Victoria E Hall

US Patent:

58557440, Jan 5, 1999

Filed:

Jul 19, 1996

Appl. No.:

8/684446

Inventors:

Harlan I. Halsey - Woodside CA
Richard E. Demaray - Portola Valley CA
Russell Black - San Carlos CA
Akihiro Hosokawa - Cupertino CA
Allan De Salvo - Los Gatos CA
Victoria L. Hall - Menlo Park CA

Assignee:

Applied Komatsu Technology, Inc. - Tokyo

International Classification:

C23C 1435

US Classification:

20419212

Abstract:

The structure and method which improves the film thickness uniformity or thickness control when using magnetron sputtering by adjusting the distance between the magnetron or a portion of the magnetron and the sputtering target to provide an improvement in the film thickness uniformity. Shimmed rails, contoured rails, contoured surfaces, cam plates, and cam plate control followers are utilized to achieve an improvement in film thickness uniformity or thickness control due to anomalies in magnetic field as a magnetron assembly moves back and forth when sputtering substrates (utilized primarily for rectangularly shaped substrates).