Work piece processing is performed by pulsed discharges between an anode (2) and a magnetron sputtering cathode (1) in solid-gas plasmas using a chamber (2) containing the work piece (7). A system (12) maintains a vacuum in the chamber and another system (14) provides sputtering and reactive gases. The pulses are produced in a plasma pulser circuit including the anode and the cathode, the discharges creating gas and partially ionized solid plasma blobs (3) moving or spreading from a region at a surface of the cathode towards the work piece and the anode. A pulsed current comprising biasing pulses arises between the second electrodes. Biasing discharges are produced between the anode and the work piece when said plasma blobs have spread to regions at the anode and at the work piece so that the pulsed current is the current of these biasing discharges.

Methods and apparatus for generating a magnetic field external to a physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber to improve etch or deposition uniformity on a substrate disposed inside of the PVD chamber are provided herein. In some embodiments, a process chamber, includes a chamber body defining an interior volume therein; a pedestal disposed in the interior volume for supporting a substrate; a coil disposed in the interior volume above the pedestal; and an external magnet assembly, comprising: a housing coupled to the chamber body; and a plurality of magnets disposed external to the chamber body coupled to the housing and arranged asymmetrically about the chamber body.

The purpose of the present invention is to prevent a drop in secondary electron emission characteristics due to the inside wall of a chamber being covered by a noble metal film continuously formed by plasma sputtering, and so generate and maintain the plasma. After a noble metal film is formed on a given substrate and before a film is formed on a subsequent substrate, a secondary electron emission film comprising a material having a secondary electron emission coefficient higher than that of the noble metal is formed on the inner wall of the chamber.

An apparatus has a cathode target with a cathode target outer perimeter. An inner magnetic array with an inner magnetic array inner perimeter is at the cathode target outer perimeter. An outer magnetic array has an outer magnetic array outer perimeter larger than the inner magnetic array inner perimeter. The inner magnetic array and the outer magnetic array are concentric and each have a single, common, parallel magnetic orientation to form a magnetic field environment that defines a plasma confinement zone adjacent the target cathode and the plasma confinement zone causes a gas operative as a reactive gas and sputter gas to become ionized and thus be directed to the target cathode and cause a second set of ions including species from the target to disperse across a substrate.

A deposition system provides a feature that may reduce costs of the sputtering process by increasing a target change interval. The deposition system provides an array of magnet members which generate a magnetic field and redirect the magnetic field based on target thickness measurement data. To adjust or redirect the magnetic field, at least one of the magnet members in the array tilts to focus on an area of the target where more target material remains than other areas. As a result, more ion, e.g., argon ion bombardment occurs on the area, creating more uniform erosion on the target surface.

A physical vapor deposition system includes a deposition chamber, a support to hold a substrate in the deposition chamber, a target in the chamber, a power supply configured to apply power to the target to generate a plasma in the chamber to sputter material from the target onto the substrate to form a piezoelectric layer on the substrate, and a controller configured to cause the power supply to alternate between deposition phases in which the power supply applies power to the target and cooling phases in which power supply does not apply power to the target. Each deposition phase lasts at least 30 seconds and each cooling phase lasts at least 30 seconds.

A sputtering device includes a reaction chamber, a pin mechanism, and a microwave heating mechanism. The reaction chamber includes a base configured to carry a workpiece. The pin mechanism is arranged in the reaction chamber. The pin mechanism generates a relative ascending and descending motion with the base and lifts the workpiece from the base. The microwave heating mechanism is arranged in the reaction chamber and includes a microwave transmitter and a mobile device. The mobile device is connected to the microwave transmitter and configured to move the microwave transmitter to a position under the workpiece in response to the workpiece being carried by the pin mechanism to cause the microwave transmitter to emit microwaves to the workpiece to heat the workpiece.

Methods of processing a substrate in a PVD chamber are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of processing a substrate in a PVD chamber, includes: sputtering material from a target disposed in the PVD chamber and onto a substrate, wherein at least some of the material sputtered from the target is guided to the substrate through a magnetic field provided by one or more upper magnets disposed about a processing volume of the PVD chamber above a support pedestal for the substrate in the PVD chamber, one or more first magnets disposed about the support pedestal and providing an increased magnetic field strength at an edge region of the substrate, and one or more second magnets disposed below the support pedestal that increase a magnetic field strength at a central region of the substrate.

Methods and apparatus for controlling the ion fraction in physical vapor deposition processes are disclosed. In some embodiments, a process chamber for processing a substrate having a given diameter includes: an interior volume and a target to be sputtered, the interior volume including a central portion and a peripheral portion; a rotatable magnetron above the target to form an annular plasma in the peripheral portion; a substrate support disposed in the interior volume to support a substrate having the given diameter; a first set of magnets disposed about the body to form substantially vertical magnetic field lines in the peripheral portion; a second set of magnets disposed about the body and above the substrate support to form magnetic field lines directed toward a center of the support surface; a first power source to electrically bias the target; and a second power source to electrically bias the substrate support.

So as to control the operation of a sputter target during the lifetime of the target and under HIPIMS operation, part of a magnet arrangement associated to the target is retracted from the target whereas a second part II of the magnet arrangement is, if at all, retracted less from the addressed backside during the lifetime of the target. Thereby, part I is closer to the periphery of target than part II, as both are eccentrically rotated about a rotational axis.