SOFT MAGNETIC MULTILAYER DESPOSITION APPARATUS, METHODS OF MANUFACTURING AND MAGNETIC MULTILAYER

Abstract

The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus includes a circular arrangement of a multitude of substrate carriers in a circular inner space of a vacuum transport chamber. In operation the substrate carriers pass treatment stations. One of the treatment stations has a sputtering target made of a first soft magnetic material. A second treatment station includes a target made of a second soft magnetic material which is different from the first soft magnetic material of the first addressed target. A control unit controlling relative movement of the substrate carriers with respect to the treatment stations provides for more than one 360 revolution of the multitude of substrate carriers around the axis AX of the circular inner space of the vacuum transport chamber, while the first and second treatment stations are continuously operative.

Claims

1. A soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus comprising: a circular inner space vacuum transport chamber about an axis; along a plane perpendicular to said axis, a circular arrangement of a multitude of substrate carriers in said inner space and coaxially to said axis; along a plane perpendicular to said axis, a circular arrangement of substrate treatment stations the stations thereof treatment-operative into said inner space; a rotational drive operationally coupled between said circular arrangement of said multitude of substrate carriers and said circular arrangement of treatment stations, so as to establish a relative rotation between said circular arrangement of said multitude of substrate carriers and said circular arrangement of treatment stations; said circular arrangement of said multitude of substrate carriers and said circular arrangement of treatment stations being mutually aligned; the arrangement of substrate treatment stations comprising: at least one first and at least one second sputter deposition station, each with a single target; the first sputter deposition station having a first target of a first soft magnetic material to be deposited as layer material on the substrates; the second sputter deposition station having a target of a second soft magnetic material, different from said first soft magnetic material and to be deposited as layer material on said substrates; the apparatus further comprising: a control unit operationally coupled to the stations of said arrangement of treating stations and to said rotational drive and construed to control said first and said second sputter deposition stations so as to be continuously sputter deposition enabled towards said substrate carriers, at least during more than one 360 revolution of said arrangement of said multitude of substrate carriers relative to said arrangement of treatment stations and about said axis, said 360 revolutions directly succeeding one another.

2. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 1 said circular inner space being annular and said arrangement of said multitude of substrate carriers or said arrangement of treatment stations being mounted to the radially outer circular surface of said annular inner space or to the top or bottom surface of said annular inner space.

3. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 1 said circular inner space being annular and said arrangement of said multitude of substrate carriers or said arrangement of treatment stations being mounted to the radially inner circular surface of said annular inner space.

4. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 1 said circular inner space being cylindrical and said arrangement of said multitude of substrate carriers or said arrangement of treatment stations being mounted to the circular surface being the surrounding surface of said cylindrical inner space or to the bottom surface or to the top surface of said cylindrical inner space.

5. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said arrangement of treatment stations is stationary and said arrangement of said multitude of substrate carriers is rotatable.

6. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said first target comprise or consists of one or more than one element out of the group Fe, Ni, Co and said second target comprises or consists of one or more than one element of the group Fe, Ni, Co.

7. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said first target consists of one or more than one element of the group Fe, Ni, Co and of at least one non-ferromagnetic element and/or said second target consists of one or more than one element out of the group Fe, Ni, Co and of at least one non-ferromagnetic element.

8. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said at least one non-ferromagnetic element is at least one element out of the groups IIIA, IVB and VB of the periodic system (according to groups 13,4,5 of IUAPC).

9. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said first target comprises or consists of one or more than one element of the group Fe, Ni, Co and said second target comprises or consists of one or more than one element of the group Fe, Ni, Co and further comprising at least one further sputter deposition station neighboring said first and/or said second sputter deposition station and having a target of at least one non-ferromagnetic element.

10. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said at least one non-ferromagnetic element is at least one element out of the groups IIIA, IVB and VB of the periodic system (according to groups 13,4,5 of IUAPC).

11. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said at least one non-ferromagnetic element is at least one out of the group B, Ta, Zr.

12. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said control unit is construed to control said rotational drive in a stepped manner.

13. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1, wherein said control unit is construed to control said rotational drive for continuous relative rotation at a constant angular velocity with respect to said axis for at least some of said more than one 360 revolutions directly succeeding one another.

14. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control unit is construed to control sputtering powers of at least said first and of said second sputter deposition stations in dependency of an exposure time each of said substrate carriers is exposed to said first and to said second sputter deposition stations, respectively, so as to sputter deposit by each of said first and second sputter deposition stations a layer of said first and of said second materials, respectively, of a respectively desired thickness d.sub.1,d.sub.2.

15. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 14 being controlled so that there is valid: 10 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)0.1 nm.

16. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 14 being controlled so that there is valid: 5 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)0.1 nm.

17. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 14 being controlled so that there is valid: 1 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)0.1 nm.

18. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 14 being controlled so that there is valid: 0.5 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)0.1 nm or 0.5 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)0.2 nm.

19. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 14 being controlled so that the thicknesses d.sub.1 and d.sub.2 are equal.

20. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 14 being controlled so that d.sub.1 and d.sub.2 are 1 nm.

21. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 14 being controlled so that at last one of d.sub.1 and d.sub.2 is <1 nm.

22. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 14 being controlled so that there is valid at least one of 0.1 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)3 nm 0.3 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)2 nm 0.5 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)1.5 nm.

23. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 14 being controlled so that said first and second layers reside directly one upon the other.

24. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 14 wherein said first sputtering station is constructed to deposit FeCoB and said second sputtering station is constructed to deposit CoTaZr.

25. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 14 being controlled so that said substrate carriers repeatedly pass said first and said second sputtering stations for a multitude of times.

26. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 1, said arrangement of treatment stations comprising at least one further layer deposition station, said control unit being construed to control said further layer deposition station so as to continuously deposit at least during said more than one 360 revolutions and said control unit being further construed to control the material deposition rate of said further layer deposition station, in dependency of an exposure time each of said substrate carriers is exposed to said further layer deposition station, so as to deposit by said further layer deposition station a layer of a desired thickness d.sub.3.

27. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 26 being controlled so as there is valid for said desired thicknesses d.sub.3, 10 nm(d.sub.3)0.1 nm.

28. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to claim 27 being controlled so that there is valid for d.sub.3 5 nmd.sub.32 nm.

29. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 comprising more than one of said first sputter deposition stations.

30. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 comprising more than one of said second sputter deposition stations.

31. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first and said second sputter deposition stations are a pair of mutually neighboring stations along said inner space.

32. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 31 comprising a multitude of said pairs, said first and said second sputter deposition stations being arranged alternatingly.

33. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 said first and said second sputter deposition stations being two stations of a group of more than two layer deposition stations, said layer deposition stations of said group being provided along said inner space one neighboring the other and the stations of said group being simultaneously deposition-activated by control of said control unit.

34. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 33 comprising more than one of said groups and/or different of said groups.

35. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 said arrangement of substrate treatment stations comprising at least one further sputter deposition station construed to sputter deposit a further material towards said substrate holders.

36. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 35, said further material being a non-magnetic metal or metal alloy or a dielectric material.

37. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 said control unit being construed to controllably enable and disable treatment of said substrates by selected ones or by all of the stations of said arrangement of treatment stations.

38. The soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 wherein said control unit is construed to control said rotational drive for continuous relative rotation at a constant angular velocity with respect to said axis for at least one of said more than one 360 relative revolutions directly succeeding one another and further to invert direction of relative rotation of said rotational drive.

39. The magnetic multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of said first and of said second sputter deposition chambers comprises a collimator downstream the respective target.

40. The magnetic multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 wherein one of said first and of said second targets is of Fe.sub.x1Co.sub.y1, the arrangement of treatment stations comprising a further sputtering station neighboring succeedingly said one sputtering station and having a target of Boron, said further sputtering station being controlled by said control unit to be deposition-enabled during the same time as said one sputtering station, and wherein there is valid x1+y1=100 and 20<y1<50.

41. The magnetic multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 wherein one of said first and of said second targets is of Co, the arrangement of treatment stations comprising at least two further sputtering stations, neighboring said one sputtering station and having targets of Ta and of Zr respectively, said further sputtering stations being controlled by said control unit to be deposition-enabled during the same time as said one sputtering station.

42. The magnetic multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of said first and of said second targets is of Fe.sub.x2Co.sub.y2B.sub.z2, wherein x2+y2+z2=100.

43. The magnetic multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 42, the arrangement of treatment stations comprising at least one further layer deposition station construed to deposit a dielectric material layer.

44. The magnetic multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 at least one of said first and second targets being of Ni.sub.x3Fe.sub.y3, wherein x3+y3=100 and there is valid 50<y3<60 or 17.5<y3<22.5.

45. The magnetic multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first target is of Fe.sub.x4Co.sub.y4, said second target is of Ni.sub.x5Fe.sub.y5 and there is valid x4+y4=100 and x5+y5=100 and 5<y4<20 and 17.5<y5<22.5 or 50<y5<60.

46. The magnetic multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first target is of Fe.sub.x6Co.sub.y6B.sub.z6 and said second target is of Co.sub.x7Ta.sub.y7Zr.sub.z7, wherein x6+y6+z6=100 and x7+y7+z7=100.

47. The magnetic multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 46 wherein there is valid: x6>y6.

48. The magnetic multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 46 wherein there is valid: y6z6.

49. The magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 46 wherein there is valid x7>y7.

50. The magnetic multilayer material deposition apparatus of claim 46, wherein there is valid: y7z7.

51. The magnetic multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 46 wherein there is valid at least one or more than one of: 45x660, 50x655, x6=52, 20y640, 25y630, y6=28, 10z630, 15z625, z6=20.

52. The magnetic multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 46 wherein there is valid at least one or more than one of: 85x795, 90x793, x7=91.5, 3y76, 4y75, y7=4.5, 2z76, 3z75, z7=4.

53. The magnetic multilayer deposition apparatus of claim 1 wherein said control unit is construed to control said relative rotation and/or power applied to at least said first and said second targets and possibly to further layer deposition stations of said arrangement of treatment stations so as to deposit by each of said first and second sputter deposition stations and possibly at least one further layer deposition station, per substrate exposure thereto, a layer of a respective thickness d for which there is valid at least one of: 0.1 nmd3 nm 0.3 nmd2 nm 0.5 nmd1.5 nm.

54. A method of manufacturing a substrate with an induction device comprising a core, said core comprising thin layers deposited by sputtering, wherein at least a part of said thin layers are deposited by means of an apparatus according to claim 1.

55. A method of manufacturing a substrate with a core for an induction device, said core comprising thin layers deposited by sputtering, wherein at least a part of said thin layers are deposited by means of an apparatus according to claim 1.

56. A soft-magnetic multilayer stack comprising first layers of a first soft-magnetic material, second layers of a second soft-magnetic material, said second soft-magnetic material being different from said first soft-magnetic material, said first layers having each a thickness d.sub.1, said second layers having each a thickness d.sub.2 and wherein there is valid 5 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)0.1 nm.

57. The soft-magnetic multilayer of claim 56 wherein there is valid 1 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)0.1 nm.

58. The soft-magnetic multilayer of claim 56 wherein there is valid at least one of 0.1 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)3 nm, 0.3 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)2 nm, 0.5 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)1.5 nm.

59. The soft-magnetic multilayer of claim 56 wherein there is valid: 0.5 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)0.1 nm or 0.5 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)0.2 nm.

60. The soft-magnetic multilayer of claim 56 wherein the thicknesses d.sub.1 and d.sub.2 are equal.

61. The soft-magnetic multilayer of claim 56 wherein d.sub.1 and d.sub.2 are 1 nm.

62. The soft-magnetic multilayer of claim 56 wherein at last one of d.sub.1 and of d.sub.2 is smaller than 1 nm.

63. The soft-magnetic multilayer of claim 56 wherein said first and second layers reside directly one upon the other.

64. The soft-magnetic multilayer of claim 56 said first layers being of FeCoB and said second layers being of CoTaZr.

65. The soft-magnetic multilayer of claim 56 wherein said first and second layers reside directly one upon the other, said stack comprising a multitude of said first and second layers, said multitude being covered by a layer of non-ferromagnetic material.

66. The soft-magnetic multilayer of claim 65 said non-ferro magnetic material being AlO.sub.2.

67. The soft-magnetic multilayer of claim 65 comprising more than one of said multitude, and a respective layer of non-ferromagnetic material.

68. A soft-magnetic multilayer comprising: A multitude of FeCoB layers, A multitude of CoTaZr layers, Said layers of FeCoB residing in an alternating manner directly on said layers of CoTaZr A common multitude of FeCoB layers of CoTaZr layers being covered by a layer of AlO.sub.2.

69. The soft magnetic multilayer of claim 68, wherein said layers of FeCoB have a thickness d.sub.1 and said layers of CoTaZr have a thickness d.sub.2, d.sub.1 and d.sub.2 being equal.

70. The soft-magnetic multilayer of claim 68 wherein there is valid at least one of: 0.1 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)3 nm, 0.3 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)2 nm, 0.5 nm(d.sub.1,d.sub.2)1.5 nm.

71. The soft magnetic multilayer of claim 68, wherein d.sub.1 and d.sub.2 are smaller than 1 nm, down to 0.2 nm.

72. A core for an induction device or an inductive device with a core, said core comprising at least one soft magnetic multilayer according to claim 56.

Description

[0155] In spite of the fact the invention becomes clear to the skilled artisan already from the above description, the invention shall now be additionally exemplified with the help of figures. The figures show:

[0156] FIG. 1: Schematically and simplified an embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention;

[0157] FIG. 2: Departing from the representation of the apparatus according to FIG. 1, the transport chamber and the arrangement of substrate treatment stations of a further embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention;

[0158] FIG. 3: A sequence of operating steps (a) to (e) as an example of operating the apparatus according to the invention, thereby performing an example of the methods according to the invention;

[0159] FIG. 4: Schematically and simplified different mechanical conceptions of the arrangement of a multitude of substrate carriers and of the arrangement of substrate treatment stations, according to further embodiments of the apparatus according to the invention.

[0160] FIG. 5: schematically an example of a further arrangement of treatment stations at an embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention.

[0161] FIG. 1 shows, most schematically and simplified, an embodiment of the soft magnetic material multilayer deposition apparatus according to the invention. The apparatus 1 comprises a vacuum transport chamber 3 which is pumped by a pumping arrangement 5. The vacuum transport chamber 3 has a cylindrical inner space 7, cylindrical about an axis AX. Coaxially with the inner space 7 of the vacuum transport chamber 3 and in the inner space 7, there is provided a rotatably mounted cylindrical transport carrousel 9. Along a plane E, which accords with the drawing plane of FIG. 1 and which is perpendicular to the axis AX, an arrangement 16 of a multitude of substrate carriers 11 is provided, evenly distributed along the periphery of the transport carrousel 9. Each of the substrate carriers 11 is constructed to accommodate and hold a substrate 13 in a position so that one of the extended surfaces 13.sub.o of each of the substrates 13 faces, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the cylindrical surface 7.sub.c of the cylindrical inner space 7.

[0162] Along the cylindrical surface 7.sub.c of the inner space 7, still according to the embodiment of FIG. 1, there is provided an arrangement 15 of substrate treatment stations. In FIG. 1 two of these substrate treatment stations are shown and addressed with the reference signs 17A and 17B. The substrate treatment stations of the addresses arrangement 15 face towards the trajectory path of the substrate carriers 11 so that, being treatment-enabled, they treat the surfaces 13.sub.o of the substrates 13.

[0163] A rotational drive 19 is operationally coupled to the transport carrousel 9 so as to rotate carrousel 9 about the axis AX. Thereby the arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11, loaded with the substrates 13, passes through the treatment areas of the respective treatment stations of the arrangement 15.

[0164] Thus, there is established a relative rotation of the arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11 with respect to the arrangement 15 of treatment stations.

[0165] The arrangement 15 of treatment stations comprises or even, in a minimum configuration, consists of a first sputter deposition station 17A and of a second sputter deposition station 17B. The first sputter deposition station 17A has a first sputtering target T.sub.A which consists of a first soft magnetic material to be deposited as a layer material on the substrates 13. This first target material is addressed in FIG. 1 by M.sub.A. The material M.sub.A may consist of one or more than one of the ferromagnetic elements Fe,Co,Ni or may comprise, beside of one or more than one of these elements, one or more than one of non-ferromagnetic elements. Such at least one non-ferromagnetic element may be one or more than one element out of the groups IIIA, IVB and VB of the periodic system (according to groups 13,4,5 of IUAPC), thereby especially out of the group B,Ta,Zr.

[0166] The second sputter deposition station 17B comprises a second target T.sub.B which consists of a second soft magnetic material M.sub.B which is to be deposited as a layer material on the substrates 13 and which is different from the soft magnetic material M.sub.A of target T.sub.A of the first sputtering station 17A. The material M.sub.B may consist of one or more than one of the ferromagnetic elements Fe,Co,Ni or may comprise, beside of one or more than one of these elements, one or more than one of non-ferromagnetic elements. Such at least one non-ferromagnetic element may be one or more than one element out of the groups IIIA, IVB and VB of the periodic system (according to groups 13,4,5 of IUAPC), thereby especially out of the group B,Ta,Zr.

[0167] Thus, at these two sputtering stations 17A and 17B non-reactive sputter deposition is performed and the material to be deposited on the substrates 13 is the solid material of the respective target T.sub.A, T.sub.B. Thereby, and if M.sub.A and/or M.sub.B are materials of more than one element, the stoichiometry and constancy of the stoichiometry over time of the material deposited on the extended surfaces 13.sub.o of the substrate 13 is accurately determined.

[0168] The sputtering stations 17A and 17B are electrically supplied by respective supply units 21A and 21B. Depending on the target material M.sub.A and M.sub.B the supply units 21A and 21B are DC, pulsed DC, including HIPIMS supply units or are Rf supply units for single or for multiple frequency electric supply. It is also possible (not shown) to electrically bias the substrate carriers 11 of the arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11, either equally for depositing both materials M.sub.A and M.sub.B or selectively. In the embodiment of FIG. 1 this necessitates respective electric connections from biasing sources via the transport carrousel 9 to the substrate carriers 11.

[0169] The apparatus 1 further comprises a control unit 23. The control unit 23 on one hand controls the rotational drive 19 and thus relative rotational movement of the transport carrousel 9 and, on the other hand, treatment enablement and disablement of the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B. Thereby, the control unit 23 is construed to maintain the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B deposition-enabled, with respect to sputter depositing target material towards the substrate carriers 11 and thus upon the substrates 13 during more than one directly succeeding 360 relative revolutions of the arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11 with respect to the arrangement 15 of treatment stations, about axis AX. The number of revolutions during which the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B are deposition-enabled, depends on the number of thin layers of the materials M.sub.A and M.sub.B to be deposited as a stack upon the extended surfaces 13.sub.o of the substrates 13. The addressed more than one 360 relative revolutions during which the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B are deposition-enabled, are directly succeeding one another.

[0170] E.g., to load and unload substrates 13 to the apparatus, according to the embodiment of FIG. 1 to the transport carrousel 9, as schematically shown in FIG. 1 e.g. via a two-directional load-lock arrangement 25, the control unit 23 does additionally control the arrangement 15 of treatment stations including the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B to selectively disable respective treatment of the substrates 13. This may be realized either by disabling the respective electric supply units, as of 21A and 21B, or by closing and respectively opening a respective shutter (not shown) thereby interrupting substrate treatment by the respective station. This, especially with an eye on the fact that all substrates 13 treated by the apparatus 1 should be equally treated between being loaded to and being unloaded from the apparatus.

[0171] Whereas it is absolutely possible to perform the relative rotational movement of the arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11, according to FIG. 1 on the transport carousel 9 about axis AX, and addressed in FIG. 1 by the arrow Q in incremental steps, in view of the object of depositing very thin layers especially of the materials M.sub.A and M.sub.B, in a good embodiment, the control unit controls the rotational drive 19 for a continuous relative rotation at a constant angular velocity with respect to axis AX at least during some of the addressed more than one 360 relative revolutions which directly succeed one another. By such continues constant speed relative rotation, according to FIG. 1 of the transport carrousel 9, further transitional states as may be caused by stop and go relative rotation are avoided. Avoiding any hardly controllable transitional states for sputter deposition of the very thin layers by the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B improves controllability of such deposition. This is also valid for layer deposition on the substrates by possibly provided further layer deposition stations of the arrangement 15 of substrate treatment stations.

[0172] In the case, according to a good embodiment, in which the transport carrousel 9 is controlled via the rotational drive 19 and control unit 23 to relatively rotate at a constant angular relative speed about axis AX at least during some of the more than one 360 uninterrupted relative revolutions, the thickness of each very thin layer deposited especially by the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B on the surfaces 13.sub.o of the substrate 13 becomes governed by the power with which the respective sputtering stations 17A and 17B are supplied by the supply units 21A and 21B, in fact by the respective deposition rate i.e. amount of material deposited per time unit. Thus, the control unit 23 is construed to control the power delivered by the supply units 21A and respectively 21B to the respective sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B, on one hand in dependency from the constant relative rotational speed of the arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11 with respect to the arrangement 15 of treatment stations and, on the other hand, in dependency from the desired very small layer thickness d.sub.1 for material M.sub.A and d.sub.2 for material M.sub.B.

[0173] If the arrangement 15 of treatment stations comprises further layer deposition stations which are deposition enabled during the same time as the first and second sputter deposition stations 17A,17B the same prevails: Deposition rate of such further stations is also controlled by the control unit 23 in dependency from the constant relative rotational speed as addressed and, on the other hand, in dependency from the desired very small layer thickness to be deposited by such further layer deposition station.

[0174] The thicknesses d including d.sub.1,d.sub.2 of the respective materials M.sub.A and M.sub.B and possibly of further materials, which are realized by the apparatus according to the invention and as exemplified in FIG. 1 were addressed above, controlled by control unit 23 for the constant relative rotational speed for multiple 360 revolutions and by respective control, by unit 23, of the supply units as of 21A and 21B of FIG. 1.

[0175] If the arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11, as on the transport carousel 9 of FIG. 1 is relatively rotated in incremental steps with respect to the arrangement 15 of treatment stations, the treatment stations of the arrangement 15 including the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B must be angularly spaced equally to the mutual angular space of the substrate carriers 11, to make sure that at each relative incremental rotation the substrate carriers 11 become well aligned with one of the treatment stations.

[0176] If the addressed relative rotation is driven by rotational drive 19 and controlled by control unit 23 for constant relative angular speed rotation, then the angular spacing of treatment stations of the arrangement 15 needs not be adapted to the mutual angular spacing of the substrate carriers 11 e.g. along the transport carrousel 9.

[0177] Especially in that case, in which the relative rotation is controlled by the control unit 23 and via rotational drive 19 to be continuous for two or more than two 360 succeeding relative revolutions, homogeneity of the resulting overall stack of very thin layers is improved by inverting the direction of relative revolution e.g. of the transport carrousel 9, as shown in FIG. 1 in dashed lines at . Such inverting may be controlled by the control unit 23 after a desired number of thin layer having been deposited by the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B.

[0178] According to FIG. 2 which shows, still simplified and most schematically, the vacuum transport chamber 3, more than one couple of the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B as of FIG. 1 are provided, represented by 17A.sub.1, 17A.sub.2, 17B.sub.1, 17B.sub.2 etc. whereby each sputter deposition station 17A.sub.x having the respective target of the material M.sub.A and, accordingly, each of the sputter deposition stations 17B.sub.x having a target of the material M.sub.B as was addressed also in context with FIG. 1. Nevertheless, more than one first and/or more than one second sputter deposition stations may have respective targets of different soft magnetic material E.g. a station 17.sub.A1 may have a target of soft magnetic material M.sub.A1, a station 17.sub.A2 a target of a different soft magnetic material M.sub.A2 etc., and in analogy multiple second sputtering stations 17.sub.B1, 17.sub.B2 etc.

[0179] As further shown in FIG. 2, in one embodiment of the apparatus, there is provided, as a part of arrangement 15 of treatment stations, a further layer deposition station 25. This deposition station may not be deposition-activated during the more than one 360 relative revolutions e.g. of the transport carrousel 9. By means of the control unit 23, not anymore shown in FIG. 2, the further layer deposition chamber 25 may only be deposition-activated, as by switching on the respective electrical supply and/or opening a shutter barring deposition upon substrates 13 (not shown in FIG. 2) at selected time spans, after completion of a predetermined number of the addressed continues 360 relative revolutions. By this deposition station 25, in a good embodiment, a thin layer of a dielectric material, as of aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, tantalum oxide, silicon nitride, aluminum nitride and the respective carbides or oxi-carbides or nitro-carbides etc. is deposited, e.g. as a final layer upon the yet finished stack of very thin layers of the materials M.sub.A and M.sub.B and/or as an intermediate dielectric layer after a first predetermined number of very thin layers of M.sub.A and M.sub.B having been deposited and before further depositing a further part of the stack of M.sub.A and M.sub.B.

[0180] Whereas in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 2 the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B are neighboring each-others, in one embodiment there is provided a further treatment station in between the respective sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B, especially at least one further layer deposition station, especially at least one further sputter deposition chamber. By such further at least one layer deposition station at least one non-ferromagnetic element as one or more than one element out of the groups IIIA, IVB and VB of the periodic system (according to groups 13,4,5 of IUAPC), especially Boron and/or Tantalum and/or Zirconium may be deposited. If such at least one intermediate station is provided, then it might be operated continuously like the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B or at selected intervals which means only after a predetermined number of very thin layers of the materials M.sub.A and M.sub.B having been deposited on the substrates 13.

[0181] FIG. 5 shows most schematically along the trajectory path of relative rotation of the arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11 (not shown in FIG. 5) with respect to the arrangement 15 of treatment stations an example of stations as arranged along the addressed trajectory path. The first sputter deposition station has a target consisting of at least one of the elements Fe,Ni,Co.

[0182] A neighboring succeeding further sputter deposition station 18a has a target of at least one of the element B,Ta,Zr.

[0183] The second sputter deposition station 17B has a target of Co. Neighboring succeed, further sputter deposition stations 18b and 18c are installed and have, respectively, targets of Ta and Zr.

[0184] All the stations 18a to 18c are, as an example, deposition enabled same time as the stations 17A and 17B.

[0185] To further improve magnetic characteristics of the very thin layers, collimators (not shown) may be provided between the respective targets T.sub.A and T.sub.B and the revolving substrate carriers 11. Such collimators may also be provided at further layer deposition stations of the arrangement 15 of treatment stations.

[0186] FIG. 3 shows and example of operation of the apparatus e.g. according to the embodiments of FIG. 1 or 2. Therefrom, it might be seen that the cylindrical inner space 7 of the vacuum transport chamber 3 is to be understood also as cylindrically in the sense of approximated by a polygon.

[0187] In cycle (a) according to FIG. 3 the layer deposition station 25 is deposition-enabled and all the substrates 13 on the transport carrousel 9 are coated with a buffer layer of aluminum oxide with a thickness of 4 nm. The transport carrousel 9 is clockwise continuously rotated at constant angular speed. Once the buffer layer of aluminum oxide has been deposited on the substrates 13, the deposition station 25, e.g. a Rf sputter deposition chamber operating on an aluminum oxide material target, is deposition-disabled. In the cycle (b) the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B are enabled for sputter deposition upon the buffer layer on the substrates 13, the transport carrousel 9 still revolving clockwise at constant angular speed. There are deposited, by 40 360 continuous revolutions, 40 couples of material M.sub.A and M.sub.B layers. The material M.sub.A is Fe.sub.x6Co.sub.y6B.sub.z6 and the material M.sub.B is Co.sub.x7Ta.sub.y7Zr.sub.z7 with values of the stoichiometry factors x6,y6,z6 and x7,y7,z7 as were indicated above.

[0188] Specifically, and in one example, the material M.sub.A was Fe.sub.52Co.sub.28B.sub.20 and the material M.sub.B was Co.sub.91.5Ta.sub.4.5Zr.sub.4. The sum of thicknesses d.sub.1 and d.sub.2 was about 2 nm.

[0189] There resulted a layer stack of the addressed M.sub.A and M.sub.B very thin layers with a total thickness of about 80 nm. After having deposited this layer stack of about 80 nm thickness, the deposition chamber 25, for aluminum oxide deposition, was deposition-enabled and a thin layer of about 4 nm thickness of aluminum oxide was deposited on the 80 nm layer stack according to cycle (c). Thereby the revolving direction of the transport carrousel 9 was inverted to anticlockwise. Subsequently and according to cycle (d) of FIG. 3, the deposition chamber 25 was again deposition-disabled and the sputter deposition stations 17A and 17B sputter deposition-enabled.

[0190] By subsequent 40 360 anticlockwise continuous revolutions of transport carrousel 9 there was again deposited a 80 nm stack of very thin layers of the material M.sub.A and M.sub.B.

[0191] Thereby it was found, that by reducing d.sub.1 as well as d.sub.2 of the layers deposited from the addressed M.sub.A and M.sub.B material targets, e.g. from 1 nmdown to 0.2 nm, the magnetic property H.sub.k of the stack was improved from 35 Oe to nearly 50 Oe maintaining coercivity extremely low, i.e. smaller than about 0.1 to 0.2 Oe, which is mandatory for soft magnetic multilayers as required by ultra-low loss RF passive devices.

[0192] According to cycle (e) and the possibly following further cycles, the cycles (a) to (c) may be repeated as often as desired.

[0193] It has to be noted that the stoichiometry parameters and x.sub.n,y.sub.n,z.sub.n may be varied within the ranges as were addressed above to further optimize the soft magnetic behavior of the resulting stack of very thin, soft magnetic material layers for very high frequency applications as of one or several GHZ.

[0194] The substrates which were coated in the example according to FIG. 3 were silicon substrates covered with a silicon oxide layer.

[0195] Whereas, according to the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 3, the substrate carriers 11 are arranged along the periphery of the transport carrousel 9 in a manner, that substrates supported therein have extended surfaces 13.sub.o with normals which radially point outwards with respect to rotational axis AX and towards the respectively positioned stations of the arrangement 15.

[0196] FIGS. 4(a) to (g) show most schematically various mechanical conceptions of the apparatus according to the invention in which a relative rotation of the arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11 with respect to the arrangement 16 of treatment stations is established.

[0197] In the embodiment of FIG. 4a the arrangement 15 of treatment stations is stationary. The arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11 with substrates 13 is rotatably and the surfaces to be treated of the substrates 13 face outwards with respect to axis AX, towards the stationary arrangement 15 of treatment stations.

[0198] In the embodiment of FIG. 4b the arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11 with the substrates 13 is stationary. The arrangement 15 of treatment stations is rotatable. The surfaces to be treated of the substrates 13 face inwardly with respect to axis AX, towards the rotatable arrangement 15 of treatment stations.

[0199] In the embodiment of FIG. 4c the arrangement 15 of treatment stations is rotatable. The arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11 with the substrates 13 is stationary and surfaces to be treated of the substrates 13 are directed outwards with respect to the axis AX and face the rotatable arrangement 15 of treatment stations.

[0200] In the embodiment of FIG. 4d the arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11 with substrates 13 is rotatable. The arrangement 15 of treatment stations is stationary. The surfaces of the substrates 13 to be treated are directed inwards with respect to axis AX and face the stationary arrangement 15 of treatment stations.

[0201] Please note that the stationary mount in the FIGS. 4a to 4d is schematically addressed by ST.

[0202] In the embodiment of FIG. 4e the inner space 7 of vacuum transport chamber 3 is not cylindrical as in the embodiments of FIG. 4a to 4d but is annular. The arrangement 15 of treatment stations is stationary or rotatable. The arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11 with the substrates 13 is, respectively, rotatable or stationary. The surfaces to be treated of the substrates 13 are directed outwards with respect to the axis AX a face the arrangement 15 of treatment stations.

[0203] In the embodiment of FIG. 4f the inner space 7 of the vacuum transport chamber 3 is not cylindrical as in the embodiments of FIG. 4a to 4d but is annular. The arrangement 15 of treatment stations is stationary or rotatable. The arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11 with the substrates 13 is respectively rotatable or stationary. The surfaces to be treated of the substrates 13 are directed inwards with respect to the axis AX and face the arrangement 15 of treatment stations.

[0204] In the embodiment of FIG. 4g the inner space 7 is cylindrical. The arrangement 15 of treatment stations is stationary or rotatable. The arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11 with the substrates 13 is, respectively, rotatable or stationary. The treatment directions of the stations of the arrangement 15 of treatment stations is parallel to the axis AX. The surface to be treated of the substrates 13 are directed parallel to the axis AX and face the arrangement 15 of treatment stations.

[0205] As now becomes apparent to the skilled artisan further mechanical combinations of realizing the arrangement 16 of the multitude of substrate carriers 11 for the substrates 13 and of the arrangement 15 of treatment stations are possible, without leaving the scope of the present invention.

[0206] All explanations which were given with respect to the embodiment of the FIGS. 1 to 3 and 5 nevertheless prevail also for the embodiments according to FIG. 4.