Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
  • C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
  • C23C14/00—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material
  • C23C14/22—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material characterised by the process of coating
  • C23C14/34—Sputtering
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
  • H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
  • H01J37/34—Gas-filled discharge tubes operating with cathodic sputtering

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method and a device for sputter coating processes with which, in particular, stress-optimized coatings can be produced.
• the target or the sputter cathode is usually kept at negative potential if possible or, in the case of bipolar pulsed operation, in the positive pulse range at only low positive potential, since a positive pulse is disadvantageous because it removes charge carriers (electrons) from the plasma.
• a positive pulse is disadvantageous because it removes charge carriers (electrons) from the plasma.
• this is necessary in certain cases to the small extent described above, e.g. B. during the sputtering of dielectric materials, an insulating layer forms on the target, which affects the capacitive conditions in the coating system. In this case, it may be necessary to discharge the target by allowing the voltage curve to overshoot to positive potential or by applying a low positive voltage in order to counteract charging phenomena on the insulating layers.
• the positive potential is kept very low according to the prior art or avoided if possible.
• a bias voltage to the substrate during the coating, which bias voltage can also be pulsed unipolar or bipolar. Applying a bias voltage to the substrate causes the coating that builds up on the substrate to be bombarded with ions or, in bipolar operation, with ions and electrons. The impact of the ions or electrons, which are accelerated towards the substrate by the bias voltage, has the effect that the inherent stresses that may build up during the deposition of the coating are reduced by deliberately influencing the layer structure or the structure.
• the substrate is exposed to an increased temperature load due to the bombardment of the substrate with ions or electrons.
• the coating process becomes more complex since a voltage supply is required for the substrate.
• additional devices are required, such as, for. B. signal generators, filters or synchronization components in a synchronously pulsed with the cathode voltage operation.
• sputter processes with a subsfrate bias voltage are more difficult to handle because, for example, the bias voltage can change due to thermal effects during the process, or, for example, flashovers can occur on the substrate due to the bias voltage.
• the stress optimization of the layers it should be possible to largely reduce or prevent the particularly disadvantageous tensile residual stresses in the layers or to set residual compressive stresses in the layers.
• the method and the device should be simple and simple, ie economical, to operate. This object is achieved by a method having the features of claim 1 and an apparatus having the features of claim 6.
• the particularly simple solution to the problem outlined above essentially consists in completely dispensing with the substrate bias voltage, which brings with it the disadvantages outlined above, and instead in applying the positive, which, according to the prior art knowledge, is perceived as disadvantageous Form voltage pulses on the target so that the bias voltage on the substrate can be replaced.
• ions are accelerated onto the substrate, for example positively charged argon ions when argon is used as the noble gas.
• This achieves the same purpose as when a substrate bias voltage is applied, in which the bad structure is also influenced by the acceleration of ions from the plasma onto the substrate in such a way that negative tensile residual stresses are reduced.
• so-called backsputter effects are also achieved.
• the pulsed application of a positive potential to the target only results in a pulsed bombardment of the substrate with ions and no uninterrupted bombardment with ions or ions and electrons. In this way, the temperature load on the substrate is minimized.
• a targeted influencing of the layer structure is also possible with substrates in which the application of a bias voltage is difficult or even impossible.
• the outlay for the equipment and for the operation of the depositing device is also reduced, since no additional voltage supply for the bias voltage on the substrate has to be provided.
• the amplitude of the positive voltage pulse is in the range from 30 to 2000 V, in particular 40 to 1800 V, preferably 50 to 1000 V, and / or the pulse duration of the positive voltage pulse is selected in the range from 1 to 20 ⁇ sec.
• a frequency of 15 to 450 KHz has also proven itself.
• Fig. 1 shows the typical waveform used in the method according to the invention.
• a half-wave with a negative potential a half-wave with a positive potential occurs at the target in every cycle.
• NiV layers The NiV layers, the residual stresses of which are plotted against the RF power in FIG. 2, were deposited on a heated substrate to which bipolar pulsed RF bias voltage was applied.
• NiV layers with a layer thickness of approx. 3500 A with a sputter rate of approx. 15.6 A / KW sec. deposited with a sputtering power of 9 KW at an argon flow of approx. 48 sccm by regular direct voltage (DC) sputtering.
• DC direct voltage

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• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Plasma & Fusion (AREA)
• Analytical Chemistry (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• Materials Engineering (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Metallurgy (AREA)
• Organic Chemistry (AREA)
• Physical Vapour Deposition (AREA)

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Publications (1)

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• 2002
  • 2002-05-22 DE DE10222909A patent/DE10222909A1/de not_active Withdrawn
• 2003
  • 2003-04-30 US US10/515,792 patent/US20070009670A9/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2003-04-30 JP JP2004505408A patent/JP2005534803A/ja active Pending
  • 2003-04-30 WO PCT/EP2003/004572 patent/WO2003097896A1/de not_active Ceased
  • 2003-04-30 CN CN03811588A patent/CN100577855C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2003-04-30 EP EP03752719A patent/EP1511877B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-04-30 AU AU2003232242A patent/AU2003232242A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2003-04-30 AT AT03752719T patent/ATE481511T1/de active
  • 2003-04-30 DE DE50313095T patent/DE50313095D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-05-22 TW TW092113899A patent/TWI275655B/zh not_active IP Right Cessation

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