Nordiko Limited

Read Rite Corporation

David Ian Pearson

Swie-In Tan

Vacuum sputtering apparatus

A sputtering apparatus includes a rotatable array plate and a magnetic array including a group of permanent magnets arranged around the plate periphery in one or more quadrants. Each magnet is perpendicular to the plate, having a pole of a first polarity facing toward the target. A bar permanent magnet is affixed to the plate within the same quadrant of a group of magnets and is located between a center axis of rotation and the magnet group. The bar permanent magnet is perpendicular to the plate, having a pole of a second polarity facing toward the target. The magnets create a closed-loop static magnetic field that is substantially triangular in shape, concentrated in the quadrant, and offset from the center axis of rotation. The magnets in one quadrant may be replicated to fill up to four quadrants, and additional bar magnets are arranged to create a rotating magnetic field at the target that patterns the plasma to a maximum plasma density in the shape of a kidney. Each arrangement creates an axi-symmetric target erosion profile for optimizing deposition uniformity at the substrate, when rotated behind the sputtering target.

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Hampshire, United Kingdom

David Ian Pearson