A method of ion-plasma application of corrosion-resistant film coatings on articles made from zirconium alloys includes placing articles in a planetary carousel mechanism, heating the articles, and ion-beam etching and surface activation of the articles using water-cooled unbalanced magnetrons. In addition, the surface of the articles is activated using an ion source which generates gas ions with an accelerating voltage of up to 5000 V and with feeding of a bias voltage to the articles. The coating is applied by using unbalanced and balanced magnetrons simultaneously with a residual induction of the magnetic field from 0.03 T to 0.1 T. The coating is applied to articles which are made from zirconium alloys and are placed vertically in a planetary carousel mechanism. The articles are heated in the coating application process to a temperature of 150-600° C., wherein the heaters are accommodated along the entire length of the articles. This produces corrosion-resistant film coatings of uniform thickness along the outer surface of articles made from zirconium alloys and raises productivity due to an increase in the discharge power density of magnetrons.

The present invention provides a magnetron system, comprising a baseplate assembly. The baseplate assembly defining a housing portion and a power feedthrough. A sputtering target is disposed within the housing portion of the baseplate assembly. An electromagnetic assembly is disposed within the housing portion of the baseplate assembly. The electromagnetic assembly comprising a plurality of electromagnet pairs and a plurality of magnet pairs, wherein the plurality of electromagnet pairs and the plurality of magnet pairs are arranged in an alternating order such that at least one electromagnet pair of the plurality of electromagnet pairs is juxtapositioned between two magnet pairs of the plurality of magnet pairs, and at least one magnet pair of the plurality of magnet pairs is juxtapositioned between two electromagnet pairs of the plurality of electromagnet pairs.

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 sputtering apparatus includes: a first cylindrical target and a second cylindrical target, which are arranged in a first direction and parallel to each other; a first magnet disposed in the first cylindrical target; a second magnet disposed in the second cylindrical target; and a substrate holder spaced apart from the first and second cylindrical targets in a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction, wherein each of a first angle formed by a first imaginary straight line from a center of the first magnet to a cylindrical axis of the first cylindrical target with a first perpendicular line and a second angle formed by a second imaginary straight line from a center to of the second magnet to a cylindrical axis of the second cylindrical target with a second perpendicular line is in a range of about 30 degrees to about 180 degrees.

Apparatus and methods for improving film uniformity in a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process are provided herein. In some embodiments, a PVD chamber includes a pedestal disposed within a processing region of the PVD chamber, the pedestal having an upper surface configured to support a substrate thereon, a first motor coupled to the pedestal, a lid assembly comprising a first target, a first magnetron disposed over a portion of the first target, and in a region of the lid assembly that is maintained at atmospheric pressure, a first actuator configured to translate the first magnetron in a first direction, a second actuator configured to translate the first magnetron in a second direction, and a system controller that is configured to cause the first magnetron to translate along at least a portion of a first path by causing the first actuator and second actuator to simultaneously translate the first magnetron.

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.

A deposition apparatus includes a process chamber, a wafer support in the process chamber, a backplane structure having a first surface in the process chamber facing the wafer support, a target having a second surface facing the first surface and a third surface facing the wafer support, and an adhesion structure in physical contact with the backplane structure and the target. The adhesion structure has an adhesion material layer, and a spacer embedded in the adhesion material layer.

A sputtering target according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a plate-shaped target body formed of a metal material. The target body includes a target portion and a base portion. The target portion has a sputtering surface. The base portion has a cooling surface and includes a gradient strength layer, the cooling surface being positioned on a side opposite to the sputtering surface and having hardness higher than that of the sputtering surface, the gradient strength layer having tensile strength that gradually decreases from the cooling surface toward the target portion.

A film-forming apparatus comprises: a processing chamber defining a processing space, a first sputter-particle emitter and a second sputter-particle emitter having targets, respectively, from which sputter-particles are emitted in different oblique directions in the processing space, a sputter-particle blocking plate having a passage hole through which the sputter particles emitted from the first sputter-particle emitter and the second sputter-particle emitter pass, a substrate support configured to support a substrate and provided at a side opposite the first sputter-particle emitter and the second sputter-particle emitter with respect to the sputter-particle blocking plate in the processing space, a substrate moving mechanism configured to linearly move the substrate supported on the substrate support, and a controller configured to control the emission of sputter-particles from the first sputter-particle emitter and the second sputter-particle emitter while controlling the substrate moving mechanism to move the substrate linearly.

Apparatus for depositing germanium and carbon onto one or more substrates comprises a vacuum chamber, at least first and second magnetron sputtering devices and at least one movable mount for supporting the one or more substrates within the vacuum chamber. The first magnetron sputtering device is configured to sputter germanium towards the at least one mount from a first sputtering target comprising germanium, thereby defining a germanium sputtering zone within the vacuum chamber. The second magnetron sputtering device is configured to sputter carbon towards the at least one mount from a second sputtering target comprising carbon, thereby defining a carbon sputtering zone within the vacuum chamber. The at least one mount and the at least first and second magnetron sputtering devices are arranged such that, when each substrate is moved through the germanium sputtering zone on the at least one movable mount, germanium is deposited on the said substrate, and when each substrate is moved through the carbon sputtering zone on the at least one movable mount, carbon is deposited on the said substrate.