The invention provides a deposition equipment with a shielding mechanism, which includes a reaction chamber, a carrier, a cover ring and a shielding mechanism. The shielding mechanism includes a first bearing arm, a second bearing arm, a first shielding plate and a second shielding plate. The first and second shielding plates are respectively placed on the first and second bearing arms. There are corresponding alignment units between the lower surface of the first and second shielding plates and the upper surface the carrier, so that the first and second shielding plates can be aligned with the carrier. There is also a corresponding alignment unit between the upper surface of the first and second shielding plates and the lower surface the cover ring, so that the cover ring can be aligned with the first and second shielding plates to define a cleaning space in the reaction chamber.

A physical vapor deposition processing chamber is described. The processing chamber includes a target backing plate in a top portion of the processing chamber, a substrate support in a bottom portion of the processing chamber, a deposition ring positioned at an outer periphery of the substrate support and a shield. The substrate support has a support surface spaced a distance from the target backing plate to form a process cavity. The shield forms an outer bound of the process cavity. In-chamber cleaning methods are also described. In an embodiment, the method includes closing a bottom gas flow path of a processing chamber to a process cavity, flowing an inert gas from the bottom gas flow path, flowing a reactant into the process cavity through an opening in the shield, and evacuating the reaction gas from the process cavity.

A sputtering device includes a vacuum chamber, a target, a substrate stage, and a deposition guard plate. The target is located in the vacuum chamber. The substrate stage is located in the vacuum char and includes a seat surface on which a substrate is placed. The substrate includes an outer circumferential portion extending beyond the seat surface. The deposition guard plate is located in the vacuum chamber and includes an annular inclined surface extending around the substrate stage. The annular inclined surface is faced toward the target and is a circumferential surface of a truncated cone including an inner edge opposing a rear surface of the outer circumferential portion. An angle between the annular inclined surface and a plane including the seat surface is greater than or equal to 10 and less than or equal to 50.

A high-power pulsed surface processing system includes insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) to replicate desirable pulse structures with high precision, at low cost, and with high reliability within a single system. The pulsed surface processing system includes a power supply, an anode and a cathode, a dual gate driver supplying power to one or more IGBT gates, and one or more capacitor banks. Pulse formation software controls the timing and duration of electrical pulses to the electrodes. A freewheeling diode protects the system from an abrupt reduction of current in the circuit. The high-power pulsed surface processing system may be used to control versatile and complex pulse structures while with precise control of instantaneous pulse powers, pulse timing, and process control. The inclusion of dual gate drivers also offers the ability for multiple pulsers to be created and slaved together for a wide variety of custom processes.

A sputtering apparatus and a target changing device thereof are disclosed. The target changing device includes a stand, a mounting shaft on the stand, a target mounting body sleeved on an outside of the mounting shaft and being rotatable around an axis of the mounting shaft, and a first driving mechanism configured to drive the target mounting body to rotate around the axis of the mounting shaft. The target mounting body includes at least two target mounting surfaces configured to mount targets. When the target mounting body rotates around the axis of the mounting shaft, each of the target mounting surfaces may be switched between an operating state orientation and an idle orientation.

A shield encircles a sputtering target that faces a substrate support in a substrate processing chamber. The shield comprises an outer band having a diameter sized to encircle the sputtering target, the outer band having upper and bottom ends, and the upper end having a tapered surface extending radially outwardly and adjacent to the sputtering target. A base plate extends radially inward from the bottom end of the outer band. An inner band joined to the base plate at least partially surrounds a peripheral edge of a substrate support. The shield can also have a heat exchanger comprising a conduit with an inlet and outlet to flow heat exchange fluid therethrough.

Apparatus for depositing a layer on a substrate in a process gas includes a chuck containing a first surface for supporting the substrate, a clamp for securing the substrate to the first surface of the chuck, an evacuatable enclosure enclosing the chuck and the clamp and control apparatus. The evacuatable enclosure includes an inlet, through which the processing gas is insertable into the enclosure. The control apparatus is adapted to move at least one of the chuck and the clamp relative to, and independently of, one another to adjust a spacing between the chuck and the clamp during a single deposition process while maintaining a flow of the processing gas and a pressure within the enclosure that is less than atmospheric pressure.

A sputtering apparatus (100) according to this invention includes a shutter (50) configured to move between a shutter-closed position (50a) in which the to-be-deposited object (2) is covered from the target (1), and a shutter-moved-out position (50b) in which the shutter is moved out of the shutter-closed position (50a) to an exhaust pump (30) side and stays on the exhaust pump side during thin film deposition. A plate-shaped reflector (60, 70) is arranged between the exhaust pump (30) and the shutter (50) in a moved-out state in which the shutter is arranged at the shutter-moved-out position (50b), and is configured to reflect radiation of heat directing to the exhaust pump (30) from the shutter (50) in the moved-out state.

The invention provides a deposition equipment with a shielding mechanism, which includes a reaction chamber, a carrier, a cover ring and a shielding mechanism. The shielding mechanism includes a first bearing arm, a second bearing arm, a first shielding plate and a second shielding plate. The first and second shielding plates are respectively placed on the first and second bearing arms. There are corresponding alignment units between the lower surface of the first and second shielding plates and the upper surface the carrier, so that the first and second shielding plates can be aligned with the carrier. There is also a corresponding alignment unit between the upper surface of the first and second shielding plates and the lower surface the cover ring, so that the cover ring can be aligned with the first and second shielding plates to define a cleaning space in the reaction chamber.

A system and method for single magnetron sputtering are described. One example includes a system having a power supply, a plasma chamber enclosing a substrate, an anode, and a target for depositing a thin film material on the substrate. This example also has a datastore with uncoated anode characterization data and an anode sputtering adjustment system including an anode analysis component to generate a first health value. The first health value is indicative of whether the anode is coated with a dielectric material. This example also has an anode power controller to receive the first health value and provide an anode-energy-control signal to the pulse controller of the pulsed DC power supply to adjust a second anode sputtering energy relative to a first anode sputtering energy to eject at least a portion of the dielectric material from the anode.