Embodiments of process kits for use in plasma process chambers are provided herein. In some embodiments, a process kit for use in a process chamber includes an annular body having an upper portion and a lower portion extending downward and radially inward from the upper portion, wherein the annular body includes an inner surface having a first segment that extends downward, a second segment that extends radially outward from the first segment, a third segment that extends downward from the second segment, a fourth segment that extends radially outward from the third segment, a fifth segment that extends downward from the fourth segment, a sixth segment that extends radially inward from the fifth segment, a seventh segment that extends downward from the sixth segment, and an eighth segment that extends radially inward from the seventh segment.

A method is provided. The method includes the following steps: introducing a first physical vapor deposition (PVD) target and a second PVD target in a PVD system, the first PVD target containing a boron-containing cobalt iron alloy (FeCoB) with an initial boron concentration, and the second PVD target containing boron; determining parameters of the PVD system based on a target boron concentration larger than the initial boron concentration; and depositing a FeCoB film on a substrate according to the parameters of the PVD system.

A magnetron plasma sputtering arrangement including an evacuable chamber, wherein in the evacuable chamber a tuning electrode, operatively connected to a biasing source with respect to ground, and including an aperture defining at least one axis of length, is arranged in a flow path for plasma between a sputtering head and a substrate. A plasma sputtered material originating at a sputtering target will traverse the aperture before depositing onto the surface of the substrate as a thin film.

A vacuum processing apparatus includes: a stage on which a substrate is placed; and a shutter configured to be able to move between a shielding position at which the stage is covered and a retracted position that is retracted from the shielding position, wherein the shutter arranged at the shielding position forms a processing space between the shutter and the stage, and includes: a gas supplier configured to supply a gas into the processing space; and a gas exhauster provided closer to a center side of the processing space than the gas supplier and configured to exhaust the gas from the processing space.

A film forming apparatus includes a target holder that holds a target facing a substrate and extending in a predetermined direction on a horizontal plane, a magnet unit including a pair of magnet assemblies each having magnets and disposed at a back side of the target holder, a pair of shielding members disposed between the target and the substrate to extend from the target toward the substrate, and a moving mechanism configured to reciprocate the magnet unit between one end and the other end in the predetermined direction. The magnet assemblies are arranged along the predetermined direction, and each of the shielding members is disposed, in plan view, on a boundary line between a first region where only one of the magnet assemblies passes during a reciprocating motion of the magnet unit and a second region where both of the magnet assemblies pass therethrough during the reciprocating motion.

The present disclosure provides a thin-film-deposition equipment for detecting shielding mechanism, which includes a reaction chamber, a carrier, a shielding mechanism and two distance sensors. The carrier and the shielding mechanism is partially disposed within the reaction chamber. The shielding mechanism includes two shield unit and a driver. The driver interconnects and drives the two shield units to sway in opposite directions and into an open state and a shielding state. Each of the two shield unit is disposed with a reflective surface for each of the two distance sensors to respectively project optical beams onto and detect a distances therebetween when the two shield units are operated in the shielding state, such that to confirm that the shielding mechanism is in the shielding state.

Methods and apparatus reduce defects in substrates processed in a physical vapor (PVD) chamber. In some embodiments, a method for cleaning a process kit disposed in an inner volume of a process chamber includes positioning a non-sputtering shutter disk on a substrate support of the PVD chamber; energizing an oxygen-containing cleaning gas disposed in the inner volume of the PVD chamber to create a plasma reactive with carbon-based materials; and heating the process kit having a carbon-based material adhered thereto while exposed to the plasma to remove at least a portion of the carbon-based material adhered to the process kit.

A deposition system, and a method of operation thereof, includes: a cathode; a shroud below the cathode; a rotating shield below the cathode for exposing the cathode through the shroud and through a shield hole of the rotating shield; and a rotating pedestal for producing a material to form a carrier over the rotating pedestal, wherein the material having a non-uniformity constraint of less than 1% of a thickness of the material and the cathode having an angle between the cathode and the carrier.

An apparatus of fabricating a semiconductor device may include a chamber including a housing and a slit valve used to open or close a portion of the housing, a heater chuck provided in a lower region of the housing and used to heat a substrate, a target provided over the heater chuck, a plasma electrode provided in an upper region of the housing and used to generate plasma on the target, a heat-dissipation shield surrounding the inner wall of the housing between the plasma electrode and the heater chuck, and an edge heating structure provided between the heat-dissipation shield and the inner wall of the housing and configured to heat the heat-dissipation shield and an edge region of the substrate and to reduce a difference in temperature between center and edge regions of the substrate.

A deposition apparatus includes a shield member having a lattice shape in a plan view, the lattice shape including short side edges extending along a first direction and long side edges extending along a second direction, the short side edges including first and second short side edges, a bracket member including a first bracket member coupled to the first short side edge, and a second bracket member coupled to the second short side edge, a plurality of anode bars extending along the second direction and stably placed on each of the first bracket member and the second bracket member, and a target member covering the plurality of anode bars. An anode bar of the plurality of anode bars protrudes outward beyond at least one of the first bracket member and the second bracket member, and the anode bar is physically separated from the shield member by the bracket member.