Tosoh Smd, Inc.

Alexander Leybovich

Charles E Wickersham, Jr

John E Poole

Lin Zhu

Methods for reducing inclusion content of sputter targets and targets so produced are disclosed. Inclusions may be reduced by adding a small amount of Si to the molten Al or molten Al alloy followed by filtering of the molten metals through a filter medium. Targets having substantially no inclusions therein of greater than about 400 &#x3bc;m are especially useful in the sputtering of large flat panel displays and result, upon sputtering, in a reduction in the amount of macroparticles sputtered onto the substrate.

Sputter targets and methods of manufacturing same to reduce particulate emission during sputtering

A method and apparatus for ultrasonically measuring the thickness of sputter targets of varying shapes. An immersion bubble () and transducer () provide pulses to a front surface () and a front surface/bonded surface () interface of a target. The pulses generate reflected echoes that are converted to electric signals. By measuring the difference in time that the electric signals occur the thickness of the target may be approximated to identify whether the thickness of the target is appropriate for use. The system includes a sputter track (), specimen (), chuck (), nozzle (), columns (), opening (), inlet (), cable (), gauge (), turret (), position (), remote PC controller (), electrical line (), and rear part ().

Systems and methods for non-contact measuring sputtering target thickness ultrasonics

The present invention relates to a method for determining a critical size for a diameter of an AlOinclusion () in an Al or Al alloy sputter target () to prevent arcing during sputtering thereof. This method includes providing a sputtering apparatus having an argon plasma. The plasma has a plasma sheath of a known thickness during sputtering under a selected sputtering environment of an Al or Al alloy sputter target having an AlOinclusion-free sputtering surface. When the thickness of the sheath is known for a selected sputtering environment, the critical size of an AlOinclusion () can be determined based upon the thickness of the sheath. More specifically, the diameter of an AlOinclusion () in an Al or Al alloy sputter target () must be less than the thickness of the plasma sheath during sputtering under the selected sputtering environment to inhibit arcing.

Method for determining a critical size of an inclusion in aluminum or aluminum alloy sputtering target

A preferred, non-destructive method for characterizing sputter target cleanliness includes the steps of sequentially irradiating the test sample with sonic energy predominantly of target sputter track areas; detecting echoes induced by the sonic energy; and discriminating texture-related backscattering noise from the echoes to obtain modified amplitude signals. These modified amplitude signals are compared with one or more calibration values so as to detect flaw data points at certain positions or locations where the comparison indicates the presence of at least one flaw. Most preferably, groups of the flaw data pixels corresponding to single large flaws are bound together so as to generate an adjusted set of flaw data points in which each group is replaced with a single, most significant data point. The adjusted set of flaw data point is used to calculate one or more cleanliness factors, or to plot a histogram, which characterizes the cleanliness of the sample.

Method and apparatus for non-destructive target cleanliness characterization by types of flaws sorted by size and location

An improved method and apparatus for non-destructive cleanliness evaluation in sputter targets using radio frequency waveform phase change and amplitude detection is disclosed. The apparatus acquires phase change and amplitude for a plurality of data points. The method disclosed for characterizing the sputter target material ( ) employs the phase change and amplitude magnitude data for calculating cleanliness factors and generating pareto histograms.

Cleanliness evaluation in sputter targets using phase

A sputtering target ( ) under test is irradiated with an ultrasonic pulse ( ). The ultrasonic pulse ( ) has a wavelength in the sputtering target ( ) in the range of the average grain size for the target ( ) under test. Backscattering echoes ( ) are produced by the interaction of the pulse ( ) with grain boundaries in the target ( ) under test. The backscattering echoes ( ) are detected and a representative electrical signal is generated. The number of occurrences of the backscattering echoes ( ) having amplitudes within predetermined ranges are determined. A histogram of the number of occurrences versus amplitude is plotted. The histogram for the target ( ) under test is compared with reference histograms for sputtering targets having known crystallographic orientations to determine the texture of the target ( ) under test.

Method of ultrasonic on-line texture characterization

A non-destructive method for characterizing a sputter target material comprises the steps of sequentially irradiating a test sample of the sputter target material with sonic energy at a plurality of positions on a surface of the sample; detecting echoes induced by the sonic energy; discriminating texture-related back-scattering noise from the echoes to obtain modified amplitude signals; comparing the modified amplitude signals with said at least one calibration value to detect flaw data points and no-flaw data points; counting the flaw data points to determine a flaw count; counting the total flaw data points and the no-flaw data points to determine a total number of data points and calculating a cleanliness factor.

Growing community of inventors

Hilliard, OH, United States of America

Alexander Leybovich