Multizone magnetron assembly

Abstract

The present invention generally provides an apparatus and method for processing a surface of a substrate in physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber that has a magnetron assembly that has separately positionable magnetron sections to improve the deposition uniformity. In general, aspects of the present invention can be used for flat panel display processing, semiconductor processing, solar cell processing, or any other substrate processing. In one aspect, the processing chamber contains one or more magnetron sections and magnetron actuators that are used to increase and more evenly distribute the magnetic field strength throughout the processing region of the processing chamber during processing.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 714,979, filed Sep. 7, 2005, which is herein incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to substrate plasma processing apparatuses and methods that are adapted to deposit a film on a surface of a substrate. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] Physical vapor deposition (PVD) using a magnetron is one of the principal methods of depositing metal onto a semiconductor integrated circuit to form electrical connections and other structures in an integrated circuit device. During a PVD process a target is electrically biased so that ions generated in a process region can bombard the target surface with sufficient energy to dislodged atoms from the target. The process of biasing a target to cause the generation of a plasma that causes ions to bombar...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013] Embodiments of the invention may further provide a method of depositing a layer on a surface of a substrate, comprising providing a target that has a surface that contacts a processing region, providing a magnetron section that is magnetically coupled to the processing region through the target, depositing a conductive layer on a surface of a substrate that is positioned in the processing region, and adjusting the position the magnetron section in a direction generally perpendicular to the surface of the target to improve the deposition uniformity across the surface of the substrate.

[0014] Embodiments of the invention may further provide a method of depositing a layer on a surface of a substrate, comprising providing a target that has a surface that contacts a processing region, providing a magnetron section that is magnetically coupled to the processing region through the target, moving the magnetron section in a direction that is generally parallel to the surface of the target by use of an actuator, depositing a conductive layer on a surface of a substrate that is positioned in the processing region, and adjusting the position of the magnetron section in a direction generally perpendicular to the surface of the target while the magnetron is moving in a direction that is generally parallel to the surface of the target to improve the deposition uniformity across the surface of the substrate.

Problems solved by technology

However, conventional sputtering presents challenges in the formation of advanced integrated circuits on large area substrates, such a flat panel display substrates.

One issue that arises is that it is generally not feasible to create a chamber big enough to maintain the surface area ratio of the cathode (target) to anode surface area commonly used in conventional sputter processing chambers.

Trying to maintain the surface area ratio can lead to manufacturing difficulties due to the large size of the parts required to achieve the desired area ratio and processing problems related to the need to pump down such a large volume to a desired base pressure prior to processing.

The insufficient anode area problem will thus manifest itself as a film thickness non-uniformity that is smaller near the center of the substrate relative to the edge.

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