Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for microwave assisting sputtering

US4721553A · kind A · utility

80Cited by
8References
33Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 23, 1985
Grant dateJan 26, 1988
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 23, 2005

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01J37/3405
  • WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Disclosed herein are apparatuses of several types for forming a film at an increased rate that is necessary for putting the microwave assisting sputtering into practice on an industrial scale. The feature resides in that a plasma is maintained uniformly on the whole surface of target composed of a material to be sputtered. This makes it possible to avoid the target from being thermally destroyed by the increased energy of sputtering. Further, in order to prevent damage on a substrate on which the film is to be sputtered by plasma for sputtering, consideration is given to the arrangement of magnetic devices in order to form the film by positively introducing the plasma onto the substrate on which the film is to be formed and, at the same time, effecting the sputtering. There are further disclosed an apparatus in which the plasma is generated by microwaves at a position close to the target to effectively utilize the energy of microwaves for the sputtering, and a cathode structure on which a conical target is placed by taking into consideration the fact that the sputtered particles emitted from the target travel in compliance with the cosine law.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.