In a vanadium nitride film formed on a surface of a base material, a ratio V [at %]/N [at %] between a vanadium element concentration and a nitrogen element concentration in the film is 1.08 or more and a chlorine element concentration in the film is 1 at % or more and 5 at % or less.

Methods and devices for forming a conductive line disposed over a substrate. A first dielectric layer is disposed over the substrate and coplanar with the conductive line. A second dielectric layer disposed over the conductive line and a third dielectric layer disposed over the first dielectric layer. A via extends through the second dielectric layer and is coupled to the conductive line. The second dielectric layer and the third dielectric layer are coplanar and the second and third dielectric layers have a different composition. In some embodiments, the second dielectric layer is selectively deposited on the conductive line.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to forming multi-depth films for the fabrication of optical devices. One embodiment includes disposing a base layer of a device material on a surface of a substrate. One or more mandrels of the device material are disposed on the base layer. The disposing the one or more mandrels includes positioning a mask over of the base layer. The device material is deposited with the mask positioned over the base layer to form an optical device having the base layer with a base layer depth and the one or more mandrels having a first mandrel depth and a second mandrel depth.

The present invention provides a colored radiative cooler based on a Tamm structure, including a substrate on which metal film and dielectric layers A to G are sequentially provided from bottom to top, where the Tamm structure is formed from the metal film and the dielectric layers A to D; a distributed Bragg reflector is formed from the dielectric layers A to D; and a selective emitter is formed from the dielectric layers E to G. Compared to the conventional radiative cooler, the colored radiative cooler not only has better cooling performance, but it has a wide applications in many aspects such as aesthetics and decoration.

Electrochromic devices and methods may employ the addition of a defect-mitigating insulating layer which prevents electronically conducting layers and/or electrochromically active layers from contacting layers of the opposite polarity and creating a short circuit in regions where defects form. In some embodiments, an encapsulating layer is provided to encapsulate particles and prevent them from ejecting from the device stack and risking a short circuit when subsequent layers are deposited. The insulating layer may have an electronic resistivity of between about 1 and 10.sup.8 Ohm-cm. In some embodiments, the insulating layer contains one or more of the following metal oxides: aluminum oxide, zinc oxide, tin oxide, silicon aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, tungsten oxide, nickel tungsten oxide, and oxidized indium tin oxide. Carbides, nitrides, oxynitrides, and oxycarbides may also be used.

A physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber and a method of operation thereof are disclosed. Chambers and methods are described that provide a chamber comprising an upper shield with two holes that are positioned to permit alternate sputtering from two targets. A process for improving reflectivity from a multilayer stack is also disclosed.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for physical vapor deposition silicon nitride coatings. The methods thereof may include a creating a magnetically confined plasma near a surface of a silicon nitride. The plasma may cause positively charged energetic ions from the plasma to collide with negatively charged silicon nitride atoms, causing the silicon nitride atoms to be sputtered and deposited on a substrate such as titanium. The silicon nitride coating may be nitrogen-rich silicon nitride or silicon-rich silicon nitride.

A coated cutting tool which has, on a surface of a substrate, a layer A of a face-centered cubic lattice structure which is a nitride or carbonitride containing 50 atom % or more of Al, 20 atom % or more of Cr, 85 atom % or more of Al and Cr, and 4 atom % or more and 15 atom % or less of Si, and a layer B provided on the layer A. The layer B is a nitride or carbon nitride which contains 70 atom % or more and 90 atom % or less of Ti, 5 atom % or more and 20 atom % or less of Si, and 1 atom % or more and 10 atom % or less of Nb or Cr in terms of a total amount of metal (including metalloid) elements, and has the face-centered cubic lattice structure.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to methods and apparatus for backside stress engineering of substrates to combat film stresses and bowing issues. In one embodiment, a method of depositing a film layer on a backside of a substrate is provided. The method includes flipping a substrate at a factory interface so that the backside of the substrate is facing up, and transferring the flipped substrate from the factory interface to a physical vapor deposition chamber to deposit a film layer on the backside of the substrate. In another embodiment, an apparatus for depositing a backside film layer on a backside of a substrate, which includes a substrate supporting surface configured to support the substrate at or near the periphery of the substrate supporting surface without contacting an active region on a front side of the substrate.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to forming multi-depth films for the fabrication of optical devices. One embodiment includes disposing a base layer of a device material on a surface of a substrate. One or more mandrels of the device material are disposed on the base layer. The disposing the one or more mandrels includes positioning a mask over of the base layer. The device material is deposited with the mask positioned over the base layer to form an optical device having the base layer with a base layer depth and the one or more mandrels having a first mandrel depth and a second mandrel depth.