International Business Machines Corporation

Howard A Hendrix

Ernest S Ward

David C Cheng

John Wesley Williams

Howard W Schmidt, Jr

Peter I Bonyhard

William J Glover

A sputtering apparatus in which the electrode for supporting the substrates upon which thin magnetic films are to be deposited has a polygon-shaped planar coil adjacent to a surface so that the coil can be energized to produce a uniform magnetic field at the surface of the substrates which is oriented normal to the polygon faces of the coil. This apparatus produces uniform easy axis of the thin magnetic films deposited on the substrates during relative motion between the substrates and the target electrode.

Sputtering apparatus

A sputtering apparatus for coating a substrate comprising a first electrode for supporting a suitable target material and a second electrode for supporting a substrate, upon which a coating is deposited. A source of RF power is connected to impose an RF voltage across the electrodes to produce a glow discharge in the space between the electrodes. A shield is provided surrounding the peripheral edges and the back of the second electrode, and this shield is spaced a substantial distance from the back of the electrode. Electrical insulating material is placed in the space between the shield and the back of the second electrode with a small gap between the electrical insulating material and the shield. The configuration of the shield, the insulating material, and the second electrode eliminates spurious sputtering from the peripheral and back regions of the second electrode so that very high power levels can be achieved and sputtering can be done very efficiently at high sputtering rates.

RF plasma processing apparatus

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Livermore, CA, United States of America

Howard A Hendrix