Patent ID: 6231732
Filing Date: 2001-05-15
Classification: C23C,H01J

Abstract:
A cylindrical carriage sputtering system for depositing one or more layers of material on substrates, comprising:means forming a cylindrically shaped sealed passageway and including inner and outer concentric hollow cylindrical walls joined together by top and bottom annular sealing flanges, said walls including one or more openings for accommodating one or more processing stations and one or more openings for accommodating one or more pumping stations;a cylindrical carriage for supporting and moving substrates and formed by a third concentric central hollow cylinder, said cylindrical carriage substantially filling a volume of said cylindrically shaped sealed passageway, and said cylindrical carriage comprising one or more openings provided with substrate holders for supporting one or more substrates;mechanical and electrical rotation means providing controlled positioning of said cylindrical carriage relative to said inner and outer walls at selected locations around a circumference of said cylindrically shaped sealed passageway;one or more processing stations disposed at various ones of said wall openings and equipped with devices selected from the group consisting of layer deposition means, substrate heating means, and substrate cooling means;one or more pumping stations disposed at various other ones of said wall openings and equipped with vacuum pumps for evacuating atmospheric gases and other process gases from said sealed passageway;vacuum load-lock means and robotic means for loading and unloading said substrates to and from said cylindrical carriage through one or more of said wall openings; andelectrical power supply means for operating said rotation means, said processing stations, said pumping stations, said load lock means, and said robotic means.