During reactive sputtering using a silicon-containing target, an inert gas, and a nitrogen-containing reactive gas, a hysteresis curve is drawn by sweeping the flow rate of the reactive gas, and plotting the sputtering voltage or current during the sweep versus the flow rate of the reactive gas. In the step of sputtering in a region corresponding to a range from more than the lower limit of reactive gas flow rate providing the hysteresis to less than the upper limit, the target power, the inert gas flow rate and/or the reactive gas flow rate is increased or decreased continuously or stepwise. The halftone phase shift film including a layer containing transition metal, silicon and nitrogen is improved in in-plane uniformity of optical properties.

[Object] Provided are a laminate film and an electrode substrate film with excellent etching quality, in which a circuit pattern formed by etching processing is less visible under highly bright illumination, and a method of manufacturing the same. [Solving Means] A laminate film includes a transparent substrate 60 formed of a resin film and a layered film provided on at least one surface of the transparent substrate. The layered film includes metal absorption layers 61 and 63 as a first layer and metal layers (62, 65), (64, 66) as a second layer, counted from the transparent substrate side. The metal absorption layers are formed by a reactive sputtering method which uses a metal target made of Ni alone or an alloy containing two or more elements selected from Ni, Ti, Al, V, W, Ta, Si, Cr, Ag, Mo, and Cu, and a reactive gas containing oxygen. The reactive gas contains hydrogen.

During reactive sputtering using a silicon-containing target, an inert gas, and a nitrogen-containing reactive gas, a hysteresis curve is drawn by sweeping the flow rate of the reactive gas, and plotting the sputtering voltage or current during the sweep versus the flow rate of the reactive gas. In the step of sputtering in a region corresponding to a range from more than the lower limit of reactive gas flow rate providing the hysteresis to less than the upper limit, the target power, the inert gas flow rate and/or the reactive gas flow rate is increased or decreased continuously or stepwise. The halftone phase shift film including a layer containing transition metal, silicon and nitrogen is improved in in-plane uniformity of optical properties.

During reactive sputtering using a silicon-containing target, an inert gas, and a nitrogen-containing reactive gas, a hysteresis curve is drawn by sweeping the flow rate of the reactive gas, and plotting the sputtering voltage or current during the sweep versus the flow rate of the reactive gas. In the step of sputtering in a region corresponding to a range from more than the lower limit of reactive gas flow rate providing the hysteresis to less than the upper limit, the target power, the inert gas flow rate and/or the reactive gas flow rate is increased or decreased continuously or stepwise. The halftone phase shift film including a layer containing transition metal, silicon and nitrogen is improved in in-plane uniformity of optical properties.

An apparatus is provided, comprising: a film formation chamber; a substrate holder provided in the film formation chamber and holding a substrate (S) to be formed with a film; a decompressor configured to reduce a pressure in the film formation chamber to a predetermined pressure; a discharge gas introducer configured to introduce a discharge gas into the film formation chamber; two or more sputtering electrodes each provided with a target (T1, T2) to be a film-forming material, the sputtering electrodes facing the substrate as a single substrate; a DC power source configured to supply electric power to the sputtering electrodes; two or more pulse-wave conversion switches connected between the DC power source and the sputtering electrodes, the pulse-wave conversion switches each being configured to convert a DC voltage to be applied to each of the sputtering electrodes to a pulse-wave voltage; a programmable transmitter configured to be programmable with a pulse generation control signal pattern corresponding to the electric power to be supplied to each of the sputtering electrodes, the programmable transmitter being further configured to control each of the pulse-wave conversion switches in accordance with the program; and a pulsed reactive gas introducer configured to control introduction of the reactive gas from the reactive gas introducer to the film formation chamber on the basis of the pulse generation control signal pattern from the electric power controller.

A film forming apparatus includes a base material support mechanism configured to rotate a base material supported by the base material support mechanism about a first axis, and a first cathode portion on which a target in a cylindrical shape containing a film forming material is mounted and configured to rotate the target about a second axis, in a chamber. The second axis is disposed at a position skewed with respect to the first axis.

A processing system for forming an optical coating on a substrate is provided, wherein the optical coating including an anti-reflective coating and an oleophobic coating, the system comprising: a linear transport processing section configured for processing and transporting substrate carriers individually and one at a time in a linear direction; at least one evaporation processing system positioned in the linear transport processing system, the evaporation processing system configured to form the oleophobic coating; a batch processing section configured to transport substrate carriers in unison about an axis; at least one ion beam assisted deposition processing chamber positioned in the batch processing section, the ion beam assisted deposition processing chamber configured to deposit layer of the anti-reflective coating; a plurality of substrate carriers for mounting substrates; and, means for transferring the substrate carriers between the linear transport processing section and the batch processing section without exposing the substrate carrier to atmosphere.

Provided are a thin film formation apparatus, a sputtering cathode, and a method of forming thin film, capable of forming a multilayer optical film at a high film deposition rate on a large-sized substrate. The thin film formation apparatus forms a thin film of a metal compound on a substrate in a vacuum chamber by sputtering. The vacuum chamber is provided in its inside with targets composed of metal or a conductive metal compound, and an active species source for generating an active species of a reactive gas. The active species source is provided with gas sources for supplying the reactive gas, and an energy source for supplying energy into the vacuum chamber to excite the reactive gas to a plasma state. The energy source is provided between itself and the vacuum chamber with a dielectric window for supplying the energy into the vacuum chamber.

A nanopore cell includes a conductive layer. The nanopore cell further includes a titanium nitride (TiN) working electrode disposed above the conductive layer. The nanopore cell further includes insulating walls disposed above the TiN working electrode, wherein the insulating walls and the TiN working electrode form a well into which an electrolyte may be contained. In some embodiments, the TiN working electrode comprises a spongy and porous TiN working electrode that is deposited by a deposition technique with conditions tuned to deposit sparsely-spaced TiN columnar structures or columns of TiN crystals above the conductive layer.

The invention relates to an arc deposition device, comprising a cathode, an anode, as well as a voltage source for putting the anode at positive potential relative to the cathode. The device also comprises magnetic elements, which cause a magnetic field over the cathode surface, wherein the anode is arranged in the vicinity of the cathode in such a way that the magnetic field lines exiting from the cathode surface hit the anode.