A ceramic sputtering target, wherein when a cross-sectional structure of a sputtering surface is observed with an electron microscope, an amount of microcracks defined below is 50 μm/mm or less, and after performing a peel test on the sputtering surface, an area ratio of peeled particles confirmed by observing the cross-sectional structure with an electron microscope is 1.0% or less.

Amount of microcracks=frequency of microcracks×average depth of microcracks

A method for applying a coating having at least one TiCN layer to a surface of a substrate to be coated by means of high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS), wherein, to deposit the at least one TiCN layer, at least one Ti target is used as the Ti source for producing the TiCN layer, said target being sputtered in a reactive atmosphere by means of a HIPIMS process in a coating chamber, wherein the reactive atmosphere comprises at least one inert gas, preferably argon, and at least nitrogen gas as the reactive gas, wherein: the reactive atmosphere additionally contains, as a second reactive gas, a gas containing carbon, preferably CH4, used as the source of carbon to produce the TiCN layer wherein, while depositing the TiCN layer, a bipolar bias voltage is applied to the substrate to be coated, or at least one graphite target is used as the source of carbon for producing the TiCN layer, said target being used for sputtering in the coating chamber using a HIPIMS process with the reactive atmosphere having only nitrogen gas as the reactive gas, wherein the Ti targets are preferably operated by means of a first power supply device or a first power supply unit and the graphite targets are operated with pulsed power by means of a second power supply device or a second power supply unit.

Provided is a tantalum target, wherein, when a direction normal to a rolling surface (ND), which is a cross section perpendicular to a sputtering surface of a target, is observed via an electron backscatter diffraction pattern method, an area ratio of crystal grains of which a {100} plane is oriented in the ND is 30% or more. An object of the present invention is to provide a tantalum sputtering target in which a deposition rate can be appropriately controlled under high-power sputtering conditions. When sputter-deposition is performed using this kind of a tantalum target, it is possible to form a thin film having superior film thickness uniformity and improve the productivity of the thin film formation process, even for micro wiring.

A sputtering target including an oxide with a low impurity concentration is provided. Provided is a method for manufacturing a sputtering target, including a first step of preparing a mixture including indium, zinc, an element M (the element M is aluminum, gallium, yttrium, or tin), and oxygen; a second step of raising a temperature of the mixture from a first temperature to a second temperature in a first atmosphere containing nitrogen at a concentration of higher than or equal to 90 vol % and lower than or equal to 100 vol %; and a third step of lowering the temperature of the mixture from the second temperature to a third temperature in a second atmosphere containing oxygen at a concentration of higher than or equal to 10 vol % and lower than or equal to 100 vol %.

To provide a sputtering apparatus capable of forming a semiconductor film in which impurities such as hydrogen or water are reduced. The sputtering apparatus is capable of forming a semiconductor film and includes a deposition chamber, a gas supply device connected to the deposition chamber, a gas refining device connected to the gas supply device, a vacuum pump for evacuating the deposition chamber, a target disposed in the deposition chamber, and a cathode disposed to face the target. The gas supply device is configured to supply at least one of an argon gas, an oxygen gas, and a nitrogen gas. The partial pressure of hydrogen molecules is lower than or equal to 0.01 Pa and the partial pressure of water molecules is lower than or equal to 0.0001 Pa in the deposition chamber.

A cylindrical sputtering target includes a plurality of cylindrical sintered compacts adjacent to each other while having a space therebetween. The plurality of cylindrical sintered compacts have a relative density of 99.7% or higher and 99.9% or lower. The plurality of cylindrical sintered compacts adjacent to each other have a difference therebetween in the relative density of 0.1% or smaller.

A substrate processing apparatus includes: a tray provided in a vacuum processing container and having a recess that accommodates a target made of a low-melting-point material; a refrigerator that cools the tray; a substrate holder that holds a substrate; a reversal driver that reverses the position of the substrate holder upside down; and a rotation driver that rotates the substrate holder in a circumferential direction of the substrate.

Provided are an oxide sintered compact whereby low carrier density and high carrier mobility are obtained when the oxide sintered compact is used to obtain an oxide semiconductor thin film by a sputtering method, and a sputtering target which uses the oxide sintered compact. This oxide sintered compact contains oxides of indium, gallium, and aluminum. The gallium content is from 0.15 to 0.49 by Ga/(In+Ga) atomic ratio, and the aluminum content is from 0.0001 to less than 0.25 by Al/(In+Ga+Al) atomic ratio. A crystalline oxide semiconductor thin film formed using this oxide sintered compact as a sputtering target is obtained at a carrier density of 4.0×10.sup.18 cm.sup.−3 or less and a carrier mobility of 10 cm.sup.−2V.sup.−1sec.sup.−1 or greater.

Provided is a copper alloy sputtering target, wherein, based on charged particle activation analysis, the copper alloy sputtering target has an oxygen content of 0.6 wtppm or less, or an oxygen content of 2 wtppm or less and a carbon content of 0.6 wtppm or less. Additionally provided is a method for manufacturing a copper alloy sputtering target, wherein a copper raw material is melted in a vacuum or an inert gas atmosphere, a reducing gas is thereafter introduced into the melting atmosphere, an alloy element is subsequently added to a molten metal for alloying, and an obtained ingot is processed into a target shape. The present invention aims to provide a copper alloy sputtering target that generates few particles during sputtering, and a method for manufacturing such a sputtering target.

The present invention provides an apparatus including a bipolar collimator disposed in a physical vapor deposition chamber and methods of using the same. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a chamber body and a chamber lid disposed on the chamber body defining a processing region therein, a collimator disposed in the processing region, and a power source coupled to the collimator.