Patent ID: 6328857
Filing Date: 2001-12-11
Classification: C23C,H01J

Abstract:
In a method of forming a thin film on a substrate, which comprises:setting one pair of sputtering cathodes in a film-forming chamber capable of controlling a vacuum atmosphere;applying a voltage to the pair of the sputtering cathodes thereby alternately inverting the sputtering cathodes'polarities such that when one cathode functions as a cathode, another cathode functions as an anode, and when the another cathode functions as a cathode, the one cathode functions as an anode;sputtering targets attached to the sputtering cathodes, the targets being sputtered by a glow discharge induced between the one pair of sputtering cathodes; andforming a coating on a substrate disposed substantially in front of the targets, the improvement wherein at least one pair of sputtering cathodes is set in the film-forming chamber, and the sputtering cathodes of each pair of sputtering cathodes are set on opposite sides or adjacent sides of an imaginary rectangular parallelepiped provided in the film-forming chamber such that their target sides face inside the imaginary rectangular parallelepiped, and the substrate is placed in the inside of a space formed by the imaginary rectangular parallelepiped,and further wherein a first pair of sputtering cathodes are arranged along two opposite sides of an imaginary rectangular parallelepiped provided in the film-forming chamber with their target sides facing each other, a second pair of sputtering cathodes are arranged along other two opposite sides of the imaginary rectangular parallelepiped with their target sides facing each other, and the substrate is placed in the inside of the imaginary rectangular parallelepiped.