JPH11200027A - Sputtering cathode - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To satisfactorily execute the transfer of heat between a target and a cooling plate and to effectively cool the target by composing a thin piece of an elastic base material like rubber embedded with metallic particles. SOLUTION: A thin piece 16 is arranged between each target segment 11, 12 and 13 and a cooling plate 4. The thin piece 16 is composed of a base material made of silicone, and electrically conductive metallic particles are embedded therein. This metallic particles are, e.g. composed of silver or nickel, or of a material coated with a good electrical conductivity material such as silver. The thickness of the thin piece 16 is preferably regulated to 0.1 to 3 mm. Furthermore, the thin piece 16 is formed as a flat seal member forming a frame, and it is advantageous in the case a chamber in the frame-shaped thin piece between the cooling plate 4 and the target 5 is provided with a static gas cushion. When the thin piece 16 is formed as an electric heater, the target 5 is easily heatable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sputtering cathode provided with an electrode, provided with a cooling plate, on which at least one metallic target to be sputtered is fixed via a thin piece. Regarding what is in the form.

[0002]

2. Description of the Prior Art Sputter cathodes of this type are in practice conventional in coating equipment and are therefore known. Since a high vacuum is formed in such a device,
Heat transfer from the target to the cooling plate is difficult.
This is because the thermal contact surface is always small based on the roughness and unevenness of the target and / or the cooling plate.
Since good electrical connections must exist between the target and the cooling plate, metal foils, especially made of indium, have conventionally been used to improve heat transfer. However, the improvement in heat transfer achievable thereby is not satisfactory for many applications.

[0003]

It is an object of the present invention to improve a sputter cathode of the type mentioned at the outset in order to achieve as good a heat transfer as possible between the target and the cooling plate and to cool the target as efficiently as possible. It is to provide a sputter cathode as follows.

[0004]

In order to solve this problem, according to the present invention, the flake is made of a rubber elastic base material in which metal particles are embedded.

[0005]

Such a flake can compensate for the irregularities and roughness of the cooling plate and / or the target, based on its rubber-elastic properties, so that the largest possible contact surface is obtained and therefore the heat transfer Is also good. Since the flakes have a good electrical conductivity based on the embedded metal particles, the flakes do not adversely affect the function of the sputtering apparatus, but, on the contrary, cause a difference between the target and the cooling plate. Is further improved compared to a sputter device having no flakes. Furthermore, the metal particles contribute to an increase in the thermal conductivity of the flake. Therefore, this slice does not form an insulating layer in terms of thermotechnology.

[0006] The sputter apparatus can operate at relatively high target temperatures without damaging the substrate when the substrate is silicone.

According to another feature of the invention, the flakes have a particularly good electrical and thermal conductivity when the metal particles are made of nickel or silver.

If the metal particles are formed from a core material and a good conductive coating, these metal particles are particularly inexpensive. This allows the use of inexpensive non-conductive materials or materials with low conductivity as core material. This is because the electrical energy in the metal particles flows in any case advantageously in the outer region.

[0009] It is particularly advantageous if the flakes are manufactured to have a thickness of 0.1 to 3 mm.

It is also advantageous if the slice is formed as a flat sealing member forming a frame, and a static gas cushion is provided in a chamber within the frame-like slice between the cooling plate and the target. It is. This makes it possible to combine the well-known principle of the improvement of the heat transfer by the gas cushion with the principle of heat transfer through the lamellas.

According to a further aspect of the invention, the target can be easily heated if the slice is formed as an electric heater.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a partial area of the wall 1 separating the coating chamber 2 from the atmosphere. This wall 1
Holds a sputtering cathode 3, which mainly comprises a pot-shaped electrode 15 having a cooling plate 4, a target 5, and a magnet set 6. The magnet set 6 is movable within the pot-shaped electrode 15 as evident by the double arrow 7. This movement helps to create a homogeneous layer on a stationary substrate (not shown) facing the target 5.

The sputtering cathode 3 is provided on the wall 1 by an insulator 8.
The sputter cathode 3 may be connected to a negative potential and the wall 1 may be connected to ground because it is electrically isolated from the ground. The sealing members 9 and 10 prevent air from flowing into the coating chamber 2 in the region of the sputter cathode 3. Target 5 includes a plurality of target segments 1
These target segments are arranged in a tile shape on the electrode 15 and are detachably coupled to the electrode 15.

What is important for the present invention is that FIG.
It is a thin section 16 shown enlarged in comparison with FIG. This slice 16
Are the target segments 11, 12, 13 respectively.
And the cooling plate 4. Separate slices 16 for each target segment 11, 12, 13
Instead of using all target segments 1
It is also possible to provide one large-area slice common to 1, 12, and 13. The lamella 16 is made of a base material 17 made of silicone, in which conductive metal particles 18 are embedded. The metal particles 18 are, for example, made entirely of silver or nickel, or of a highly conductive material, ie another material, for example, which is also coated with silver.

FIG. 2 illustrates the target segment 11 fixed to the back plate 14. This fixation is performed inseparable by bonding. What is important in this case is to select a material for the back plate 14 whose expansion coefficient is as close as possible to that of the target material.

The back plate 14 is fixed by screws 22. To this end, a screw 22 having a radial play penetrates the hole 23 of the electrode 15 and is screwed by means of a screw head 24 through an elastic sealing member 25.
Is in contact with the base of the hole expansion portion 26 of FIG. A threaded hole 27 is provided in the back plate 14, and the screw 22 is screwed into the threaded hole 27.
Screws 22 can hold backplate 14 against electrode 15. However, based on the play in the hole 23,
The back plate 14 can be slightly slid along the electrode 15 so that different thermal expansions can be compensated. The slice 16 shown in FIG.
Is also apparent in FIG.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a wall area of a coating chamber with a sputter cathode according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a fixed region of a target as compared with FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a partial area of a slice important to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 wall, 2 coating room, 3 sputter cathode,
4 cooling plate, 5 target, 6 magnet set, 7 double arrow, 8 insulator, 9,10 sealing member, 11, 12, 13 target segment, 14 back plate, 15 electrode, 16
Flake, 17 base material, 18 metal particles, 22 screw, 23 hole, 24 screw head, 25 seal member, 26 hole expansion part, 27 screw hole

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A sputter cathode provided with electrodes, wherein a cooling plate is provided, on which at least one metallic target to be sputtered is fixed via flakes. 5. The sputter cathode according to claim 1, wherein said flakes (16) are made of a rubber-elastic substrate (17) in which metal particles (18) are embedded. 2. The sputter cathode according to claim 1, wherein the substrate (17) is silicone. 3. The sputter cathode according to claim 1, wherein the metal particles (18) consist of nickel or silver. 4. The sputter cathode according to claim 1, wherein the metal particles (18) are formed from a core material and a highly conductive coating. 5. The sputter cathode according to claim 1, wherein the flakes have a thickness of 0.1 to 3 mm. 6. The louver (16) is formed as a flat sealing member forming a frame, and a chamber in the flaky flake (16) between the cooling plate (4) and the target (5) is provided. The sputter cathode according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a static gas cushion is provided. 7. The sputter cathode according to claim 1, wherein the lamella (16) is formed as an electric heater.