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 gas blocking layer forming apparatus comprises a vacuum chamber that provides a space where a chemical vapor deposition process and a sputtering process are performed; a holding unit that is provided at a lower side within the vacuum chamber and mounts thereon a target object on which an organic/inorganic mixed multilayer gas blocking layer is formed; a neutral particle generation unit that is provided at an upper side within the vacuum chamber and generates a neutral particle beam having a high-density flux with a current density of about 10 A/m.sup.2 or more; and common sputtering devices that are provided at both sides of the neutral particle generation unit, wherein each common sputtering device has a sputtering target of which a surface is inclined toward a surface of the target object.

A plasma processing system used for reactive sputtering may include multiple dual magnetron sputtering (DMS) components. Each DMS component may include a power supply coupled with two electrodes that switch between operation as a cathode and anode and are located within a plasma chamber. The power supply may be configured to operate as a transmitter or receiver power supply. A transmitter power supply may receive a phase-control-input signal that includes a phase offset value and may produce a phase-control-output signal and synchronization signal. The transmitter power supply may send the phase-control-output signal and synchronization signal to a receiver power supply, which may use these signals to synchronize electrode switching with the transmitter power supply and to apply the phase offset.

Methods and apparatus for forming a thin film transistor (TFT) having a metal oxide layer. The method may include forming an amorphous metal oxide layer and treating the metal oxide layer with a silicon containing gas or plasma including Si.sup.4+ ions. The silicon treatment of the metal oxide layer helps fill the oxygen vacancies in the metal oxide channel layer, leading to a more stable TFT and preventing a negative threshold voltage in the TFT.

A sputtering target comprising: a backing plate; and a target material bonded via a bonding material to a bonding region of the backing plate, wherein a bonding area of a bonding portion between the target material and the backing plate accounts for 97% or more of the area of the bonding region, and wherein a maximum defect area of portions without the bonding material present between the target material and the backing plate accounts for 0.6% or less of the area of the bonding region.

The sputtering target enables manufacturing of the sputtering target in which the target material is hardly peeled off during sputtering.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a cylindrical electrode which has a lower end provided with an opening, an upper end that is a closed end, in which a process gas is introduced, and which obtains a plasma process gas upon application of the voltage, and a chamber that is a vacuum container provided with an opening. The cylindrical electrode, which has the upper end attached to the opening of the chamber via an insulation material, is extended in the chamber. The plasma processing apparatus also includes a rotation table carrying a workpiece to be processed by the process gas to a space below the opening of the cylindrical electrode, a shield covering the cylindrical electrode extended inside the chamber via a gap, and a spacer installed in the gap, and formed of an insulation material.

The apparatus includes: a vacuum container; a substrate-holding part inside the vacuum container; a target-holding part inside the vacuum container; and a plurality of antennas having a flow channel through which a cooling liquid flows. The antennas include: at least two tubular conductor elements; a tubular insulating element that is arranged between mutually adjacent conductor elements and insulates the conductor elements; and a capacitive element that is connected electrically in series to the mutually adjacent conductor elements. The capacitive element includes: a first electrode which is connected electrically to one of the mutually adjacent conductor elements; a second electrode which is connected electrically to the other of the mutually adjacent conductor elements and is disposed facing the first electrode; and a dielectric substance that fills the space between the first electrode and the second electrode. The dielectric substance is a cooling liquid.

Methods and systems for depositing a thin film are disclosed. The methods and systems can be used to deposit a film having a uniform thickness on a substrate surface that has a non-planar three-dimensional geometry, such as a curved surface. The methods involve the use of a deposition source that has a shape in accordance with the non-planar three-dimensional geometry of the substrate surface. In some embodiments, multiple layers of films are deposited onto each other forming multi-layered coatings. In some embodiments, the multi-layered coatings are antireflective (AR) coatings for windows or lenses.

An endblock for a rotatable sputtering target, such as a rotatable magnetron sputtering target, is provided. A sputtering apparatus, including one or more such endblock(s), includes locating the electrical contact(s) (e.g., brush(es)) between the collector and rotor in the endblock(s) in an area under vacuum (as opposed to in an area at atmospheric pressure).

A stage device for holding a substrate in a processing apparatus for processing the substrate includes a stage, a stage rotating mechanism, and a cold heat transfer mechanism. The stage is configured to hold the substrate in a processing chamber. The stage rotating mechanism includes a rotation shaft extending downward from a center of a bottom surface of the stage and a motor configured to rotate the stage via the rotation shaft. The cold heat transfer mechanism includes at least one cold heat transfer body that is fixedly disposed at a position spaced away from the rotation shaft below the stage and is configured to transfer cold heat of a chiller. The cold heat transfer mechanism is disposed with a gap between the cold heat transfer mechanism and the stage.