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US 8,574,409 B2Granted
Method of magnetron sputtering and a method for determining a power modulation compensation function for a power supply applied to a magnetron sputtering source
AssigneeOc Oerlikon Balzers AG
InventorsStanislav Kadlec, Frantisek Balon, Juergen Weichart, Bart Scholte van Mast
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of magnetron sputtering, comprises rotating a magnet of a magnetron with an angular frequency ω, and, during sputtering of material from a source of the magnetron onto a substrate, periodically modulating a power level applied to the source with at least a component comprising a frequency f which is a harmonic of the angular frequency ω of rotation of the magnet other than the first harmonic.
Claims6
A method for controlling a power supply applied to a magnetron sputtering source during deposition of a film on a substrate, comprising:
- determining a thickness distribution of a film deposited using a power supply applied to the magnetron sputtering source which comprises a periodic modulation having a frequency f which is a harmonic n of an angular frequency w of rotation of a magnet of the magnetron other than the first harmonic,
- comparing the thickness distribution to the thickness distribution of a reference film of the sputtered material deposited on a substrate without modulation of the power supply,
- determining an amplitude sensitivity ampSensn and an angular sensitivity angSensn, wherein sensn =ampSensn/ ampPown for the harmonic n,
- determining the power compensation function PowerCompFunction according to PowerCompFunction=(−ampn/sensn)·cos(n ωt−phasen+angSensn), where ampn is an amplitude determined from the reference film, phasen is a phase determined from the reference film, and nωt is a product of the harmonic, the angular frequency of rotation, and the time with respect to the power compensation function, respectively, and
- controlling, via a power supply controller, the power supply applied to the magnetron sputtering source according to the determined power compensation function.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.