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. 09, 2006
Filed:
Jun. 26, 2003
Tza-jing Gung, San Jose, CA (US);
Xianmin Tang, San Jose, CA (US);
John Forster, San Francisco, CA (US);
Peijun Ding, Saratoga, CA (US);
Marc Schweitzer, San Jose, CA (US);
Keith A. Miller, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Ilya Lavitsky, San Francisco, CA (US);
Tza-Jing Gung, San Jose, CA (US);
Xianmin Tang, San Jose, CA (US);
John Forster, San Francisco, CA (US);
Peijun Ding, Saratoga, CA (US);
Marc Schweitzer, San Jose, CA (US);
Keith A. Miller, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Ilya Lavitsky, San Francisco, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
One aspect of the invention includes an auxiliary magnet ring positioned outside of the chamber wall of a plasma sputter reactor and being disposed at least partially radially outwardly of an RF coil used to inductively generate a plasma, particularly for sputter etching the substrate being sputter deposited. Thereby, a magnetic barrier prevents the plasma from leaking outwardly to the coil and improves the uniformity of sputter etching. The magnetic field also acts as a magnetron when the coil, when made of the same material as the primary target, is being used as a secondary target. Another aspect of the invention includes a one-piece inner shield extending from the target to the pedestal with a smooth inner surface and supported by an annular flange in a middle portion of the shield. The shield may be used to support the RF coil.