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. 29, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 14, 1999
Yuri Maishev, Moscow, RU;
James Ritter, Fremont, CA (US);
Leonid Velikov, San Carlos, CA (US);
Alexander Shkolnik, San Carlos, CA (US);
Abstract
The invention provides a sputtering system which consists of an ion beam and a target of a sputterable material. A distinguishing feature of the system of the invention is that the sputtering target forms a guide channel for an ion beam and sputtered particles, so that a portion of the ions collides with the walls of the target inside a closed volume of the target and forms neutral sputterable particles impinging the object. The other part of the ions goes directly to the object and participates in an ion-assisted overcoating. Thus, the special form of the target improves efficiency of sputtering, prevents scattering and the loss of the sputterable material. The system can be realized in various embodiments. One of the embodiments provides a multiple-cell system in which each cell has an individual ion-emitting slit formed by the end of a cathode rod of one cathode plate and the opening in the second cathode plate. Tubular or plate-like channeling targets are connected to the ion slits without any gaps in the form of a geometrical extensions of the individual ion-emitting slits. Another embodiment allows adjustment in the position of the rods with respect to the targets.