US Patent No: 5,126,028

Number of patents in Portfolio can not be more than 2000

Sputter coating process control method and apparatus

Stats

ATTORNEY / AGENT: (SPONSORED)
 

Importance

Loading Importance Indicators... loading....

Abstract

A sputter coating apparatus displays set and alternative machine parameters, entered or calculated from entered or measured data, for selection by the operator. The apparatus performs a sputter coating process to produce sputter coated articles in accordance with the selected machine parameters. Process parameters familiar to the person creating the process, such as desired coating thickness and desired deposition rate, may be entered by the operator. Measured data such as actual coating thickness at a plurality of points on a previously processed wafer may be entered by an operator or automatically measured from a wafer. Alternative machine parameters such as target sputtering power may be entered by an operator or calculated from entered process parameters or measured data. The operator selects and initiates a process in accordance with the selections by entering commands. The machine parameters control separately the sputtering from different regions of the sputtering surface of a one piece sputtering target by alternately energizing different plasmas over the different target regions and energizing the target in accordance with different machine parameters.

Loading the Abstract Image... loading....

First Claim

Related Publications

Loading Related Publications... loading....

Patent Owner(s)

Patent OwnerAddressTotal Patents
TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITEDTOKYO5116

International Classification(s)

  • [Classification Symbol]
  • [Patents Count]

Inventor(s)

Inventor Name Address # of filed Patents Total Citations
Edwards, Richard C Wesley Hills, NY 15 493
Hieronymi, Robert Rock Tavern, NY 6 190
Hurwitt, Steven D Park Ridge, NJ 19 597
Messina, Donald A Valley Cottage, NY 1 52
Van, Nutt Charles Monroe, NY 4 171
Wagner, Israel Monsey, NY 19 288

Cited Art

Patent Info (Count) # Cites Year
 
HITACHI, LTD. (5)
4,401,539 Sputtering cathode structure for sputtering apparatuses, method of controlling magnetic flux generated by said sputtering cathode structure, and method of forming films by use of said sputtering cathode structure 53 1982
4,444,635 Film forming method 35 1982
4,795,529 Plasma treating method and apparatus therefor 112 1987
4,902,394 Sputtering method and apparatus 20 1988
4,963,239 Sputtering process and an apparatus for carrying out the same 69 1989
 
NOVELLUS SYSTEMS, INC. (3)
4,500,408 Apparatus for and method of controlling sputter coating 49 1983
4,500,409 Magnetron sputter coating source for both magnetic and non magnetic target materials 39 1983
4,761,218 Sputter coating source having plural target rings 18 1986
 
AXCELIS TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (1)
4,842,703 Magnetron cathode and method for sputter coating 49 1988
 
BALZERS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT (1)
4,622,121 Apparatus for coating materials by cathode sputtering 64 1985
 
BALZERS UND LEYBOLD DEUTSCHLAND HOLDING AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT (1)
4,810,346 Magnetron type sputtering cathode 30 1987
 
LEYBOLD AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT (1)
4,734,183 Sputtering cathode on the magnetron principle 13 1986
 
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED (1)
4,967,337 Automated diagnostic system 51 1988
 
TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED (1)
4,957,605 Method and apparatus for sputter coating stepped wafers 72 1989
 
TOKYO ROAD ENGINEERING CO., LTD. (1)
4,569,482 Cleaning apparatus and method utilizing pressurized water 6 1983
 
VARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT ASSOCIATES, INC. (1)
4,595,482 Apparatus for and the method of controlling magnetron sputter device having separate confining magnetic fields to separate targets subject to separate discharges 36 1984
 
WISCONSIN ALUMNI RESEARCH FOUNDATION (1)
4,865,710 Magnetron with flux switching cathode and method of operation 13 1988

Patent Citation Ranking

Forward Cites

Patent Info (Count) # Cites Year
 
APPLIED MATERIALS, INC. (13)
6,190,513 Darkspace shield for improved RF transmission in inductively coupled plasma sources for sputter deposition 29 1997
6,051,114 Use of pulsed-DC wafer bias for filling vias/trenches with metal in HDP physical vapor deposition 83 1997
5,976,327 Step coverage and overhang improvement by pedestal bias voltage modulation 87 1997
6,197,167 Step coverage and overhang improvement by pedestal bias voltage modulation 44 1999
6,344,419 Pulsed-mode RF bias for sidewall coverage improvement 53 1999
6,554,979 Method and apparatus for bias deposition in a modulating electric field 18 2001
6,950,716 Dynamic control of wafer processing paths in semiconductor manufacturing processes 20 2001
6,559,061 Method and apparatus for forming improved metal interconnects 30 2001
6,746,591 ECP gap fill by modulating the voltate on the seed layer to increase copper concentration inside feature 2 2001
6,673,724 Pulsed-mode RF bias for side-wall coverage improvement 10 2001
6,709,987 Method and apparatus for forming improved metal interconnects 24 2002
7,041,200 Reducing particle generation during sputter deposition 7 2002
6,992,012 Method and apparatus for forming improved metal interconnects 15 2004
 
NOVELLUS SYSTEMS, INC. (12)
5,478,455 Method for controlling a collimated sputtering source 21 1993
5,985,115 Internally cooled target assembly for magnetron sputtering 18 1997
6,217,716 Apparatus and method for improving target erosion in hollow cathode magnetron sputter source 47 1998
7,781,327 Resputtering process for eliminating dielectric damage 5 2006
7,922,880 Method and apparatus for increasing local plasma density in magnetically confined plasma 5 2007
7,897,516 Use of ultra-high magnetic fields in resputter and plasma etching 4 2007
7,855,147 Methods and apparatus for engineering an interface between a diffusion barrier layer and a seed layer 4 2007
7,842,605 Atomic layer profiling of diffusion barrier and metal seed layers 4 2007
8,043,484 Methods and apparatus for resputtering process that improves barrier coverage 2 2007
8,017,523 Deposition of doped copper seed layers having improved reliability 3 2008
8,298,933 Conformal films on semiconductor substrates 0 2009
8,298,936 Multistep method of depositing metal seed layers 0 2010
 
MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC. (3)
6,516,742 Apparatus for improved low pressure inductively coupled high density plasma reactor 7 1998
6,475,814 Method for improved low pressure inductively coupled high density plasma reactor 2 2000
6,939,813 Apparatus for improved low pressure inductively coupled high density plasma reactor 2 2002
 
TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED (3)
5,284,561 Method and apparatus for sputter coating employing machine readable indicia carried by target assembly 11 1991
5,455,197 Control of the crystal orientation dependent properties of a film deposited on a semiconductor wafer 26 1993
5,449,445 Sputtering target with machine readable indicia 8 1993
 
ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC. (2)
7,200,459 Method for determining optimal photolithography overlay targets based on process performance and yield in microelectronic fabrication 3 2000
8,163,571 Multi-step deposition control 0 2008
 
COGISCAN INC. (2)
7,069,100 Automated manufacturing control system 42 2001
7,286,888 Automated manufacturing control system 20 2006
 
GLOBALFOUNDRIES INC. (2)
6,684,122 Control mechanism for matching process parameters in a multi-chamber process tool 9 2000
6,376,261 Method for varying nitride strip makeup process based on field oxide loss and defect count 10 2000
 
LIFE TECHNOLOGIES AS (2)
8,110,351 Method for isolating nucleic acids and protein from a single sample 0 2003
7,989,614 Isolation of nucleic acid 0 2008
 
SONY ELECTRONICS INC. (2)
5,665,214 Automatic film deposition control method and system 53 1995
5,955,139 Automatic film deposition control 12 1997
 
4WAVE, INC. (1)
6,419,802 System and method for controlling deposition thickness by synchronously varying a sputtering rate of a target with respect to a position of a rotating substrate 5 2001
 
ANELVA CORPORATION (1)
5,439,574 Method for successive formation of thin films 24 1994
 
ATLAS SOUND, L.P. (1)
5,976,334 Reliable sustained self-sputtering 13 1997
 
COATING INDUSTRIES INVESTMENT CORP. (1)
6,106,676 Method and apparatus for reactive sputtering employing two control loops 8 1998
 
FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V. (1)
6,752,911 Device and method for coating objects at a high temperature 3 2002
 
FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR, INC. (1)
5,375,229 System and method for adding a control function to a semiconductor equipment system 4 1992
 
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA (1)
6,217,720 Multi-layer reactive sputtering method with reduced stabilization time 7 1997
 
OC OERLIKON BALZERS AG (1)
7,706,908 Method for positioning a wafer 0 2006
 
SPUTTERED FILMS, INC. (1)
5,766,426 Apparatus for, and method of, depositing a film on a substrate 2 1995
 
STMICROELECTRONICS N.V. (1)
6,746,577 Method and apparatus for thickness control and reproducibility of dielectric film deposition 1 1999
 
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE (1)
5,989,397 Gradient multilayer film generation process control 37 1997