Functionally graded material by in-situ gradient alloy sputter deposition management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9758861-B2
Application number	US-201615167408-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2016
Priority date	May 7, 2015
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

Embodiments relate to a sputter chamber comprising both a target surface and an anode surface. The sputter chamber has both an ingress and an egress to allow passage of a gas. The sputter chamber further includes a target substrate. A secondary material flexibly changes the composition of the target substrate in-situ by changing coverage of the target by the secondary material. Gas entering the sputter chamber interacts with the changed composition of the target. The interaction discharges a plasma alloy and the alloy condenses on the anode surface in the sputter chamber. The condensed alloy produces an alloy film.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing a sputter chamber having an ingress and an egress, wherein the ingress and egress are operable to allow passage of a gas;
providing a target in the sputter chamber, the target comprised of a single material;
providing a configurable surface in communication with the target, the configurable surface having a composition comprising two or more independently moveable segments;
flexibly changing the composition of the configurable surface, including selectively moving at least one of the segments; and
ingress gas interacting with the changed composition, the interaction producing an alloy film.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein changing a target surface the composition includes depositing a material layer with a gradient alloy composition.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising controlling the movement of the at least one of the segments as a percentage of surface coverage of a target surface.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the film has a flexible vertical gradient, and further comprising changing the gradient based on a composition of the configurable surface.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein flexibly changing the composition further comprises estimating the gradient alloy composition from individual sputter rates of the segments.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein selectively moving at least one of the segments includes changing a proportion of the at least one segment inside the sputter chamber with respect to outside the sputter chamber.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the moving is performed in a direction selected from the group consisting of: outside of the sputter chamber and inside of the sputter chamber.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein flexibly changing the composition of the configurable surface includes delivering a third segment to the target.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein flexibly changing the composition of the configurable surface consists of moving less than all of the two or more segments.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein each segment has a separately configurable surface coverage of the target, including a first segment comprising a first material and a second segment comprising a second material, wherein the first and second materials are different.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the target comprises Copper and each segment includes a material selected from the group consisting of: Gallium and Iridium.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein moving at least one of the segments includes changing in-situ coverage of the target.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the interaction further comprises discharging a plasma alloy and the plasma alloy condensing on an anode surface in the sputter chamber, wherein the condensed alloy is the produced alloy film.

14. A method comprising:
providing a configurable surface on a target in a sputter chamber, the configurable surface having a composition comprising two or more independently moveable segments;
flexibly changing a composition of the configurable surface, including selectively moving at least one of the segments; and
receiving ingress gas interacting with the changed composition, the interaction producing an alloy film.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein changing the composition includes depositing a material layer with a gradient alloy composition.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising controlling the movement of the at least one segment as a percentage of surface coverage of the target surface.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the film has a flexible vertical gradient, and further comprising changing the gradient based on a composition of the configurable surface.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein flexibly changing the composition further comprises estimating the gradient alloy composition from individual sputter rates of the two or more segments.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein flexibly changing the composition of the configurable surface consists of moving less than all of the two or more segments.

20. The method of claim 14 , wherein selectively moving the at least one of the segments includes changing a proportion of the at least one of the segments inside the sputter chamber with respect to outside the sputter chamber.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Eickelmann Hans-Juergen
• Muehge Thorsten
• Rueger Erik
• Schmidt Markus

Classifications

• C23C14/3464 Primary

  using more than one target (C23C14/56 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C23C14/54

  Controlling or regulating the coating process · CPC title

• H01J37/3473

  Composition uniformity or desired gradient · CPC title

• H01J37/3429

  Plural materials · CPC title

• C23C14/3492

  Variation of parameters during sputtering · CPC title