The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 13, 2025
Filed:
Aug. 21, 2019
Corporation for National Research Initiatives, Reston, VA (US);
Michael A. Huff, Oakton, VA (US);
Paul Sunal, Arlington, VA (US);
Corporation for National Research Initiatives, Reston, VA (US);
Abstract
A method and system for controlling the state of stress in deposited thin films are disclosed. According to the method and system, various process parameters, including: process pressure; substrate temperature; deposition rate; and ion-beam energies (controlled via the ion beam current, voltage, signal frequency and duty cycle) are varied using a step-by-step methodology to arrive at a pre-determined desired state of stress in thin films deposited using PVD. The method may be expressed as a computer algorithm, whereby the step-by-step procedure to obtain a pre-determined stress state, is coded for more efficient development and control of deposition processes. Alternatively, a closed-loop controlled PVD deposition system allows a pre-determined stress state of a thin film to be obtained quickly and efficiency using a feedback loop, algorithm and one or more sensors to monitor the substrate thin film stress and various process tool parameters.