Patent ID: 6946408

Claim:
A method of depositing a non-stoichiometric tantalum oxide film on a substrate, the method comprising: (a) placing a substrate in a process zone to face a target comprising tantalum; (b) applying a pulsed DC voltage to the tantalum target; (c) introducing a sputtering gas to the process zone, the sputtering gas comprising a non-reactive component and an oxygen-containing component in a volumetric flow ratio that is selected to deposit a non-stoichiometric Ta x O y film having a ratio of x moles of tantalum to y moles of oxygen; and (d) removing the sputtering gas from the process zone by: (i) condensing at least some of the non-reactive component on a cooled surface external to the process zone; and (ii) exhausting at least some of the oxygen-containing component from the process zone with moving rotors.