Copper-Manganese Sputtering Target Strengthening Against Warping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional copper manganese alloy sputtering targets face challenges with deflection and warping due to high sputtering power requirements, necessitating a higher strength material to maintain uniformity and film quality in semiconductor wafer fabrication.
Innovation Solution
A high-strength copper manganese alloy with a refined microstructure is developed, incorporating copper as the primary component and manganese as a minor component, processed using heat treatment and equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) to achieve enhanced strength and thermal stability, with secondary phases having a smaller mean diameter than conventional methods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If high sputtering power is used to improve throughput and film quality, then productivity and film quality are improved, but the target experiences increased deflection and warping due to thermal stress
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material composition parameters by increasing manganese content from conventional less than 1 wt% to 2-20 wt%, which fundamentally alters the target's mechanical properties including yield strength and hardness, enabling it to withstand high sputtering power without excessive deflection
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite alloy system combining copper and manganese in specific proportions, where the manganese phase acts as a strengthening phase within the copper matrix, providing both the desired sputtering performance and enhanced mechanical strength to resist thermal deformation
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional thermo-mechanical processing methods are used to manufacture the target, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but the secondary phases have larger mean diameter resulting in lower strength
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary heat treatment before final forming operations to control the microstructure development and secondary phase distribution in advance, ensuring fine-grained structure and uniform phase distribution that will maintain strength throughout subsequent processing and service
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes controlled phase transitions during heat treatment to transform the microstructure, specifically controlling the formation and distribution of secondary phases through temperature-time parameters to achieve the desired fine microstructure with smaller secondary phase mean diameter
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The resulting alloy exhibits increased hardness, yield strength, and refined microstructures, effectively addressing the deflection and warping issues in sputtering targets, enabling improved performance under high sputtering power conditions.
Implementation Method 1
processed using heat treatment and equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) to achieve enhanced strength and thermal stability
Implementation Method 2
processed using heat treatment and equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) to achieve enhanced strength and thermal stability
Implementation Method 3
In one PVD process, known as sputtering, atoms are ejected from the surface of a sputtering target by bombardment with gas ions, such as plasma
Data Source
AI summary
A method of forming a high strength copper alloy. The method comprises heating a copper material including from about 2 wt. % to about 20 wt. % manganese by weight of the copper material to a temperature above 400°C, allowing the copper material to cool to a temperature from about 325°C to about 350°C to form a cooled copper material, and extruding the cooled copper material with equal channel angular extrusion to form a cooled copper manganese alloy.