Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090308732 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR UNIFORM DEPOSITION - Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to an apparatus and method for uniform sputter depositing of materials into the bottom and sidewalls of high aspect ratio features on a substrate. In one embodiment, a sputter deposition system includes a collimator that has apertures having aspect ratios that decrease from a central region of the collimator to a peripheral region of the collimator. In one embodiment, the collimator is coupled to a grounded shield via a bracket member that includes a combination of internally and externally threaded fasteners. In another embodiment, the collimator is integrally attached to a grounded shield. In one embodiment, a method of sputter depositing material includes pulsing the bias on the substrate support between high and low values. | 12-17-2009 |
20100032289 | METHOD FOR ULTRA-UNIFORM SPUTTER DEPOSITION USING SIMULTANEOUS RF AND DC POWER ON TARGET - In a plasma-enhanced physical vapor deposition reactor, uniformity of radial distribution of the deposition rate across the workpiece is enhanced by applying both RF and D.C. power to the target and adjusting the power levels of the RF and D.C. power independently. Further optimization is obtained by adjusting the height of the magnet above the target, adjusting the radius of the orbital motion of the magnet above the target and providing an angle edge surface of the target. | 02-11-2010 |
20100096253 | PVD CU SEED OVERHANG RE-SPUTTERING WITH ENHANCED CU IONIZATION - A method and apparatus for depositing metal on a patterned substrate are provided. A metal layer is formed in a physical vapor deposition process having a first energy. A second physical vapor deposition process is performed on the metal layer, using a second energy, wherein deposition interacts with brittle and plastic surface modification processes to form a substantially conformal metal layer on the substrate. | 04-22-2010 |
20100105204 | METHOD TO MODULATE COVERAGE OF BARRIER AND SEED LAYER USING TITANIUM NITRIDE - Methods for processing substrates are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method for processing substrates includes providing to a process chamber a substrate comprising an exposed dielectric layer having a feature formed therein. A mask layer comprising titanium nitride may be selectively deposited atop corners of the feature. A barrier layer may be selectively deposited atop the mask layer and into a bottom portion of the feature. The barrier layer deposited on the bottom portion of the feature may be etched to redistribute at least a portion of the barrier layer onto sidewalls of the feature. | 04-29-2010 |
20100155223 | Electromagnet array in a sputter reactor - A multi-step process performed in a plasma sputter chamber including sputter deposition from the target and argon sputter etching of the substrate. The chamber includes a quadruple electromagnetic coil array coaxially arranged in a rectangular array about a chamber axis outside the sidewalls of a plasma sputter reactor in back of an RF coil within the chamber. The coil currents can be separately controlled to produce different magnetic field distributions, for example, between a sputter deposition mode in which the sputter target is powered to sputter target material onto a wafer and a sputter etch mode in which the RF coil supports the argon sputtering plasma. A TaN/Ta barrier is first sputter deposited with high target power and wafer bias. Argon etching is performed with even higher wafer bias. A flash step is applied with reduced target power and wafer bias. | 06-24-2010 |
20100243440 | Mechanism for continuously varying radial position of a magnetron - A continuously variable multi-position magnetron that is rotated about a central axis in back of a sputtering target at a freely selected radius. The position is dynamically controlled from the outside, for example, through a hydraulic actuator connected between a pivoting arm supporting the magnetron and an arm fixed to the shaft, by two coaxial shafts independent controllable from the outside and supporting the magnetron through a frog-leg mechanism, or a cable connected between the pivoting arms and moved by an external slider. The magnetron can be rotated at two, three, or more discrete radii or be moved in a continuous spiral pattern. | 09-30-2010 |
20100252416 | Sputtering Target for PVD Chamber - Target assemblies and PVD chambers including target assemblies are disclosed. The target assembly includes a target that has a concave shaped target. When used in a PVD chamber, the concave target provides more radially uniform deposition on a substrate disposed in the sputtering chamber. | 10-07-2010 |
20100252417 | HIGH PRESSURE RF-DC SPUTTERING AND METHODS TO IMPROVE FILM UNIFORMITY AND STEP-COVERAGE OF THIS PROCESS - Embodiments of the invention generally provide a processing chamber used to perform a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process and methods of depositing multi-compositional films. The processing chamber may include: an improved RF feed configuration to reduce any standing wave effects; an improved magnetron design to enhance RF plasma uniformity, deposited film composition and thickness uniformity; an improved substrate biasing configuration to improve process control; and an improved process kit design to improve RF field uniformity near the critical surfaces of the substrate. The method includes forming a plasma in a processing region of a chamber using an RF supply coupled to a multi-compositional target, translating a magnetron relative to the multi-compositional target, wherein the magnetron is positioned in a first position relative to a center point of the multi-compositional target while the magnetron is translating and the plasma is formed, and depositing a multi-compositional film on a substrate in the chamber. | 10-07-2010 |
20110306200 | METHODS FOR FORMING INTERCONNECT STRUCTURES - Methods for forming interconnect structures are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method for forming an interconnect on a substrate may include depositing a material atop an upper surface of the substrate and atop one or more surfaces of a feature disposed in the substrate by a first deposition process that deposits the material at a faster rate on the upper surface than on a bottom surface of the feature; depositing the material atop the upper surface of the substrate and atop one or more surfaces of the feature by a second deposition process that deposits the material at a greater rate on the bottom surface of the feature than on the upper surface of the substrate; and heating the deposited material to draw the deposited material towards the bottom surface of the feature to at least partially fill the feature with the deposited material. | 12-15-2011 |
20110311735 | MAGNETRON DESIGN FOR RF/DC PHYSICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION - Methods and apparatus to improve target life and deposition uniformity in PVD chambers are provided herein. In some embodiments, a magnetron assembly includes a shunt plate having a central axis, the shunt plate rotatable about the central axis, a first open loop magnetic pole arc coupled to the shunt plate at a first radius from the central axis, and a second open loop magnetic pole arc coupled the shunt plate at a first distance from the first open loop magnetic pole arc, wherein at least one of the first radius varies along the first open loop magnetic pole arc or the first distance varies along the second open loop magnetic pole arc. In some embodiments, a first polarity of the first open loop magnetic pole arc opposes a second polarity of the second open loop magnetic pole arc. | 12-22-2011 |
20120108058 | METHODS OF FORMING LAYERS ON SUBSTRATES - Methods for forming layers on a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, methods of forming layers on a substrate disposed in a process chamber may include depositing a barrier layer comprising titanium within one or more features in the substrate; and sputtering a material from a target in the presence of a plasma formed from a process gas by applying a DC power to the target, maintaining a pressure of less than about 500 mTorr within the process chamber, and providing up to about 5000 W of a substrate bias RF power to deposit a seed layer comprising the material atop the barrier layer. | 05-03-2012 |
20120181166 | PVD PROCESS WITH SYNCHRONIZED PROCESS PARAMETERS AND MAGNET POSITION - Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to methods for physical vapor deposition processes. The methods generally include synchronizing process chamber conditions with the position of a magnetron. As the magnetron is scanned over a first area of a target, the conditions within the chamber are adjusted to a first set of predetermined process conditions. As the magnetron is subsequently scanned over a second area of the target, the conditions within the chamber are adjusted to a second set of predetermined process conditions different the first set. The target may be divided into more than two areas. By correlating the position of the magnetron with different sets of process conditions, film uniformity can be improved by reducing center-to-edge non-uniformities, such as re-sputter rates which may be higher when the magnetron is near the edge of the target. | 07-19-2012 |
20130199925 | HIGH DENSITY TiN RF/DC PVD DEPOSITION WITH STRESS TUNING - Methods for depositing a layer on a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of depositing a metal-containing layer on a substrate in a physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber may include applying RF power at a VHF frequency to a target comprising a metal disposed in the PVD chamber above the substrate to form a plasma from a plasma-forming gas; optionally applying DC power to the target; sputtering metal atoms from the target using the plasma while maintaining a first pressure in the PVD chamber sufficient to ionize a predominant portion of the sputtered metal atoms; and controlling the potential on the substrate to be the same polarity as the ionized metal atoms to deposit a metal-containing layer on the substrate. | 08-08-2013 |
20140042023 | MAGNETRON DESIGN FOR EXTENDED TARGET LIFE IN RADIO FREQUENCY (RF) PLASMAS - Embodiments of magnetrons suitable to provide extended target life in radio frequency (RF) plasmas are provided. In some embodiments, apparatus and methods are provided to control film uniformity whilst extending the target life in an RF plasma. In some embodiments, the present invention may facilitate one or more of very high target utilization, more uniform metal ionization, and more uniform deposition on a substrate. In some embodiments, a magnetron may include a magnet support member having a center of rotation; and a plurality of magnetic tracks, each track comprising a pair of open loop magnetic poles parallel to and spaced apart from each other, wherein one track is disposed near the center of the magnet support member, and wherein a different track is disposed in a position corresponding to an outer edge of a target material to be deposited on a substrate when installed in the PVD process chamber. | 02-13-2014 |
20140209244 | SKEW ELIMINATION AND CONTROL IN A PLASMA ENHANCED SUBSTRATE PROCESSING CHAMBER - Methods and apparatus for plasma-enhanced substrate processing are provided herein. In some embodiments, an apparatus for processing a substrate includes: a process chamber having an internal processing volume disposed beneath a dielectric lid of the process chamber; a substrate support disposed in the process chamber; one or more inductive coils disposed above the dielectric lid to inductively couple RF energy into the processing volume above the substrate support; and one or more first electromagnets to form a first static magnetic field that is substantially vertical in direction and axisymmetric about a central processing axis of the process chamber, and having a magnitude of about 2 to about 10 gauss within the processing volume proximate the lid. | 07-31-2014 |
20140262767 | SPUTTER SOURCE FOR SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESS CHAMBERS - Embodiments of a sputter source for semiconductor process chambers are provided herein. In some embodiments, a sputter source for a semiconductor process chamber may include: a target comprising a magnetic material to be deposited on a substrate, the magnetic material including a front surface where material is to be sputtered and an opposing back surface; and an outer magnet disposed proximate a back surface of the target and arranged symmetrically with respect to a central axis of the target, wherein the target has an annular groove formed in the back surface of the target disposed proximate the outer magnet to reduce a magnetic permeability of a region of the target proximate the outer magnet, wherein the groove is an unfilled v-shaped groove having an inner angle greater than 90 degrees. | 09-18-2014 |
20150068682 | POWER DEPOSITION CONTROL IN INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA (ICP) REACTORS - Embodiments of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) reactors are provided herein. In some embodiments, a dielectric window for an inductively coupled plasma reactor includes: a body including a first side, a second side opposite the first side, an edge, and a center, wherein the dielectric window has a dielectric coefficient that varies spatially. In some embodiments, an apparatus for processing a substrate includes: a process chamber having a processing volume disposed beneath a lid of the process chamber; and one or more inductive coils disposed above the lid to inductively couple RF energy into and to form a plasma in the processing volume above a substrate support disposed within the processing volume; wherein the lid is a dielectric window comprising a first side and an opposing second side that faces the processing volume, and wherein the lid has a dielectric coefficient that spatially varies to provide a varied power coupling of RF energy from the one or more inductive coils to the processing volume. | 03-12-2015 |
20150087157 | ELECTROMAGNETIC DIPOLE FOR PLASMA DENSITY TUNING IN A SUBSTRATE PROCESSING CHAMBER - Methods and apparatus for plasma-enhanced substrate processing are provided herein. In some embodiments, an apparatus for processing a substrate includes: a process chamber having an internal processing volume disposed beneath a dielectric lid of the process chamber; a substrate support disposed in the process chamber; two or more concentric inductive coils disposed above the dielectric lid to inductively couple RF energy into the processing volume above the substrate support; and an electromagnetic dipole disposed proximate a top surface of the dielectric lid between two adjacent concentric inductive coils of the two or more concentric inductive coils. | 03-26-2015 |