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  Multizone magnetron assemblyUSPTO Application #: 20070051616Title: 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. (end of abstract) Agent: Patterson & Sheridan, LLP - Houston, TX, US Inventors: Hienminh H. Le, Akihiro Hosokawa USPTO Applicaton #: 20070051616 - Class: 204192100 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Chemistry: Electrical And Wave Energy, Non-distilling Bottoms Treatment, Coating, Forming Or Etching By Sputtering The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070051616. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
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 bombard and remove atoms from the target surface is commonly called sputtering. The sputtered atoms travel generally toward the wafer being sputter coated, and the sputtered atoms are deposited on the wafer. Alternatively, the atoms react with a gas in the plasma, for example, nitrogen, to reactively deposit a compound on the wafer. Reactive sputtering is often used to form thin barrier and nucleation layers of titanium nitride or tantalum nitride on the substrate. [0006] Direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering is the most usually practiced commercial form of sputtering. The metallic target is biased to a negative DC bias in the range of about -100 to -600 VDC to attract positive ions of the working gas (e.g., argon) toward the target to sputter the metal atoms. Usually, the sides of the sputter chamber are covered with a shield to protect the chamber walls from sputter deposition. The shield is typically electrically grounded and thus provides an anode in opposition to the target cathode to capacitively couple the DC target power to the plasma generated in the sputter chamber. [0007] A magnetron having at least a pair of opposed magnetic poles is typically disposed near the back of the target to generate a magnetic field close to and parallel to the front face of the target. The induced magnetic field from the pair of opposing magnets trap electrons and extend the electron lifetime before they are lost to an anodic surface or recombine with gas atoms in the plasma. Due to the extended lifetime, and the need to maintain charge neutrality in the plasma, additional argon ions are attracted into the region adjacent to the magnetron to form there a high-density plasma. Thereby, the sputtering rate is increased. [0008] However, conventional sputtering presents challenges in the formation of advanced integrated circuits on large area substrates, such a flat panel display substrates. Typically, for TFT applications, the substrate is a glass substrate with a surface area greater than about 2000 cm.sup.2. Commonly, TFT processing equipment is generally configured to accommodate substrates up to about 1.5.times.1.8 meters. However, processing equipment configured to accommodate substrate sizes up to and exceeding 2.16.times.2.46 meters, is envisioned in the immediate future. 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 reduced surface area of the anode relative to the large target surface area generally causes the density of the plasma generated in the processing region, which is generally defined as the region below the target and above the substrate, to vary significantly from the center of the target to the edge of the target. Since the anodic surfaces are commonly distributed around the periphery of the target, it is believed that the larger distance from the center of the target to the anodic surfaces, makes the emission of electrons from the target surface at the edge of the target more favorable, and thus reduces the plasma density near the center of the target. The reduction in plasma density in various regions across the target face will reduce the number of ions striking the surface of the target in that localized area and thus varying the uniformity of the deposited film across the surface of a substrate that is positioned a distance from the target face. 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. [0009] Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus that can improve the uniformity of the PVD deposited film. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0010] The present invention generally provides a plasma processing chamber assembly for depositing a layer on a substrate comprising a plasma processing chamber having a processing region, a target positioned on the plasma processing chamber so that a surface of the target is in contact with the processing region, a magnetron assembly positioned near the target, wherein the magnetron assembly comprises a magnetron section that has one or more magnets that are magnetically coupled to the processing region, and an actuator that is adapted to position the magnetron section in a direction generally perpendicular to the surface of the target, and a substrate support positioned inside the plasma processing region, wherein the substrate support is adapted to support a substrate on a substrate supporting surface. [0011] Embodiments of the invention may further provide a plasma processing chamber assembly for depositing a layer on a substrate comprising a plasma processing chamber having a processing region, a target positioned on the plasma processing chamber so that a surface of the target is in contact with the processing region, a magnetron assembly positioned near the target, wherein the magnetron assembly comprises a first magnetron section that has one or more magnets that are magnetically coupled to the processing region, a second magnetron section that has one or more magnets that are magnetically coupled to the processing region, a first actuator that is adapted to position the first magnetron section in a direction generally perpendicular to the surface of the target, and a second actuator that is adapted to position the first magnetron section in a direction generally parallel to the surface of the target, and a substrate support positioned inside the plasma processing region, wherein the substrate support is adapted to support a substrate on a substrate supporting surface. [0012] Embodiments of the invention may further provide a plasma processing chamber assembly for depositing a layer on a substrate comprising a plasma processing chamber having a processing region, a target positioned on the plasma processing chamber so that a surface of the target is in contact with the processing region, a magnetron assembly positioned near to the target, wherein the magnetron assembly comprises a first magnetron section that has one or more magnets that are magnetically coupled to the processing region, a second magnetron section that has one or more magnets that are magnetically coupled to the processing region, wherein the first magnetron section is nested within the second magnetron section, a first actuator that is adapted to position the first magnetron section in a direction generally perpendicular to the surface of the target, and a second actuator that is adapted to position the first magnetron section and the second magnetron section in a direction generally parallel to the surface of the target, and a substrate support positioned inside the plasma processing region, wherein the substrate support is adapted to support a substrate on a substrate supporting surface. [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. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0015] So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments. [0016] FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of conventional physical vapor deposition chamber. [0017] FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of an exemplary physical vapor deposition chamber. [0018] FIG. 2B is a vertical cross-sectional view of a processing region formed in an exemplary physical vapor deposition chamber. [0019] FIG. 3A schematically illustrates a plurality of magnetron sections positioned near a target in an exemplary physical vapor deposition chamber. [0020] FIG. 3B illustrates a plot of magnetic field strength versus the distance along a path that extends across and through the center of a target that may be used in an exemplary physical vapor deposition chamber. Continue reading... Full patent description for Multizone magnetron assembly Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Multizone magnetron assembly patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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