US 11,718,908 B2
DC magnetron sputtering
Scott Haymore, Newport (GB); Amit Rastogi, Newport (GB); Rhonda Hyndman, Newport (GB); Steve Burgess, Newport (GB); and Ian Moncrieff, Wotton-Under-Edge (GB)
Assigned to SPTS TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED, Newport (GB)
Filed by SPTS TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED, Newport (GB)
Filed on Apr. 27, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/241,237.
Application 17/241,237 is a division of application No. 15/478,283, filed on Apr. 4, 2017, granted, now 11,008,651.
Claims priority of application No. 1606115 (GB), filed on Apr. 11, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2021/0246545 A1, Aug. 12, 2021
Int. Cl. C23C 14/50 (2006.01); C23C 14/34 (2006.01); C23C 14/35 (2006.01); C23C 14/54 (2006.01); C23C 14/06 (2006.01); H01J 37/34 (2006.01); H01J 37/32 (2006.01)
CPC C23C 14/505 (2013.01) [C23C 14/345 (2013.01); C23C 14/3407 (2013.01); C23C 14/3485 (2013.01); C23C 14/35 (2013.01); C23C 14/50 (2013.01); C23C 14/541 (2013.01); H01J 37/32715 (2013.01); H01J 37/3405 (2013.01); H01J 37/3411 (2013.01); H01J 37/3467 (2013.01); C23C 14/0617 (2013.01); C23C 14/0641 (2013.01); H01J 37/3426 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of depositing a film on a substrate comprising the steps of:
positioning the substrate on an uppermost surface of a substrate support in a chamber; and
depositing the film on the substrate using a DC magnetron sputtering process in which an electrical bias causes ions from a target to bombard the substrate thereby providing improved stress uniformity across the film, wherein the film is a metal nitride film, and wherein the substrate is rotated during the deposition of the film; and
in which the substrate support comprises a central region surrounded by an edge region, the edge region having an upwardly facing surface, the central region being raised with respect to the edge region, wherein the central region comprises a plateau above the edge region, the plateau defining the uppermost surface, and the substrate is positioned on the central region so that a portion of the substrate overlays the edge region and is spaced apart therefrom, wherein the substrate positioned on the substrate support has (a) a central portion that is disposed in contact with the plateau of the central region of the substrate support, and (b) an outermost peripheral portion that overlays and extends beyond the edge region of the substrate support, wherein the substrate is a planar substrate and contacts the substrate support across an entire width of the plateau, wherein there is no direct contact between the outermost peripheral portion of the substrate and the edge region of the substrate support such that the outermost peripheral portion of the substrate is completely spaced apart from the substrate support, wherein a dark space is formed above the upwardly facing surface proximate the central region between the upwardly facing surface and the outermost peripheral portion of the substrate, wherein the target has a target diameter greater than a diameter of the edge region, wherein the substrate support comprises a step having a height in the range of 0.1 to 1.0 mm leading from the edge region to the central region, and wherein a ratio of a diameter of the plateau of the central region to the diameter of the edge region is from 60/194 to 114/194.