TW202200799A - Method for manufacturing copper cylindrical target from hot extrusion technique for thin film coating using sputtering method - Google Patents

Abstract

The production process of copper cylindrical target comprises the steps of casting copper ingot (purity 99.99% Cu minimum and oxygen not exceed 5 ppm) in size 12 inch diameter deformed by hot extrusion and cold drawing without heat treatment process. The hot extrusion process is the most important process in controlling the grain size to be not exceeding 150 microns. The parameters having highest effect on the copper grain size is the temperature of the copper ingot before the hot extrusion process. The lower temperature causes the smaller grain size. The grain size control is based on Dynamic Recrystallization mechanism. Therefore, it is control at hot copper to cool immediately during extruded through the extrusion die with water. This technique is called Underwater Extrusion Technique which will stop the mechanism of Grain Growth. The optimum conditions of extrusion process that the grain size of copper in range 50-150 microns are ingot temperature is between 800-900℃ and extrusion speed is between 5-20 mm/sec. The Underwater Extrusion Technique can produce copper cylindrical target suitable for using as a copper cylindrical target for thin film coating technology by sputtering.

Description

Method for preparing copper cylindrical target by hot extrusion technique for thin film coating using sputtering method

The present invention relates to the field of metallurgy, in particular the production of copper cylindrical targets by hot extrusion techniques for thin film coating using sputtering methods.

Currently, most surface coatings prefer chemical techniques, such as electroplating. However, such techniques suffer from several disadvantages, such as low quality work surfaces and environmental concerns. Therefore, new surface coating techniques such as vacuum coating have been developed. Vacuum coating technology is performed in a vacuum and does not require chemicals that can cause environmental problems. Additionally, vacuum coating techniques can produce extremely thin coated surfaces known as "films". If the film thickness does not exceed 5 μm, the film is generally referred to as a “thin film”.

The thin film vacuum coating process can be divided into two types, namely chemical process and physical process 1) Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD): A solid material is deposited on a substrate from the vapor phase by a chemical reaction, which is performed near the surface of the heated substrate. Examples of such processes are plasma CVD and laser CVD. 2) Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD): Produces a vapor phase in the form of atoms or ions of the coating material supplied by the target. and then transferred to and deposited on the surface of the substrate. Examples of such processes are evaporation and sputtering.

Sputtering technology is a thin film coating technology suitable for research and thin film product development. The advantage of this technique is that it can be applied to several thin film materials, such as metals, glasses, ceramics and semiconductors, the thickness of the thin film can be precisely controlled and the properties of the thin film can be varied in various ways. Examples of industries that utilize sputtering technology are microelectronics, semiconductors, conductive films, durable films, hard drives, automobiles, glass panels for construction, optical cables, solar cells, TV screens, and mobile device screens.

The principle of the vacuum sputtering technique starts with the creation of a vacuum in the coating chamber up to a pressure of not higher than 1 x ^10-6 mbar. Subsequently, an inert gas such as argon is filled into the chamber to the measured pressure. Sputtering begins with the use of a magnetic field to generate ions of argon molecules and an electric field to direct the generated ions to strike a target until atoms on the target are removed and the atoms travel to the substrate surface. Subsequently, atoms of the coating material will be deposited on the surface of the substrate, resulting in a thin film on the surface of the substrate, as shown in FIGS. 1-4 .

In 1985, sputtering technology favored the use of aluminum as the target in the case of thin films with semiconducting properties, even though aluminum was not the lowest resistance. This is due to the limitations of this technology at that time. However, the advent of rapid, sophisticated and advanced technology after IBM's development in the 1980s has led to the increasing use of copper and silver as targets to this day. This is due to the lower electrical resistance and better electromigration resistance of both metals compared to aluminum. It is known that the quality of the obtained films also depends on the operating conditions of the sputter, such as the pressure inside the chamber, the number and type of gas ions impinging on the target surface. In addition, it also depends on the characteristics of the target material that have a direct impact on quality or defect formation during the sputtering process. These characteristics are: 1) The purity of the target material. 2) The amount of dielectrics such as oxides (eg, Al ₂ O ₃ in the case of aluminum targets, and CuO in the case of copper targets) included in the target material. 3) Porosity, such as the amount of voids formed by the gas during the sputtering process. 4) The grain size of the target. 5) The surface roughness of the target. 6) The mechanical strength or hardness of the target.

Since September 29, 2017, Oriental Copper Co., Ltd. has applied to the Department of Intellectual Property for a patent "Method for preparing copper cylindrical target by hot extrusion technology for thin film coating using sputtering method ( Method for manufacturing copper cylindrical target from hot extrusion technique for thin film coating using sputtering method)". The present application discloses sputtering targets in the form of planar targets. However, another sputtering target is now starting to be used in thin film coating. The sputtering target has a cylindrical shape and is called a "cylindrical target". Although the price of cylindrical targets is higher than that of flat targets, the advantage of cylindrical targets is that the utilization rate of the material is relatively high, that is, the utilization rate of each target is about 80%, but only 35% for flat targets. In addition, the price per unit weight of cylindrical targets is also lower than that of flat targets. Table 1 gives a comparison between flat and cylindrical targets made of chromium. For the aforementioned reasons, the present inventors have conducted more research to produce cylindrical materials suitable for thin film coating using sputtering techniques. Table 1 Comparison between Cr flat targets and Cr cylindrical targets (see Figure 5). parameter Chrome flat target Chrome cylindrical target unit Material thickness 16 16 mm Width or OD (liner) 120 133 mm length 2,000 2,000 mm material volume 3,840,000 14,971,520 mm ³ material quality 27,684 97,315 g Material density 0.0072 0.0065 g/mm ³ Material utilization 0.35 0.80 Volume used 1,344,000 11,977,216 mm ³ quality used 9,689 77,852 g target price $6,300 $25,000 Price used/gram $0.65 $0.32

In the past, several studies have investigated the properties of copper cylindrical targets, and attempts have been made to find fabrication methods and conditions that affect or control the properties of copper cylindrical targets to meet requirements. For example: Patent: JP 2012-111994A (Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.) has disclosed a cylindrical sputtering target made of OF grade copper. The preparation method has the following steps: OF grade copper (Cu = 99.995%) → hot working (rolling/extrusion process) → annealing (temperature = 740-810°C) → stretching (cold working % = 9.7-17.0%). The grain size of the obtained target is in the range of 90-140 μm. This patent claims that grain sizes smaller than 140 μm will not cause excessive sputtering and that the sputtered atoms also have a more uniform diffusion direction. Patents: JP 2013-057112A (Hitachi Cable Co., Ltd.) and CN 102994962B (SH Copper Products Co., Ltd.) have disclosed a preparation for a cylindrical sputtering target made of OF-grade copper with an outer diameter of 165 mm and a wall thickness of 25 mm method. The preparation method has the following steps: OF grade copper (Cu = 99.9 or 99.99%) → hot extrusion → tube expansion and stretching → heat treatment. Both studies investigated heat treatment temperature and expansion by varying the heat treatment temperature in the range of 400-650°C while keeping the expansion ratio at 10%, and changing the expansion ratio in the range of 3-20% while keeping the heat treatment temperature at 400°C. than the impact. Both found that the low heat treatment temperature (400 °C) caused the target to crack, while the high heat treatment temperature (600 °C) caused a large difference in the copper grain size. The low expansion ratio (3%) made the copper grain size vary widely, while the high expansion ratio (20%) caused the target to crack. Therefore, both works define the following optimal conditions: heat treatment temperature = 450-600°C for 180 minutes and expansion ratio of 5-15%. The obtained copper grain size is in the range of 50-100 μm, and the target is not cracked. In addition, both works also argue that copper grain sizes smaller than 100 μm still have the additional advantage of fewer abnormal discharges during the sputtering process. Patents: JP 2015-203125A (Mitsubishi Materials Corporation) and US 2016-0194749A1 (Mitsubishi Materials Corporation) disclose a method for preparing cylindrical sputtering with 140-180 mm outer diameter, 110-135 mm inner diameter and 1,000-4,000 mm length target method. The preparation method has the following steps: OF grade copper (cylindrical ingot from continuous casting process has copper grain size of 20 mm or less) → tube expansion and drawing → heat treatment (temperature = 400-900°C, 15-120 minutes ( min)). The tube expansion and stretching steps can be repeated to uniformly distribute the grain size of the copper. The outer diameter was increased from 0% to 30%, and the cross-sectional area was varied from -10% to +10%. If copper or a copper alloy is used as the starting material, the grain size of the copper in the area around the outer surface will be in the range of 10-150 μm. The copper grain sizes of OF copper in the outer surface area are 105 and 146 μm. When the ratio of the area with a grain size twice the average size to the total area is less than 25%, the number of abnormal discharges during the sputtering process decreases. Patents: US 2016-0203959A1 (Mitsubishi Materials Corporation) and US 9748079B2 (Mitsubishi Materials Corporation) disclose a method for preparing cylindrical sputtering target materials having an outer diameter of 140-180 mm, an inner diameter of 110-135 mm and a length of 1,000-4,000 mm method. The preparation method has the following steps: OF-grade copper (columnar ingot with (Si + C) element content of less than 10 ppm to prevent abnormal discharge) → hot working (rolling/extrusion process to produce The grain size of copper) → tube expansion and stretching → heat treatment (temperature = 400-900 ° C, 15-120 min). The tube expansion and stretching steps can be repeated to uniformly distribute the grain size of the copper. Thickness increased from 15% to 25%, outer diameter increased from 0% to 30%, and inner diameter increased from 0% to 20%. If copper or a copper alloy is used as the starting material, the grain size of the copper in the area around the outer surface will be in the range of 10-150 μm. The copper grain sizes of OF grade copper in the outer surface area were 59, 84 and 103 μm. The number of abnormal discharges during the sputtering process decreases when the ratio of the area with grain size twice the average size to the total area is less than 20%.

A review of the prior art found that the preparation method for forming the copper cylindrical target mainly includes the following steps: casting (Cu-OF grade) → hot working (rolling/extrusion) → cold working (drawing) → heat treatment, as shown in Table 2 shown in. The size of the copper grains should be uniform and less than 150 μm to reduce abnormal discharge problems during the sputtering process, so that high quality coatings or films can be produced from high quality targets. However, the prior art has always included thermal processing steps to tailor the copper microstructure to suit the application. The present invention aims to go through the steps of casting (Cu-OF)→hot working (extrusion)→cold working (stretching) without requiring heat treatment while maintaining a microstructure suitable for thin film coating applications by sputtering The copper cylindrical target is manufactured, and the manufacturing cost is also reduced. Table 2. Grain size of copper cylindrical targets from previous research work. Numbering assignee Grain size ( μm ) Process 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-80 80-90 90-100 100-110 110-120 120-130 130-140 140-150 casting Thermal processing cold working heat treatment cold working 1 Furukawa Electric (JP 2012-111994 A) ①Cu-OF ② Rolling/Extrusion - ③ Annealing ④ stretch 2 Hitachi cable (JP 2013-057112 A) ①Cu-OF (3N/4N) ② Extrusion ③ Expansion and stretching ④ Heat treatment - 3 Mitsubishi Material (JP 201520312 5A) Cu-OF : 105 and 146 μm ① Cu-OF/ Cu-alloy - ③ Tube expansion ③ Heat treatment - 4 Mitsubishi Material (US 2016-0194749 Al) Cu-OF : 105 and 146 μm ① Cu-OF/ Cu-alloy - ③ Tube expansion ③ Heat treatment - 5 Mitsubishi Material (US 2016-0203959 Al) CU-OF : 59 and 84 and 103 μm ① Cu-OF/ Cu-alloy ② Rolling/Extrusion ③ Tube expansion ④ Heat treatment - 6 SH Copper Products (CN 102994962 B) ①Cu-OF (3N/4N) ② Extrusion ③ Expansion and stretching ④ Heat treatment - 7 Mitsubishi Material ( US9748079 B2) Cu-OF : 59 and 84 and 03 μm ① Cu-OF/ Cu-alloy ② Rolling/Extrusion ③ Tube expansion ④ Heat treatment - 8 Oriental Copper Oriental Copper ①Cu-OF ② Extrusion ③ stretch - -

Accordingly, Vatchakran Taechachoonhakij , the inventor of Oriental Copper Ltd., has developed a preparation method for the manufacture of copper cylindrical targets using hot extrusion technology that does not require a heat treatment step while maintaining uniformity of copper grain size and In the 50-150 μm range, these dimensions are suitable for thin film coating applications by sputtering.

From a review of various literatures, it can be concluded that the high quality of the films depends on the target having a uniform grain size and a size smaller than 150 μm. Therefore, the object of the present invention is to prepare copper cylindrical targets for thin film coating applications by sputtering by a hot extrusion process which can control the copper grain size in the range of 50-150 μm in order to produce High quality film. The parameters of the hot extrusion process that have an effect on the size and uniformity of the copper grains studied are: 1) Ingot temperature before hot extrusion process. 2) Extrusion speed (main indenter speed).

As shown in Figure 6, the rapid cooling rate of the copper post extrusion die during the hot extrusion process is achieved by immediately transferring the extruded copper into water (underwater extrusion). This is an important technique for preventing copper grain growth. The temperature of the water should not exceed 40°C. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 7 , the copper rod was subjected to a cold drawing process to manufacture a copper target having a hardness in the range of 51-100 Vicker hardness scale.

The preparation method for making the copper cylindrical target of the present invention comprises the following steps: casting a copper ingot (Cu minimum purity of 99.99% and oxygen below 5 ppm) to form a diameter of 12 inches, followed by hot extrusion of the obtained copper, the Hot extrusion is critical in controlling the size and uniformity of copper grains. The parameters in the study are: 1) Ingot temperature before hot extrusion process. (800, 850 and 900℃) 2) The extrusion speed (5, 10 and 20 mm/sec) measured according to the speed of the hydraulic cylinder used to extrude the copper ingot through the die.

The controlled parameter is the cooling rate of the copper. Usually after the copper has been processed by a hot extrusion process, the copper grain size will become smaller due to a phenomenon known as "dynamic recrystallization". However, if the copper strip is allowed to cool in ambient atmosphere without controlling the cooling rate, only a period of 10 seconds is sufficient for recrystallization to proceed or progress to a next step called "grain growth", which causes the copper crystals The grain size becomes larger and the grain size becomes non-uniform.

Therefore, the present invention uses cooling water with a temperature not higher than 40°C to control the cooling rate of the copper bars. The extruded copper ingot will be immersed in cooling water immediately after the die for 10 seconds or less to prevent copper grain growth.

After the hot extrusion step, the copper will be subjected to a cold drawing step to produce a copper target having a measured outer and inner diameter and a surface hardness not exceeding 100 Vickers hardness scale prior to use. Details of this study are described below.

Copper ingots having a diameter of 12 inches and a length of 550 mm were heated at 800°C, 850°C or 900°C. The copper ingot was then extruded through an extrusion die to form copper having an outer diameter of 155 mm and an inner diameter of 100 mm. Immediately after molding, the hot copper is immersed in water. The extrusion speed was set to 5, 10 or 20 mm/sec as shown in Table 3. Table 3 Temperature and extrusion speed of copper ingots Numbering Temperature ( °C ) Speed ( mm/s ) 1 800 5 2 800 10 3 800 20 4 850 5 5 850 10 6 850 20 7 900 5 8 900 10 9 900 20

Subsequently, the cooled copper will be subjected to a cold drawing process using a drawing die to produce copper with outer and inner diameters of 150 mm and 95 mm, respectively. The copper obtained from the cold drawing process will be inspected at the head, middle and tail sections, as shown in FIG. 8 .

The inspection of the copper grain size was carried out at 5 positions of the cross-sectional area measured from the inner diameter to the outer diameter. Position 1 is the position close to the inner surface, and positions 2, 3, 4 and 5 are respectively away from the inner surface, as shown in FIG. 9 . Position 5 is closest to the outer surface.

Inspections of copper grain sizes obtained from using different extrusion conditions are reported in Figures 10-36 and summarized in Table 4. Table 4 Grain size of copper cylindrical target Temperature ( °C ) Speed ( mm/sec ) position of the bar Average grain size ( μm ) average value SD location of wall thickness 1 (inside) 2 3 4 5 (outside) 800 5 head 91.23 89.91 91.01 89.54 90.79 Central 79.44 79.64 78.33 76.57 79.24 81.23 7.21 tail 78.65 74.16 71.06 72.94 75.91 10 head 94.73 94.44 91.72 89.71 85.70 Central 88.72 87.56 86.07 87.97 79.73 84.73 6.91 tail 81.29 75.13 77.96 76.32 73.88 20 head 85.29 82.26 81.11 83.92 80.04 Central 81.29 81.22 78.85 80.07 77.77 79.11 3.74 tail 77.96 75.76 74.99 74.63 71.49 850 5 head 100.95 100.50 100.26 96.83 92.29 Central 101.68 99.71 101.47 96.54 92.54 94.67 6.01 tail 88.12 87.50 86.92 88.50 86.29 10 head 98.77 96.77 94.26 95.19 90.80 Central 93.58 90.80 91.68 89.26 84.48 91.67 4.03 tail 95.59 90.15 89.67 88.37 85.64 20 head 98.92 99.05 93.54 98.43 92.10 Central 95.43 93.28 94.07 96.47 87.13 90.54 7.17 tail 86.29 84.00 79.30 81.44 78.59 900 5 head 107.23 105.42 100.34 98.35 99.07 Central 102.52 100.37 103.45 96.59 94.61 97.02 6.55 tail 93.28 90.25 89.27 89.50 85.05 10 head 110.36 109.51 105.79 103.53 100.50 100.99 7.07 Central 107.74 108.16 105.14 100.32 100.10 tail 98.29 93.63 92.13 90.97 88.62 20 head 114.12 112.69 111.67 104.39 104.51 Central 111.17 105.78 103.57 101.30 101.83 102.67 7.87 tail 100.77 94.99 91.30 91.22 90.83 Best method of the present invention

As described in the detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

A: Anode T: target S: substrate P: Plasma

[Fig. 1] A sputtering system for surface coating. [Figure 2] Physical sputtering technology. [Figure 3] Sputtering machine. [FIG. 4] Plasma formation during thin film coating. [Fig. 5] Comparison between a Cr flat target and a Cr cylindrical target. [Fig. 6] Hot extrusion under water system. [Fig. 7] Cold drawing process. [Figure 8] Check the location. [Fig. 9] Location of copper grain size measurement. [Fig. 10] Grain size of copper, temperature 800°C, hot extrusion speed 5 mm/sec, head position. [Fig. 11] Grain size of copper, temperature 800°C, hot extrusion speed 5 mm/sec, middle position. [Fig. 12] Grain size of copper, temperature 800°C, hot extrusion speed 5 mm/sec, tail position. [Fig. 13] Grain size of copper, temperature 800°C, hot extrusion speed 10 mm/sec, head position. [Fig. 14] Grain size of copper, temperature 800°C, hot extrusion speed 10 mm/sec, middle position. [Fig. 15] Grain size of copper, temperature 800°C, hot extrusion speed 10 mm/sec, tail position. [Fig. 16] Grain size of copper, temperature 800°C, hot extrusion speed 20 mm/sec, head position. [Fig. 17] Grain size of copper, temperature 800°C, hot extrusion speed 20 mm/sec, middle position. [Fig. 18] Grain size of copper, temperature 800°C, hot extrusion speed 20 mm/sec, tail position. [Fig. 19] Grain size of copper, temperature 850°C, hot extrusion speed 5 mm/sec, head position. [Fig. 20] Grain size of copper, temperature 850°C, hot extrusion speed 5 mm/sec, middle position. [Fig. 21] Grain size of copper, temperature 850°C, hot extrusion speed 5 mm/sec, tail position. [Fig. 22] Grain size of copper, temperature 850°C, hot extrusion speed 10 mm/sec, head position. [Fig. 23] Grain size of copper, temperature 850°C, hot extrusion speed 10 mm/sec, middle position. [Fig. 24] Grain size of copper, temperature 850°C, hot extrusion speed 10 mm/sec, tail position. [Fig. 25] Grain size of copper, temperature 850°C, hot extrusion speed 20 mm/sec, head position. [Fig. 26] Grain size of copper, temperature 850°C, hot extrusion speed 20 mm/sec, middle position. [Fig. 27] Grain size of copper, temperature 850°C, hot extrusion speed 20 mm/sec, tail position. [Fig. 28] Grain size of copper, temperature 900°C, hot extrusion speed 5 mm/sec, head position. [Fig. 29] Grain size of copper, temperature 900°C, hot extrusion speed 5 mm/sec, middle position. [Fig. 30] Grain size of copper, temperature 900°C, hot extrusion speed 5 mm/sec, tail position. [Fig. 31] Grain size of copper, temperature 900°C, hot extrusion speed 10 mm/sec, head position. [Fig. 32] Grain size of copper, temperature 900°C, hot extrusion speed 10 mm/sec, middle position. [Fig. 32] Grain size of copper, temperature 900°C, hot extrusion speed 10 mm/sec, tail position. [Fig. 34] Grain size of copper, temperature 900°C, hot extrusion speed 20 mm/sec, head position. [Fig. 35] Grain size of copper, temperature 900°C, hot extrusion speed 20 mm/sec, middle position. [Fig. 36] Grain size of copper, temperature 900°C, hot extrusion speed 20 mm/sec, tail position.

Claims (9)

A copper cylindrical target containing not less than 99.99% copper. The copper cylindrical target of claim 1, wherein the oxygen content does not exceed 5 ppm. The copper cylindrical target of claim 1 or 2, wherein the total impurities do not exceed 100 ppm. The copper cylindrical target of claim 1 or 2, which is prepared by a hot extrusion process and cold drawing without a heat treatment step, wherein the hot extrusion process is an underwater hot extrusion process. The copper cylindrical target of claim 1 or 2, wherein the surface hardness is not higher than 100 on the Vicker hardness scale. The copper cylindrical target of claim 1 or 2, wherein the copper grain size is in the range of 50-150 μm. A method for preparing a copper cylindrical target wherein a copper ingot is heated to a temperature in the range of 800-900°C. The method for making a copper cylindrical target as claimed in claim 7, wherein the extrusion speed is in the range of 5-20 mm/second (sec). A method for making a copper cylindrical target as claimed in claim 7 or 8, wherein the extruded copper is immediately immersed in water without any contact with the surrounding air.

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