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:
Sep. 22, 2026
Filed:
Sep. 11, 2023
Spts Technologies Limited, Newport, GB;
SPTS Technologies Limited, Newport, GB;
Abstract
A PVD apparatus can perform a cleaning step and a deposition step on an electrically conductive feature formed on a semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate with the electrically conductive feature thereon can be positioned on the substrate support. A cleaning step can be performed to remove material from the electrically conductive feature predominantly by etching with ions of an inert gas while the target is simultaneously sputtered. A deposition step is performed by applying no RF bias to the substrate support or applying an RF bias which is less than the RF bias applied to the substrate support during the cleaning step and supplying an electrical signal having an associated electrical power to the target. The RF bias, if present, and electrical power are sufficient to deposit an electrically conductive deposition material onto the electrically conductive feature by PVD.