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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8157974 | Magnet unit for magnetron sputtering system A magnet unit for a magnetron sputtering system includes a base plate and a plurality of magnet parts each including a first magnet and a first supporting member. The first supporting member supports the first magnet and fixes the first magnet to the base plate. The... | 04/17/2012 |
| 7846310 | Encapsulated and water cooled electromagnet array A electromagnet array structure including multiple electromagnetic coils captured in a rigid encapsulant, for example, of cured epoxy resin, to form a unitary free-standing structure which can be placed around the walls of a plasma processing chamber. A liquid cooli... | 12/07/2010 |
| 7744735 | Ionized PVD with sequential deposition and etching An iPVD apparatus (20) is programmed to deposit material (10) onto semiconductor substrates (21) by cycling between deposition and etch modes within a vacuum chamber (30). Static magnetic fields are kept to a minimum during at least the e... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7691243 | Internal antennae for plasma processing with metal plasma A plasma processing system and method provide an internal coil in a vacuum chamber for maintaining a high density plasma therein in a manner that may have a less restrictive requirement on metal flux shielding than when the shield protects a dielectric window. The s... | 04/06/2010 |
| 7638022 | Magnetron source for deposition on large substrates A magnetron source for producing a magnetic field near a surface of a target in a deposition system include a first magnet, a second magnet separated by a gap from the first magnet along a first direction, and a target holder configured to hold the target in the gap... | 12/29/2009 |
| 7618521 | Split magnet ring on a magnetron sputter chamber A split magnet ring, particularly useful in a magnetron plasma reactor sputter depositing tantalum or tungsten or other barrier metal into a via and also resputter etching the deposited material from the bottom of the via onto the via sidewalls. The magnet ring incl... | 11/17/2009 |
| 7585399 | Rotating magnet arrays for magnetron sputtering apparatus In one embodiment, a magnetron sputtering apparatus includes one or more magnet arrays for moving ions or charged particles on at least two plasma discharge paths on a target. Charged particles on one of the plasma discharge paths are moved in one direction, while c... | 09/08/2009 |
| 7425504 | Systems and methods for plasma etching Systems and methods are disclosed for processing a semiconductor substrate by depositing a conductive layer on the substrate; patterning a set of insulating structures on the substrate; selectively back-biasing the substrate; depositing a layer of material on the su... | 09/16/2008 |
| 7378001 | Magnetron sputtering A magnetron sputtering apparatus has a controller for selectively releasing the spread of plasma on a substrate on a support. The controller can also contain the plasma when the substrate is to be coated with the target material. This enables cleaning of the target ... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7309616 | Laser annealing of complex metal oxides (CMO) memory materials for non-volatile memory integrated circuits A method is disclosed to effectively achieve a low deposition temperature of CMO memory materials by depositing the CMO memory material at relatively low temperatures that give an amorphous film, then to later melt and re-crystallize the CMO memory material with a l... | 12/18/2007 |
| 7294245 | Cover ring and shield supporting a wafer ring in a plasma reactor A magnetic dipole ring assembly positioned inside a vacuum chamber and around a wafer being sputter deposited with a ferromagnetic material such as NiFe or other magnetic materials so that the material is deposited with a predetermined magnetization direction in the... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7294242 | Collimated and long throw magnetron sputtering of nickel/iron films for magnetic recording head applications An apparatus and method for sputter depositing a magnetic film on a substrate to produce a magnetic device such as magnetic recording heads for reading digital information from a storage medium. The apparatus of the invention includes a sputtering chamber containing... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7259378 | Closed drift ion source A closed drift ion source which includes a channel having an open end, a closed end, and an input port for an ionizable gas. A first magnetic pole is disposed on the open end of the channel and extends therefrom in a first direction. A second magnetic pole disposed ... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7198699 | Sputter coating apparatus including ion beam source(s), and corresponding method A coating apparatus deposits a first coating (single or multi-layered) onto a first side of a substrate (e.g., glass substrate) passing through the apparatus, and a second coating (single or multi-layered) onto the other or second side of the substrate. In certain e... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7192851 | Semiconductor laser manufacturing method A method for manufacturing a semiconductor laser. As a preparative step for coating an end face of a resonator with a dielectric film, a cleavage plane of a semiconductor laminated structure that is to be the end face is subjected to a plasma cleaning to prevent a c... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7192888 | Low selectivity deposition methods A deposition method includes forming a nucleation layer over a substrate, forming a layer of a first substance at least one monolayer thick chemisorbed on the nucleation layer, and forming a layer of a second substance at least one monolayer thick chemisorbed on the... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7182842 | Device for amplifying the current of an abnormal electrical discharge and system for using an abnormal electrical discharge comprising one such device A device (1) for amplifying the current of an abnormal electrical discharge, characterized in that it comprises an electrode which is positively polarized (2) and associated with a magnetic circuit (3) producing a magnetic field (4) which... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7179351 | Methods and apparatus for magnetron sputtering In one embodiment, a magnetron sputtering apparatus forms a closed plasma loop and an open plasma loop within the closed plasma loop. The open plasma loop allows for relatively uniform erosion on the face of a target by broadening the sputtered area of the target. T... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7135097 | Box-shaped facing-targets sputtering apparatus and method for producing compound thin film Disclosed is a box-shaped facing-targets sputtering apparatus capable of forming, at low temperature, a compound thin film of high quality while causing minimal damage to an underlying layer. The box-shaped facing-targets sputtering apparatus includes a box-shaped f... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7119489 | Rotation-magnetron-in-magnetron (RMIM) electrode, method of manufacturing the RMIM electrode, and sputtering apparatus including the RMIM electrode An RMIM electrode, a method for manufacturing the RMIM electrode, and a sputtering apparatus using the RMIM electrode, wherein the RMIM electrode includes a magnet unit including a cylinder-shaped magnet located at a center of the magnet unit and a plurality of ring... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7052583 | Magnetron cathode and magnetron sputtering apparatus comprising the same A magnetron cathode and a sputtering apparatus including the same are provided. The magnetron cathode includes three or more magnet units, each of which comprises a single magnet or a plurality of magnets having the same poles facing toward the same direction, where... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7049606 | Electron beam treatment apparatus One embodiment of the present invention is an electron beam treatment apparatus that includes: (a) a chamber; (b) a cathode having a surface of relatively large area that is exposed to an inside of the chamber; (c) an anode having holes therein that is disposed insi... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7041201 | Sidewall magnet improving uniformity of inductively coupled plasma and shields used therewith 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 et... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7022209 | PVD method and PVD apparatus A PVD method and a PVD apparatus use a rotating magnetic field in order to increase the yield. The magnetic field is provided such that it essentially vanishes, at least in a time average, outside a rotation axis of the magnetic field in sectors of the target region... | 04/04/2006 |
| 7011733 | Method and apparatus for depositing films In a sputtering apparatus, target particles to be deposited onto a substrate are selectively ionized relative to other particles in the deposition chamber. For example, titanium or titanium-containing target particles are selectively ionized, while inert particles, ... | 03/14/2006 |
| 7012263 | Ion source apparatus and electronic energy optimized method therefor The ion source apparatus of the present invention includes at least one pair of antenna-opposed magnets sandwiching an antenna element and moveable to magnetic element and the antenna element both in horizontal and vertical directions in a plasma chamber, and a cont... | 03/14/2006 |
| 6988306 | High purity ferromagnetic sputter target, assembly and method of manufacturing same Provided is a method of forming ferromagnetic sputter targets and sputter target assemblies having a uniform distribution of magnetic leakage flux. The method includes providing a ferromagnetic sputter workpiece and hot rolling the workpiece to a substantially circu... | 01/24/2006 |
| 6972079 | Dual magnetron sputtering apparatus utilizing control means for delivering balanced power There is disclosed a dual magnetron sputtering apparatus that is comprised of a balancing circuit connected to the output of an ac power source that supplies ac power to at least two target materials such that the balancing circuit allows the power supply to deliver... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6962648 | Back-biased face target sputtering A facing targets sputtering device for semiconductor fabrication includes an air-tight chamber in which an inert gas is admittable and exhaustible; a pair of target plates placed at opposite ends of said air-tight chamber respectively so as to face each other and fo... | 11/08/2005 |
| 6960283 | Anode and magnetron therewith Anode with a 2450 MHz resonance frequency, and magnetron therewith, the anode including a cylindrical anode body with an inside diameter in a range of 32.5 to 34.0 mm, a total of ten vanes fitted to an inside circumferential surface of the anode body in a radial dir... | 11/01/2005 |
| 6946053 | Plasma reactor This invention is a hardware modification which permits greater uniformity of etching to be achieved in a high-density-source plasma reactor (i.e., one which uses a remote source to generate a plasma, and which also uses high-frequency bias power on the wafer chuck)... | 09/20/2005 |
| 6937127 | Apparatus for manipulating magnetic fields Techniques for producing and manipulating magnetic fields. The techniques employ the mutual repulsion of magnetic fields to create uniform magnetic fields and to manipulate the uniform magnetic fields. The uniform magnetic field is created between two planar magnets... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6936144 | High frequency plasma source A high frequency plasma source includes a support element, on which a magnetic field coil arrangement, a gas distribution system and a unit for extraction of a plasma beam are arranged. Additionally a high frequency matching network is arranged within the plasma sou... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6923891 | Copper interconnects A method for forming a conductive region on a first portion of a substrate, the method being constituted by exposing the first portion to a filtered beam of substantially fully ionised metallic ions under a pulsed, modulated electrical bias. The method uses FCVA (Fi... | 08/02/2005 |
| 6913703 | Method of adjusting the thickness of an electrode in a plasma processing system A method of adjusting the relative thickness of an electrode assembly (10) in a plasma processing system (6) capable of supporting a plasma (20, 120) in a reactor chamber (16). The electrode assembly is arranged in the reactor chamber and... | 07/05/2005 |
| 6911123 | Facing-targets-type sputtering apparatus and method Disclosed is a facing-targets-type sputtering apparatus and method capable of forming a metal film under the conditions of low gas pressure and low discharge voltage. An opening is formed in each of two facing side faces of a vacuum chamber vessel or in each of two ... | 06/28/2005 |
| 6905578 | Apparatus and method for multi-target physical-vapor deposition of a multi-layer material structure An apparatus and method for depositing plural layers of materials on a substrate within a single vacuum chamber allows high-throughput deposition of structures such as these for GMR and MRAM application. An indexing mechanism aligns a substrate with each of plural t... | 06/14/2005 |
| 6899795 | Sputter chamber as well as vacuum transport chamber and vacuum handling apparatus with such chambers A sputtering chamber system and method uses at least one sputtering source with a new sputter surface at least approximately symmetrical with respect to a central axis. A substrate carrier is arranged to be drivingly rotatable about a substrate carrier axis. The cen... | 05/31/2005 |
| 6881311 | Facing-targets-type sputtering apparatus Disclosed is a facing-targets-type sputtering apparatus including a sputtering unit including a pair of facing targets which are disposed a predetermined distance away from each other, and permanent magnets serving as magnetic-field generation means which are dispos... | 04/19/2005 |
| 6878241 | Method of forming deposited film Sputtering particles emitted from a target are ionized by the Penning ionization process. And the sputtering particles ionized are caused to fly in the direction of the substrate by a magnetic field formed by ambipolar diffusion due to a magnetic field generating me... | 04/12/2005 |
