Patent ID: 6261428
Filing Date: 2001-07-17
Classification: H01J

Abstract:
A magnetron plasma process apparatus comprising:a process chamber having a transfer port for an object to be processed;a first electrode horizontally extending within said process chamber and supporting said object to be processed;a second electrode located within said process chamber and extending above said first electrode and parallel thereto;gas-supplying means for supplying a process gas into a space between said electrodes;electric field generating means for generating an electric field in the space between said electrodes, to thereby form plasma of the process gas;magnetic field generating means having at least two permanent magnets located outside said process chamber, two of said permanent magnets being oppositely Positioned so as to sandwich the space between said electrodes, for generating a horizontal magnetic field which extends through the space between said electrodes, from one of said magnets to the other thereof and substantially parallel to said electrodes;means for rotating said permanent magnets in a horizontal plane; anddrive means for moving said first electrode in a vertical direction between a process position at which said object is located in said process chamber and within the horizontal magnetic field and a transfer position which is below said process position and at which said object is located on the same level as said transfer port which is located at a level lower than said two permanent magnets which sandwich the space between said electrodes, so as to move said object into and from said process chamber.