for low pressure full face erosion
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsAvi Tepman, James van Gogh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for controlling the operation of a magnetron source for sputtering a surface of a target in a vacuum chamber, the method including the steps of: during a low pressure phase of sputtering, causing a magnetic field generated by a the magnetron source to be confined primarily to an inner region of the surface of the target so as to reduce leakage of electrons away from the target during sputtering; and during a subseguent high pressure phase of sputtering, causing the magnetic field generated by the magnet assembly to extend into the outer region of the surface of the target so as to sputter material from the outer region of the surface of the target. The pressure of the high pressure phase of sputtering is higher than the pressure of the low pressure phase of sputtering.
Claims21
A method for controlling the operation of a magnetron source for sputtering a surface of a target in a vacuum chamber, said magnetron source including a magnet assembly, said method comprising:
- during a low pressure phase of sputtering in which the chamber is at a first pressure, causing a magnetic field generated by the magnet assembly to be confined primarily to an inner region of the surface of the target so as to reduce leakage of electrons away from the target during sputtering, said inner region being surrounded by an outer region;
- and
- during a subsequent high pressure phase of sputtering in which the chamber is at a second pressure, causing the magnetic field generated by the magnet assembly to extend into said outer region of the surface of the target so as to sputter material from the outer region of the surface of the target, wherein the second pressure is higher than the first pressure.
A method for controlling the operation of a magnetron source for sputtering a surface of a target in a vacuum chamber, said magnetron source including a magnet assembly that produces a magnetic field, said method comprising:
- sputtering the target while maintaining a low chamber pressure;
- throughout the low pressure sputtering, confining the magnetic field to an inner region of the surface of the target so as to reduce leakage of electrons away from the target during sputtering, said inner region of the surface of the target being surrounded by an outer region of the surface of the target;
- after the low pressure sputtering, sputtering the target using a high chamber pressure;
- and
- during the high pressure sputtering, causing the magnetic field to extend into said outer region of the surface of the target so as to sputter material from the surface of target in the outer region, wherein the high chamber pressure is greater than the low chamber pressure.
A plasma system for sputtering a surface of a target, said apparatus comprising:
- a chamber;
- a magnetron source for holding the target in the chamber during processing, said magnetron source producing a magnetic field next to the surface of the target;
- a platform within the chamber which supports a substrate during processing;
- a programmed control unit controlling the magnetron source, said control unit programmed to perform the following steps:
- during a low pressure phase of sputtering, causing the magnetic field generated by the magnetron source to be confined primarily to an inner region of the surface of the target so as to reduce leakage of electrons away from the target during sputtering said inner region being surrounded by an outer region;
- and
- during a subsequent high pressure phase of sputtering causing the magnetic field generated by the magnetron source to extend into said outer region of the surface of the target so as to sputter material from the outer region of the surface of the target, wherein the high pressure phase uses a chamber pressure that is higher than a chamber pressure of the low pressure phase.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.