Provided is a magnetic material sputtering target produced from a sintered compact having a B content of 17 at % or more and 40 at % or less, and remainder being one or more elements selected from Co and Fe, wherein the target includes a B-rich phase and a B-poor phase, and a number of the B-rich phases in which a maximum inscribed circle having a diameter of 15 m or more can be drawn is one or less. The B-rich phase is finely dispersed in the magnetic material sputtering target of the present invention, and the machinability of the target is consequently improved. Moreover, significant effects are yielded in that the generation of particles is inhibited and the yield in the production of thin films is improved when the target is used for sputtering with a magnetron sputtering equipment comprising a DC power supply.

The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus includes a circular arrangement of a multitude of substrate carriers in a circular inner space of a vacuum transport chamber. In operation the substrate carriers pass treatment stations. One of the treatment stations has a sputtering target made of a first soft magnetic material. A second treatment station includes a target made of a second soft magnetic material which is different from the first soft magnetic material of the first addressed target. A control unit controlling relative movement of the substrate carriers with respect to the treatment stations provides for more than one 360 revolution of the multitude of substrate carriers around the axis AX of the circular inner space of the vacuum transport chamber, while the first and second treatment stations are continuously operative.

A magnetic material sputtering target formed from a sintered body containing at least Co and/or Fe and B, and containing B in an amount of 10 to 50 at %, wherein an oxygen content is 100 wtppm or less. Since the magnetic material sputtering target of the present invention can suppress the generation of particles caused by oxides, the present invention yields superior effects of being able to improve the yield upon producing magnetoresistive films and the like.

A stage device includes a stage configured to hold a target substrate in a vacuum chamber, a chiller having a cold head maintained at an extremely low temperature and a cold heat transfer body fixed in contact with the cold head and disposed below a bottom surface of the stage with a gap between the stage and the cold heat transfer body. The stage device further includes a heat insulating structure unit having a vacuum insulated structure and configured to surround at least the cold head and a connection portion between the cold head and the cold heat transfer body, cooling fluid supplied to the gap to transfer cold heat of the cold heat transfer body to the stage, and a stage support rotated by a driving mechanism and configured to rotatably support the stage.

The present disclosure provides a magnetic thin film deposition chamber and a thin film deposition apparatus. The magnetic thin film deposition chamber includes a main chamber and a bias magnetic field device. A base pedestal is disposed in the main chamber for carrying a to-be-processed workpiece. The bias magnetic field device is configured for forming a horizontal magnetic field above the base pedestal, and the horizontal magnetic field is used to provide an in-plane anisotropy to a magnetized film layer deposited on the to-be-processed workpiece. The thin film deposition chamber provided in present disclosure is capable of forming a horizontal magnetic field above the base pedestal that is sufficient to induce an in-plane anisotropy to the magnetic thin film.

An FePt-based sintered sputtering target containing C and/or BN, wherein an area ratio of AgCu alloy grains on a polished surface of a cross section that is perpendicular to a sputtered surface of the sputtering target is 0.5% or more and 15% or less. An object of this invention is to provide a sputtering target capable of reducing particles generation during sputtering and efficiently depositing a magnetic thin film of a magnetic recording medium.

A sputtering target according to the present invention contains Co and one or more metals selected from the group consisting of Cr and Ru, as metal components, wherein a molar ratio of the content of the one or more metals to the content of Co is or more, and wherein the sputtering target contains Nb.sub.2O.sub.5 as a metal oxide component.

Provided is a sputtering target, comprising: from 0.001 mol % to 0.5 mol % of Bi; from 45 mol % or less of Cr; 45 mol % or less of Pt; 60 mol % or less of Ru; and a total of 1 mol % to 35 mol % of at least one metal oxide, the balance being Co and inevitable impurities.

The present disclosure provides a magnetic thin film deposition chamber and a thin film deposition apparatus. The magnetic thin film deposition chamber includes a main chamber and a bias magnetic field device. A base pedestal is disposed in the main chamber for carrying a to-be-processed workpiece. The bias magnetic field device is configured for forming a horizontal magnetic field above the base pedestal, and the horizontal magnetic field is used to provide an in-plane anisotropy to a magnetized film layer deposited on the to-be-processed workpiece. The thin film deposition chamber provided in present disclosure is capable of forming a horizontal magnetic field above the base pedestal that is sufficient to induce an in-plane anisotropy to the magnetic thin film.

The disclosed technology generally relates to forming a semiconductor structure and more particularly to forming a stack of layers of a semiconductor structure using a sacrificial layer that is removed during deposition of a functional layer. In one aspect, the disclosed technology relates to a method of protecting a top surface of a layer in a semiconductor structure. The method comprises: providing the layer on a substrate, the layer having an initial thickness and an initial composition; forming a sacrificial metal layer on and in contact with the layer, the sacrificial metal layer comprising a light metal element; and depositing by physical vapor deposition a functional metal layer on and in contact with the sacrificial metal layer. The sacrificial metal layer is removed by sputtering during the deposition of the functional metal layer, such that an interface is formed between the layer and the functional metal layer. The sacrificial metal layer protects the layer during the deposition of the functional metal layer, such that the layer has a final thickness which substantially matches the initial thickness and a final composition which substantially matches the initial composition.