Prediction and compensation of erosion in a magnetron sputtering target

A method of scanning a magnetron in back of a target in a plasma sputter chamber, comprising the steps of:

• applying power to the target to excite a plasma within the chamber and sputter material from the target onto a substrate in the chamber;
• scanning the magnetron about a central axis of the chamber along a selected path having radial and azimuthal components with respect to the central axis;
• calculating an erosion profile as a function of at least a radial distance from a center of the target which is produced by the sputtering from operational parameters used during the scanning, wherein the erosion profile includes a plurality of calculated erosion amounts at different ones of at least the radial distance and the operational parameters are applied to the plasma sputter chamber from a computer-based controller;
• a calibration step of rotating the magnetron at a fixed radius from the central axis for a given energy period and measuring a reference erosion rate profile, wherein the calculating step includes calculating an erosion rate profile for other radii than the fixed radius according to a geometrical relationship between the fixed and other radii;
• and
• vertically moving the magnetron parallel to the central axis based upon the calculated profile.

A method of scanning a magnetron in back of a target in a plasma sputter chamber, comprising the steps of:

• applying power to the target to excite a plasma within the chamber and sputter material from the target onto a substrate in the chamber;
• scanning the magnetron about a central axis of the chamber along a selected path having radial and azimuthal components with respect to the central axis;
• calculating an erosion profile as a function of at least a radial distance along a radius of the target from the central axis produced by the sputtering from operational parameters used during the scanning, wherein the calculating includes updating a plurality of values of accumulated energy, wherein the values are associated with respective radii of the magnetron from the central axis during the scanning, wherein the erosion profile includes a plurality of calculated erosion amounts at different ones of at least the radial distance and the operational parameters are applied to the plasma sputter chamber from a computer-based controller;
• a calibration step of rotating the magnetron at a fixed radius from the central axis for a given energy period and measuring a reference erosion rate profile, wherein the calculating step includes calculating an erosion rate profile for other radii than the fixed radius according to a geometrical relationship between the fixed and other radii;
• and
• vertically moving the magnetron parallel to the central axis based upon the calculated profile.

A method of scanning a magnetron in back of a target in a plasma sputter chamber, comprising the steps of:

• applying power to the target to excite a plasma within the chamber and sputter from the target;
• calculating an erosion profile as a function of at least a radial distance from a center of the target produced by the sputtering from operational parameters used during the scanning, wherein the erosion profile includes a plurality of calculated erosion amounts at different ones of at least the radial distance and the operational parameters are applied to the plasma sputter chamber from a computer-based controller;
• a calibration step of rotating the magnetron at a fixed radius from the center for a given energy period and measuring a reference erosion rate profile, wherein the calculating step includes calculating an erosion rate profile for other radii than the fixed radius according to a geometrical relationship between the fixed and other radii;
• and
• concurrently with the applying step, vertically moving the magnetron parallel to a central axis of the chamber.