CN111549325A

CN111549325A - Magnetron sputtering equipment

Info

Publication number: CN111549325A
Application number: CN202010533267.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 纪红; 史小平; 兰云峰; 秦海丰; 赵雷超; 张文强
Original assignee: Beijing Naura Microelectronics Equipment Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Naura Microelectronics Equipment Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-12
Filing date: 2020-06-12
Publication date: 2020-08-18
Anticipated expiration: 2040-06-12
Also published as: CN111549325B

Abstract

The invention provides magnetron sputtering equipment which comprises a process chamber, a target material arranged in the process chamber and a bearing table arranged opposite to the target material, wherein the bearing table comprises a base and a base plate arranged on the base, the base plate is used for bearing a workpiece to be processed, an air inlet structure is arranged in the base plate, and the air inlet structure is used for transmitting process gas from the base to the process chamber. In the magnetron sputtering equipment provided by the invention, the process gas is directly introduced to one side of the substrate through the gas inlet structure, so that the utilization rate of oxygen is improved, and the performance of the deposited film is further improved. Meanwhile, the release position of the process gas is far away from the target, so that the target poisoning rate is reduced, and the production efficiency is improved.

Description

Magnetron sputtering equipment

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of semiconductor equipment, in particular to magnetron sputtering equipment.

Background

The magnetron sputtering reaction is one of Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) reactions, and is generally performed in a vacuum chamber, a target is fixed on the top of the chamber, a magnet is installed on the back of the target, the ability of binding electrons is enhanced by a magnetic field, argon gas and other gases are introduced between a substrate and the target, a negative voltage is applied to the target, so that the gases are ionized to generate plasma, argon ions strike the target to generate atoms or ions and other particles of the target material, and the particles are sputtered and deposited on the substrate to finally form a required film layer.

The magnetron sputtering reaction can be used for depositing metal oxides (such as titanium oxide, tantalum oxide, silicon dioxide and the like) besides the metal thin film. When depositing metal oxide, the chamber is filled with a reactive gas (e.g., oxygen) in addition to the sputtering gas (argon).

However, when the existing magnetron sputtering reaction equipment is used for oxide deposition, the problems of poor film uniformity, easy target oxidation, frequent target cleaning and the like often occur.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a semiconductor device for magnetron sputtering reaction, which has good film uniformity and reduces target poisoning when being used for oxide deposition.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a magnetron sputtering apparatus, including a process chamber, a target material disposed in the process chamber, and a bearing table disposed opposite to the target material, where the bearing table includes a base and a base plate disposed on the base, the base plate is used to bear a workpiece to be processed, and a gas inlet structure is disposed in the base plate and used to transfer a process gas from the base to the process chamber.

Preferably, the air inlet structure comprises a buffer cavity formed inside the base plate, a plurality of air outlets arranged along the circumferential direction of the base plate and an air inlet arranged at the bottom of the buffer cavity, the buffer cavity is communicated with the process chamber through the air outlets, and the air inlet is communicated with the gas transmission channel of the base.

Preferably, a plurality of the air outlets are arranged on the circumferential side wall of the base plate, and the axial directions of the plurality of the air outlets are at an angle with the axial direction of the base plate.

Preferably, the angle is greater than zero and equal to or less than 90 degrees.

Preferably, the distance between the base plate and the target is 300-500 mm.

Preferably, the magnetron sputtering device further comprises a process gas source and a first gas inlet channel communicated with the process gas source, and a first on-off device is arranged between the first gas inlet channel and the gas transmission channel of the base; the process gas source includes an oxygen source and an argon source.

Preferably, the sputtering device further comprises a protective cover assembly, the protective cover assembly is arranged in the process chamber, the protective cover assembly and the top wall of the process chamber are sealed to form a sputtering area, the target and the base plate are located in the sputtering area, the protective cover assembly is provided with a bearing hole, and the base plate is matched with the bearing hole in shape.

Preferably, the plasma processing system further comprises a remote plasma device in on-off communication with the process chamber, the remote plasma device being configured to ionize a cleaning gas into a plasma and introduce the cleaning gas into the process chamber.

Preferably, the remote plasma device comprises a purge gas source, a remote plasma reaction chamber and a second opening and closing device arranged between the purge gas source and the remote plasma reaction chamber, wherein the purge gas source comprises a hydrogen gas source and an argon gas source, and the first opening and closing device and the second opening and closing device are logically interlocked, so that the first opening and closing device and the second opening and closing device can not be opened simultaneously.

Preferably, the magnetron sputtering apparatus further comprises an exhaust pump for exhausting gas in the process chamber.

In the magnetron sputtering equipment provided by the invention, the process gas (such as oxygen) is directly introduced to the position of the substrate through the gas inlet structure in the base plate, and higher proportion of oxygen reacts with sputtered target particles before being dispersed to the area of the target, so that the utilization rate of the oxygen is improved, and the performance of the deposited film is improved. Meanwhile, the release position of the process gas is far away from the target, so that the concentration of the process gas near the area where the target is located is reduced, the oxidation rate of the target is reduced, the target poisoning phenomenon is reduced, the time for cleaning the target is saved, and the production efficiency is improved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention and not to limit the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a magnetron sputtering apparatus provided in an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a susceptor in a magnetron sputtering apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the carrier of fig. 2 from another perspective.

Description of the reference numerals

101: target 102: process chamber

103: the base plate 104: substrate

105: the base 106: exhaust pump valve

107: exhaust pump 108: protective side wall

109: protective bottom wall 111: remote plasma device

112: fourth mass flow controller 113: third mass flow controller

114: third valve 115: fourth valve

116: fifth valve 117: first valve

118: second valve 119: first mass flow controller

120: second mass flow controller 121: air inlet pipe

122: the buffer chamber 123: air outlet

131: remote plasma reaction chamber 132: excitation power supply

133: cooling water outlet 134: cooling water inlet

Detailed Description

The following detailed description of embodiments of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the present invention, are given by way of illustration and explanation only, not limitation.

After a great deal of experimental research on the existing magnetron sputtering equipment, the inventor finds that in the process chamber of the existing magnetron sputtering equipment, the process gas (oxygen) for reacting with the target material to generate the metal oxide is generally introduced into the process chamber through a pipeline and a gap structure on the side wall of the chamber. Part of the oxygen directly reacts with the target material at the top of the chamber before reacting with the sputtered target material particles, so that the actual oxygen amount participating in the film forming process is not consistent with the introduced amount of the oxygen, and the thickness uniformity of the deposited film and other performances of the film such as the uniformity of resistivity are directly influenced. In addition, a large amount of oxygen directly reacts with the target material at the top of the chamber, which results in an increase in the oxidation rate of the target material and a severe target poisoning (i.e., the surface of the target material is oxidized to generate an oxide film) phenomenon, and the target material needs to be frequently cleaned in the production process to remove the oxide film, thereby affecting the production efficiency.

In order to solve the above technical problem, as an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a magnetron sputtering apparatus, as shown in fig. 1, the magnetron sputtering apparatus includes a process chamber 102 and a target 101 disposed in the process chamber 102, and further includes a bearing table disposed opposite to the target, the bearing table includes a base 105 and a base plate 103 disposed on the base 105, and the base plate 103 is used for bearing a workpiece (e.g., a substrate 104) to be processed. A gas inlet structure is provided in the susceptor 103 for delivering process gases from the susceptor 105 into the process chamber 102.

In the embodiment of the invention, the process gas (e.g., oxygen) is directly introduced into the region where the workpiece to be processed (e.g., the substrate 104) is located through the gas inlet structure in the base plate 103, and a higher proportion of oxygen reacts with sputtered target particles before being dispersed to the region where the target is located, so that the utilization rate of the oxygen is improved, and the performance of the deposited film is further improved. Meanwhile, the release position of the process gas is far away from the target 101, so that the concentration of the process gas near the target 101 is reduced, the oxidation rate of the target is reduced, the target poisoning phenomenon is reduced, the time for cleaning the target 101 is saved, and the production efficiency is improved.

It should be noted that the magnetron sputtering apparatus provided by the embodiment of the present invention is particularly suitable for an under-oxygen type metal oxide deposition process, in the under-oxygen type metal oxide deposition process, the oxygen gas introduction amount needs to be controlled according to the process requirement (generally, the introduction rate needs to be controlled to introduce only a few cubic centimeters of oxygen gas per minute), and the influence of the introduction amount and the distribution uniformity of the reaction gas (oxygen gas) on the film growth and the influence thereof are significant. Therefore, when the magnetron sputtering equipment provided by the embodiment of the invention is adopted to carry out the oxygen deficiency type metal oxide deposition process, the performance of the deposited film can be obviously improved.

In order to improve the uniformity of the concentration of the process gas around the substrate 104, it is preferable that the gas inlet structure of the present invention includes a buffer chamber 122 formed inside the substrate 103, and a plurality of gas outlets 123 arranged along the circumference of the substrate 103 and a gas inlet provided at the bottom of the buffer chamber 122, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the plurality of gas outlets 123 communicating the buffer chamber 122 with the process chamber 102, the gas inlet communicating with the gas delivery channel of the susceptor 105.

The gas transmission channel structure in the susceptor 105 according to the embodiment of the present invention is not particularly limited, and for example, in order to improve the gas tightness, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, a support cylinder is disposed at the bottom of the susceptor 105, and an air inlet pipe 121 is disposed inside the support cylinder. The gas transmission channel penetrates through the base 105 along the thickness direction of the base 105, one end of the gas inlet pipe 121 is communicated with the gas inlet structure inside the base plate 103 through the gas transmission channel, and the other end of the gas inlet pipe 121 is positioned outside the process chamber 102 and is used for being connected with a gas source of process gas

In the embodiment of the present invention, after the process gas enters the gas inlet structure of the base plate 103 through the gas transmission channel of the susceptor 105, the buffer cavity 122 is uniformly filled, and then the process gas is injected into the process chamber 102 through the plurality of gas outlets 123 under the driving of the same pressure inside the buffer cavity 122, so that the uniformity of the process gas concentration around the substrate 104 is improved, and the uniformity of the deposited film is further improved.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the shape of the substrate disk 103 is a disk shape, as shown in fig. 3, and it is further preferable that a plurality of gas outlets 123 are provided on the sidewall of the substrate disk 103, and the axial directions of the plurality of gas outlets 123 are at an angle to the axial direction of the substrate disk 103, in order to further improve the uniformity of the process gas concentration around the substrate. The angle between the axial direction of the plurality of air outlets 123 and the axial direction of the base plate 103 is not particularly limited in the embodiment of the present invention, and for example, the angle may be greater than zero and equal to or less than 90 degrees.

In the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 1, the magnetron sputtering apparatus further includes a process gas source and a first gas inlet channel communicated with the process gas source, a first on-off device is disposed between the first gas inlet channel and the gas transmission channel of the pedestal 105, and the process gas source includes an oxygen source and an argon source.

In order to precisely control the amount of the process gas introduced, it is preferable that a first mass flow controller 119 is provided between the gas delivery passage and the argon gas source, as shown in fig. 1, for controlling the flow rate and flow rate of the argon gas; a second mass flow controller 120 is disposed between the gas delivery channel and the oxygen source to control the flow rate of oxygen.

To improve the safety of the apparatus and to avoid safety accidents caused by gases introduced at different times being introduced into the process chamber at the same time (for example, explosion caused by introducing hydrogen and oxygen simultaneously), it is preferable that the first on-off device comprises a first valve 117 disposed between the gas transmission channel and the oxygen source, and a second valve 118 disposed between the gas transmission channel and the argon source.

The present invention is designed to have a distance between the bearing surface of the substrate 103 and the target 101, for example, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the distance between the bearing surface of the substrate 103 and the target 101 is 300-500 mm. In the related art, the distance between the susceptor and the top wall of the process chamber is usually 50-100mm, and in the embodiment of the invention, the distance between the substrate 103 and the target 101 is adjusted to 300-500mm, thereby further improving the utilization rate of the process gas and reducing the poisoning rate of the target 101.

To achieve the exhausting of the gas in the process chamber 102, it is preferable that the magnetron sputtering apparatus further includes an exhaust pump 107, as shown in fig. 1, the exhaust pump 107 being used to exhaust the gas in the process chamber 102. An exhaust pump 107 is disposed outside the process chamber 102, and an exhaust pump valve 106 is disposed on the exhaust pump 107 for controlling the exhaust pump 107 to be connected to or disconnected from the process chamber 102.

The present invention contemplates that the pressure in the process chamber 102 may vary, for example, between 1-6Torr in the process chamber 102, which may be more advantageous for magnetron sputtering processes.

In order to improve the accuracy of the oxygen content control in the process chamber, it is preferred that the magnetron sputtering apparatus further comprises a remote plasma device 111, as shown in fig. 1, the remote plasma device 111 being in on-off communication with the process chamber 102, the remote plasma device 111 being adapted to ionize the cleaning gas into a plasma and introduce the plasma into the process chamber 102.

In the embodiment of the present invention, after the magnetron sputtering process is finished, the remote plasma device 111 ionizes the cleaning gas and introduces the cleaning gas into the process chamber 102 to reduce the oxide thin film attached to the structures such as the protective cover assembly, so as to prevent oxygen released by heating in the next magnetron sputtering process of the oxides from entering the process chamber 102 and affecting the oxygen content in the process chamber 102.

The present invention is not particularly limited in the kind of the process gas and the purge gas, and for example, when the process gas includes oxygen, the purge gas may include hydrogen. After one round of oxide deposition process is finished and the substrate is taken out, ionized hydrogen is injected into the process chamber 102 by using the remote plasma device 111, so that reduction reaction is carried out between the ionized hydrogen and metal oxide attached to components in the chamber, the content of oxygen atoms in films attached to the components is reduced, and the accuracy of oxygen content control in the next round of magnetron sputtering process is improved.

The structure of the Remote Plasma device 111 is not particularly limited in the embodiment of the present invention, and the Remote Plasma device 111 may be a Remote Plasma System (RPS), for example. As one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 1, the remote plasma apparatus 111 includes a cleaning gas source including a hydrogen gas source and an argon gas source, a remote plasma reaction chamber 131, and a second shut-off device disposed therebetween.

In order to improve the safety of the magnetron sputtering device and avoid safety accidents caused by that gas which is set to be introduced at different times is introduced into a process chamber at the same time, the first on-off device and the second on-off device are preferably logically interlocked, so that the first on-off device and the second on-off device can not be opened at the same time.

In order to precisely control the amount of the cleaning gas, it is preferable that a third mass flow controller 113 is provided between the hydrogen source and the remote plasma reaction chamber 131, as shown in fig. 1, for controlling the flow rate and flow rate of hydrogen; a fourth mass flow controller 112 is disposed between the oxygen source and the remote plasma reaction chamber 131 for controlling the flow rate of oxygen.

The structure of the first on-off device is not particularly limited by the embodiments of the present invention, and for example, as shown in fig. 1, the first on-off device includes a third valve 114 disposed between the oxygen source and the remote plasma reaction chamber 131, and a fourth valve 115 disposed between the hydrogen source and the remote plasma reaction chamber 131.

To further improve the safety of the apparatus, a fifth valve 116 is preferably further disposed between the remote plasma reaction chamber 131 and the process chamber 102.

As shown in fig. 1, an excitation power supply 132 is provided in the remote plasma reaction chamber 131. The excitation power source 132 is connected to an AC power source AC, and can discharge and ionize a gas such as hydrogen or argon into plasma in the remote plasma reaction chamber 131.

In order to avoid the temperature of the remote plasma reaction chamber 131 from being too high, preferably, as shown in fig. 1, the remote plasma device 111 further includes a cooling pipeline disposed on the outer wall of the remote plasma reaction chamber 131, and the cooling pipeline has a cooling water inlet 134 and a cooling water outlet 133 at two ends, and cooling water flows into the cooling pipeline from the cooling water inlet 134 and is discharged from the cooling water outlet 133 after absorbing heat of the remote plasma reaction chamber 131, so as to cool the remote plasma reaction chamber 131.

It should be noted that, in the existing magnetron sputtering apparatus, a remote plasma system is generally used to inject reaction plasma into a process chamber during a process, and in order to improve the uniformity of plasma on a substrate surface, the structure of a reaction chamber of the remote plasma system is generally complex, and the manufacturing cost of the apparatus is relatively high. However, in the embodiment of the present invention, the plasma generated by the remote plasma device 111 is only used to reduce the oxide attached to each component in the process chamber between the semiconductor processes, so as to reduce the oxygen atom content in the thin film attached to these components, thereby improving the accuracy of oxygen content control in the next magnetron sputtering process. Therefore, the reaction chamber of the remote plasma system does not need to adopt a structure beneficial to improving the plasma uniformity of the cleaning gas, namely, the remote plasma system has a simpler structure.

To prolong the service life of the process chamber 102, it is preferable that the magnetron sputtering apparatus further comprises a protective cover assembly disposed in the process chamber 102 and sealing with the top wall of the process chamber 102 to form a sputtering region in which the target is located and the substrate 103 are located, as shown in fig. 1, the protective cover assembly having a bearing hole with which the substrate 103 is matched in shape.

In embodiments of the present invention, the shield assembly limits the magnetron sputtering process to the sputtering region, and the shield assembly is capable of blocking sputtered particles and reaction-generated oxide films during the process, preventing these materials from adhering to the chamber walls of the process chamber 102, thereby extending the service life of the process chamber 102.

To further improve the tightness of the sputtering region, preferably, as shown in fig. 1, a side of the susceptor 105 facing the top wall of the chamber further has a support plane, which can be attached to a side of the protective cover assembly facing the bottom wall of the process chamber 102 to prevent the process gas from diffusing from the bearing holes to the bottom of the process chamber 102, so as to further improve the tightness of the sputtering region and improve the utilization rate of the process gas.

The present invention is not limited to the structure of the protective cover assembly, and as an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 1, the protective cover assembly includes a protective sidewall 108 and a protective bottom wall 109, the protective sidewall 108 is disposed around the sputtering region, the protective bottom wall 109 is located between the chamber bottom wall of the process chamber 102 and the sputtering region, and a vent gap is provided between the protective sidewall 108 and the protective bottom wall 109, so that the sputtering region communicates with the outside of the chamber through a pipeline on the chamber wall.

In an embodiment of the invention, a gas such as a cleaning gas used to clean the chamber may enter or exit the sputtering zone along a curved path through the vent gap, while the protective side wall 108 and the protective bottom wall 109 may block particles generated at the target 101 from sputtering in a straight line onto the side walls of the process chamber 102.

In order to improve the blocking effect of the protective sidewall 108 and the protective bottom wall 109 on the particles generated at the target 101, preferably, as shown in fig. 1, an edge of the protective bottom wall 109 is bent toward the chamber bottom wall of the process chamber 102 to form a first bent portion, an end of the protective sidewall 108 facing the chamber bottom wall of the process chamber 102 is bent toward the inside of the sputtering region to form a second bent portion, the first bent portion surrounds the second bent portion, and the above-mentioned ventilation gap is formed between the first bent portion and the second bent portion.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the protective sidewall 108 and the protective bottom wall 109 improve the barrier effect on the sputtered particles while ensuring that the process gas normally passes through the ventilation gap through the cooperation of the bent portions.

As the second aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a substrate processing method which is realized by the magnetron sputtering apparatus having the remote plasma device 111 provided in the foregoing embodiment, the substrate processing method comprising:

and S1, introducing process gas into the process chamber 102 through the gas inlet structure in the base plate 103 and performing a magnetron sputtering process.

S2, an ionized cleaning gas is introduced into the process chamber 102 through the remote plasma device 111.

The substrate processing method provided by the embodiment of the invention can be carried out circularly, namely, after the substrate is placed and the magnetron sputtering process is carried out each time, the step S2 is carried out, and then the next group of substrates are placed and the magnetron sputtering process is carried out again.

In the substrate processing method provided by the embodiment of the invention, after one round of oxide deposition process is finished and the substrate is taken out, ionized hydrogen is injected into the process chamber 102 by using the remote plasma device 111, so that reduction reaction is carried out on the ionized hydrogen and metal oxides attached to components in the chamber, the content of oxygen atoms in films attached to the components is reduced, and the accuracy of oxygen content control in the next round of magnetron sputtering process is improved.

In order to improve the safety of the apparatus, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a third valve 114 is disposed between the oxygen source and the remote plasma reaction chamber 131, a fourth valve 115 is disposed between the hydrogen source and the remote plasma reaction chamber 131, and a fifth valve 116 is further disposed between the remote plasma reaction chamber 131 and the process chamber 102. Step S2 may specifically include:

s21, opening the third valve 114 and the fourth valve 115, and introducing cleaning gas and carrier gas into the remote plasma device 111;

s22, starting the remote plasma device 111;

s23, the fifth valve 116 is opened, and the ionized purge gas is introduced into the process chamber 102.

The duration of step S2 is not particularly limited, and may be set according to the test result of the substrate performance. For example, in depositing TaO_xIn the thin film process, if the chamber component is onThe deposited metal oxide is heated in the next deposition process to release oxygen, and TaO is deposited on the substrate in the next deposition process_xThe oxygen atom content in the film is inevitably increased, so that the resistivity of the film is increased, and the starting time of the remote plasma device 111 can be correspondingly increased; if it is detected that the resistivity of the film deposited on the substrate has not significantly increased, it can be determined that the remote plasma device 111 has been turned on for a sufficient period of time.

In order to improve the safety of the magnetron sputtering apparatus, preferably, the substrate processing method further includes, before or after step S2: s3, purging the process chamber 102. In the embodiment of the present invention, the process chamber 102 is purged with a purge gas (preferably, a sputtering gas, such as argon) between the step S1 of flowing the process gas and the step S2 of flowing the cleaning gas, so as to reduce the probability of accidents caused by the simultaneous existence of the process gas and the cleaning gas in the process chamber.

The process of step S3 is not particularly limited, and for example, step S3 may include the following steps:

s31, adjusting the first mass flow controller 119 to the maximum range, and introducing carrier gas into the process chamber 102;

s32, closing the first mass flow controller 119.

The present invention does not specifically limit how the carrier gas is discharged in step S3, and for example, the exhaust pump valve 106 may be opened to place the exhaust pump 107 in the maximum pumping speed position.

It will be understood that the above embodiments are merely exemplary embodiments taken to illustrate the principles of the present invention, which is not limited thereto. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the spirit and substance of the invention, and these modifications and improvements are also considered to be within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. The magnetron sputtering equipment is characterized by further comprising a bearing table which is arranged opposite to the target, wherein the bearing table comprises a base and a base plate arranged on the base, the base plate is used for bearing a workpiece to be processed, an air inlet structure is arranged in the base plate, and the air inlet structure is used for transmitting process gas from the base to the process chamber.

2. The magnetron sputtering apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gas inlet structure comprises a buffer chamber formed inside the base plate, a plurality of gas outlets arranged along the circumference of the base plate and a gas inlet arranged at the bottom of the buffer chamber, the gas outlets communicating the buffer chamber with the process chamber, and the gas inlet communicating with the gas transmission channel of the pedestal.

3. The magnetron sputtering apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of the gas outlets are provided on a circumferential side wall of the base plate, and an axial direction of the plurality of the gas outlets is angled to an axial direction of the base plate.

4. The magnetron sputtering apparatus of claim 3 wherein the angle is greater than zero and equal to or less than 90 degrees.

5. The magnetron sputtering apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the distance between the substrate and the target is 300-500 mm.

6. The magnetron sputtering apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a process gas source and a first gas inlet channel communicated with the process gas source, wherein a first on-off device is arranged between the first gas inlet channel and the gas transmission channel of the pedestal; the process gas source includes an oxygen source and an argon source.

7. The magnetron sputtering apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a protective shield assembly disposed in the process chamber and sealed from a top wall of the process chamber to form a sputtering region in which both the target and the substrate are located, the protective shield assembly having a bearing hole with which the substrate is shaped to match.

8. The magnetron sputtering apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 7 further comprising a remote plasma device in on-off communication with the process chamber, the remote plasma device being configured to ionize a cleaning gas into a plasma and introduce the cleaning gas into the process chamber.

9. The magnetron sputtering apparatus of claim 8 wherein the remote plasma device comprises a purge gas source comprising a hydrogen gas source and an argon gas source, a remote plasma reaction chamber, and a second opening and closing device disposed therebetween, the first opening and closing device being logically interlocked with the second opening and closing device such that the first opening and closing device and the second opening and closing device are not simultaneously openable.

10. The magnetron sputtering apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an exhaust pump for exhausting gas in the process chamber.