Physical vapor deposition processing chambers and methods of processing a substrate such as an EUV mask blank in a physical vapor deposition chamber are disclosed. An electric field and a magnetic field are utilized to deflect particles from a substrate being processed in the chamber.

A reactor includes a plasma duct; a gas inlet, at a distal end of the plasma duct, for receiving a gas; a gas outlet at a proximal end of the plasma duct for removing a portion of the gas to generate a gas flow through the plasma duct; a separating baffle positioned between the plasma duct and the gas outlet for restricting gas flow to maintain high pressure in the plasma duct; a shielded cathodic arc source positioned in a cathode chamber at the proximal end; a remote anode, positioned in the plasma duct, for holding a substrate and cooperating with the cathodic arc source to generate an electron flow opposite the gas flow, to initiate a plasma discharge perpendicular to the remote anode at least in vicinity of the remote anode and deposit ions of the plasma discharge on the substrate to form a diamond coating.

A method for coating substrates in an arc vaporization source for generating hard surface coatings on tools is provided. The method includes providing an arc-vaporization source with at least one electric solenoid and a permanent magnet arrangement including marginal permanent magnets and a central permanent magnet. The method further includes adjusting the position of the central and marginal permanent magnets relative to the target surface in at least three settings, adjusting the strength of the generated magnetic field based on the position of the central and marginal permanent magnets among the at least three settings, and coating the substrates by an ARC vaporization coating process performed by the ARC vaporization source at each of the at least three settings.

In an embodiment, a magnetic assembly includes: an inner permeance annulus; and an outer permeance annulus connected to the inner permeance annulus via magnets, wherein the outer permeance annulus comprises a peak region with a thickness greater than other regions of the outer permeance annulus.

A method is for depositing a dielectric material on to a substrate in a chamber by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering with a pulsed DC magnetron device which produces one or more primary magnetic fields. In the method, a sputtering material is sputtered from a target, wherein the target and the substrate are separated by a gap in the range 2.5 to 10 cm and a secondary magnetic field is produced within the chamber which causes a plasma produced by the pulsed DC magnetron device to expand towards one or more walls of the chamber.

A semiconductor device is manufactured by modifying an electromagnetic field within a deposition chamber. In embodiments in which the deposition process is a sputtering process, the electromagnetic field may be modified by adjusting a distance between a first coil and a mounting platform. In other embodiments, the electromagnetic field may be adjusted by applying or removing power from additional coils that are also present.

A system and method for reducing particle contamination on substrates during a deposition process using a particle control system is disclosed here. In one embodiment, a film deposition system includes: a processing chamber sealable to create a pressurized environment and configured to contain a plasma, a target and a substrate in the pressurized environment; and a particle control unit, wherein the particle control unit is configured to provide an external force to each of at least one charged atom and at least one contamination particle in the plasma, wherein the at least one charged atom and the at last one contamination particle are generated by the target when it is in direct contact with the plasma, wherein the external force is configured to direct the at least one charged atom to a top surface of the substrate and to direct the at least one contamination particle away from the top surface of the substrate.

A semiconductor device is manufactured by modifying an electromagnetic field within a deposition chamber. In embodiments in which the deposition process is a sputtering process, the electromagnetic field may be modified by adjusting a distance between a first coil and a mounting platform. In other embodiments, the electromagnetic field may be adjusted by applying or removing power from additional coils that are also present.

A transparent structure may have multiple layers, such as an inner layer and an outer layer, which may be formed from glass. The transparent structure may have a large, curved surface with compound curvature and high geometric strain and may include one or more layers. To apply a physical vapor deposition coating with uniform thickness on a curved surface, cathode power may be modulated during the deposition, a mask having an opening with a curvature matching the curved surface may be used, a cathode shape may be varied, the cathodes may sputter the coating outwardly toward the curved surface, a magnetic field may modulate the flux produced by the cathodes, and/or the pressure and/or flow of gas may be adjusted. By modifying the physical vapor deposition coater in one or more of these ways, the coating may have a uniform thickness, and therefore a uniform color, across the curved surface.

In an embodiment, a magnetic assembly includes: an inner permeance annulus; and an outer permeance annulus connected to the inner permeance annulus via magnets, wherein the outer permeance annulus comprises a peak region with a thickness greater than other regions of the outer permeance annulus.