Systems and methods for forming semiconductor layers, including oxide-based layers, are disclosed in which a material deposition system has a rotation mechanism that rotates a substrate around a center axis of the substrate. The system includes a heater configured to heat the substrate and a positioning mechanism that allows dynamic adjusting of an orthogonal distance, a lateral distance, and a tilt angle of an exit aperture of a material source relative to the substrate. In some embodiments, the dynamic adjusting is based on a desired layer uniformity for a desired layer growth rate. In some embodiments, the orthogonal distance, the lateral distance, or the tilt angle depends on a predetermined material ejection spatial distribution of the material source.

Embodiments relate to a sputter chamber comprising both a target surface and an anode surface. The sputter chamber has both an ingress and an egress to allow passage of a gas. The sputter chamber further includes a target substrate. A secondary material flexibly changes the composition of the target substrate in-situ by changing coverage of the target by the secondary material. Gas entering the sputter chamber interacts with the changed composition of the target. The interaction discharges a plasma alloy and the alloy condenses on the anode surface in the sputter chamber. The condensed alloy produces an alloy film.

In one aspect, methods of making coated articles are described herein. A method, in some embodiments, comprises providing a substrate, and depositing a coating by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and/or physical vapor deposition (PVD) over a surface of the substrate, the coating comprising at least one polycrystalline layer, wherein one or more CVD and/or PVD conditions are selected to induce one or more properties of the polycrystalline layer. The presence of the one or more properties in the polycrystalline layer is quantified by two-dimensional (2D) X-ray diffraction analysis.

A device for viewing and/or illuminating a target surface in an evacuated chamber having condensable vapor therein, the device comprising: a first section with a through hole having a first end with a first opening and a second end with a second opening; and a second section having a chamber comprising a first portion with a first opening, a second portion with a second opening and a gas inlet, where the second opening is covered with a first window, said first section is attached with the first end to the first portion of the chamber allowing free passage between the chamber and the first section, said gas inlet is connectable to a gas reservoir for feeding a gas into the chamber for prohibiting the first window in the chamber for being contaminated of the condensable vapor.

Metrology systems and processing methods for continuous lithium ion battery (LIB) anode pre-lithiation and solid metal anode protection are provided. In some embodiments, the metrology system integrates at least one complementary non-contact sensor to measure at least one of surface composition, coating thickness, and nanoscale roughness. The metrology system and processing methods can be used to address anode edge quality. The metrology system and methods can facilitate high quality and high yield closed loop anode pre-lithiation and anode protection layer deposition, alloy-type anode pre-lithiation stage control improves LIB coulombic efficiency, and anode coating with pinhole free and electrochemically active protection layers resist dendrite formation.

Substrate coating systems and methods are disclosed. A substrate coating system comprises a deposition chamber enclosing at least a first electrode and a second electrode and a power supply coupled to the first electrode and the second electrode. The power supply is configured to apply a first voltage at the first electrode that alternates between positive and negative during each of multiple cycles to sputter target material from the electrodes onto a substrate positioned on the substrate support. A non-contact voltmeter is positioned above the substrate support to provide a sensor signal indicative of a voltage of a layer of the sputtered target material without mechanically contacting the layer, and a controller is configured to receive the sensor signal from the non-contact voltmeter and at least one of provide an alarm or adjust an application of power to the first and second electrodes in response to the signal.

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.

An electronic device and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. The electronic device includes an array substrate, which includes a substrate, a first conductive layer, a first insulating layer, a second conductive layer, and a second insulating layer. The substrate has a substrate surface. The first conductive layer is located on the substrate surface. The first insulating layer is located on the first conductive layer. The second conductive layer is located on the first insulating layer and includes a first sputtering layer, a second sputtering layer, and a third sputtering layer. The second insulating layer is located on the second conductive layer. The second sputtering layer is located between the first and third sputtering layers, and includes a first metal element. The first sputtering layer includes the first metal element and a second metal element. The third sputtering layer includes the first metal element and a third metal element.

A film formation device having a high operation rate is provided. The film formation device includes: a film formation chamber (2) in which at least a film formation material (M) and a film formation target (S) are provided, wherein the film formation chamber (2) can be set to a predetermined film formation atmosphere; a hearth liner (23) provided inside the film formation chamber (2) to accommodate the film formation material (M); a heating source (24) provided inside the film formation chamber (2) to heat the film formation material (M) accommodated in the hearth liner (23); and a material supply chamber (3) having a material-filled unit (35) that is filled with the film formation material (M) to supply to the hearth liner (23). The material supply chamber (3) is connected to the film formation chamber (2) via a communication path (36) having a gate valve (37) and can be set to a predetermined pressure atmosphere. When the film formation material (M) is supplied, after the inside of the material supply chamber (3) is set to the predetermined pressure atmosphere in a state in which the film formation chamber (2) is set to the film formation atmosphere, the gate valve (37) is opened to supply the film formation material (M), which fills the material-filled unit (35), to the hearth liner (23) via the communication path (36).

A sputtering apparatus SM has: a vacuum chamber in which a substrate and a target are disposed to lie opposite to each other; a plasma generating means generating a plasma inside the vacuum chamber; and a magnet unit disposed above the target. The magnet unit has a plurality of magnets with different polarities on a substrate side. A leakage magnetic field in which a line passing through a position where a vertical component of the magnetic field becomes zero is closed in an endless manner, is caused to locally act on such a space below the target as is positioned between the center of the target and a periphery thereof. The magnet unit is divided, on an imaginary line extending from the center of the target toward a periphery thereof, into a plurality of segments each having a plurality of magnets.