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:
Feb. 22, 1983
Filed:
Aug. 06, 1981
Bogdan Zega, Geneva, CH;
Battelle Development Corporation, Columbus, OH (US);
Abstract
The sputtering cathode (10) forming part of the apparatus of the invention essentially comprises a target (20) made of a material to be sputtered, arranged in front of an intermediate support (15) so as to define a first gas tight chamber (30) of narrow thickness therebetween, intended to be provided with an atmosphere of a gas (37) presenting a high thermal conductivity (under a pressure substantially higher than that prevailing inside the vacuum chamber of the apparatus). The intermediate support (15) in turn forms part of the wall of a second tight chamber adjoining said first tight chamber, which is intended to be circulated with a liquid coolant therewithin. The above arrangement enables the sputtering target (20) to be consumed up to its piercing without causing any damage for the apparatus and/or the substrates being coated, since this piercing will result in a simple gas irruption inside the vacuum chamber (3), which may be at once detected for immediately controlling the automatic shut-off of the sputtering operation. The above arrangement further enables sufficient target cooling throughout the sputtering.