Patent ID: 6190511
Filing Date: 2001-02-20
Classification: C23C,G02B

Abstract:
A method for depositing a film of a material onto a substrate by sputtering the material from a target in a low-pressure vacuum chamber, the method comprising:emitting an assist chemical of adequate amount towards the target, the target being comprised of the material;impinging a first ion beam onto the target;forming a sputter efflux of particles of the material that are sputtered from the target by the first ion beam;depositing the film of the material onto the substrate by deposition of the sputter efflux onto the substrate;modifying the film with a constituent gas, stray molecules of the constituent gas forming a surface layer on the target:removing the surface layer on the target with the assist chemical; andemitting a screen chemical towards the substrate, said screen chemical reacting with the residues of the assist chemical to form a reaction product,where said sputter efflux includes residues of the assist chemical, andwherein said material comprises titanium, the assist chemical comprises chlorine, the screen chemical comprises water vapor, the titanium and chlorine react to form titanium chloride at the target, and after being sputtered the titanium chloride reacts with the water vapor to form titanium oxide and hydrochloride vapor near the substrate.