A sputtering apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate holder, a cathode unit arranged at a position diagonally opposite to the substrate holder, a position sensor for detecting a rotational position of the substrate, and a holder rotation controller for adjusting a rotation speed of the substrate according to the detected rotational position. The holder rotation controller controls the rotation speed so that the rotation speed of the substrate when the cathode unit is located on a side in a first direction as an extending direction of a process target surface of the relief structure is lower than the rotation speed of the substrate when the cathode unit is located on a side in a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction along the rotation of the substrate.

A apparatus for vacuum sputter deposition is described. The apparatus includes, a vacuum chamber; three or more sputter cathodes within the vacuum chamber for sputtering material on a substrate; a gas distribution system for providing a processing gas including H.sub.2 to the vacuum chamber; a vacuum system for providing a vacuum inside the vacuum chamber; and a safety arrangement for reducing the risk of an oxy-hydrogen explosion, wherein the safety arrangement comprises a dilution gas feeding unit connected to the vacuum system for dilution of the H.sub.2-content of the processing gas.

Embodiments relate to a sputter chamber with a configurable surface in communication with a target material. A control system is in communication with the chamber and functions to prepare an alloy film by changing a composition of the configurable surface. As ingress gas is introduced to the chamber to interact with the changed composition, the interaction causes a reaction that produces an alloy film.

A method of making a semiconductor structure includes a step of sputtering silver, copper, indium, and gallium on a substrate in an ambient including at least one chalcogen to deposit an alloy of silver, copper, indium, gallium, and at least one chalcogen. A film of the alloy can be deposited on a continuously moving substrate with a high throughput to form a p-type semiconductor absorber layer of a photovoltaic cell.

A sputtering apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate holder, a cathode unit arranged at a position diagonally opposite to the substrate holder, a position sensor for detecting a rotational position of the substrate, and a holder rotation controller for adjusting a rotation speed of the substrate according to the detected rotational position. The holder rotation controller controls the rotation speed so that the rotation speed of the substrate when the cathode unit is located on a side in a first direction as an extending direction of a process target surface of the relief structure is lower than the rotation speed of the substrate when the cathode unit is located on a side in a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction along the rotation of the substrate.

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.

It is provided a magnetron-sputtering coating system including a sputtering chamber. The sputtering chamber therein includes: a set of target, formed by concatenating a plurality pieces of target; a substrate carrier, arranged to be opposite to the target set, and support a substrate to be coated with a film; and a driving device, arranged to drive the substrate carrier to reciprocate in a direction of the arrangement of the target.

There is provided a sputtering apparatus which is capable of forming, with good uniformity of film thickness distribution, an insulator film having further improved crystallinity. Inside a vacuum chamber in which is provided an insulator target, there is disposed a stage for holding a substrate W to be processed so as to face the insulator target. The sputtering apparatus has: a driving means for driving to rotate the stage; a sputtering power source E1 for applying HF power to the insulator target; and a gas introduction means for introducing a rage gas into the vacuum chamber. The sputtering apparatus is characterized in that a distance d3 between the substrate and the insulator target is set to a range between 40 mm-150 mm.

A cover for a configurable measuring system of a configurable sputtering system which is adapted for sputtering multilayer coatings with varying compositions and comprising a plurality of sputtering zones and having a plurality of apertures on which the cover is detachably attachable, and wherein the cover comprises a sensor system for in situ detection of a property of the multilayer coating on a substrate, wherein said at least one sensor system is attached to the cover.

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.