Patent ID: 6045672
Filing Date: 2000-04-04
Classification: C23C,H01J

Abstract:
A sputtering apparatus comprising:a vacuum vessel having a pumping system;a target located at a position in said vacuum vessel; anda magnet mechanism, which sets a magnetic field on a surface of said target, a substrate being disposed opposing said target, said target being sputtered while ions are captured by the magnetic field produced by said magnet mechanism, thereby depositing a film on a surface of the substrate;wherein said magnet mechanism sets leakage lines of magnetic force which emerge from a portion of the surface of said target and enter another portion of the surface of said target, and also a plurality of circumferential magnetic fields of different sizes each of which is formed by ranging the leakage lines of magnetic force into a circumferential shape on the surface of said target, so that a plurality of erosion regions of different sizes are formed on the surface of said target by the circumferential magnetic fields without crossing each other, each of said erosion regions having a peripheral circumferential shape and a curved portion, and each one of said erosion regions has at least one interior side which is parallel to an interior side of at least one of said other erosion regions, and when said magnet mechanism is relatively stationary with respect to said target, an interrupted circumferential shape is formed by each curved portion of said erosion regions, one of said erosion regions including a center portion of the target; and wherein at least one of said erosion regions has an interior side which has a length longer than a radius of the target.