Patent ID: 6929720

Claim:
An ionized physical vapor deposition apparatus for processing semiconductor substrates comprising: a vacuum chamber bounded by a chamber wall, the chamber having therein a plasma processing space and a substrate support configured to support a semiconductor substrate facing the processing space for processing; a magnetron sputtering cathode including a hollow cylindrical sputtering target having a sputtering surface in communication with the inside of the chamber, a DC power source outside of the chamber electrically connected to the target, and a magnet assembly behind the target; the sputtering target surrounding a cylindrical plasma-source volume within the chamber and adjacent the processing space, the target having two open ends at opposite ends of the cylindrical volume; the magnet assembly being outside of the plasma-source volume and configured to generate a magnetic field inside of the chamber, the field including a closed magnetic tunnel adjacent the sputtering surface of the target to confine electrons near the sputtering surface of the target, a cusp field that defines a magnetic-mirror plane between the plasma-source volume and the processing space and a null magnetic field extending from the cusp plane into the processing space; a dielectric window at the open end of the target that is opposite from the processing space, the window forming part of the chamber wall; an RF power source outside of the chamber; an RF coil outside of the chamber behind the window and electrically coupled to the RF power source, the RF coil being configured to couple RF energy from the RF power source through the window and into the plasma-source volume; and the target, the magnetron magnet and the RF coil being configured to cooperate to form a high density plasma within the volume that includes ions of material sputtered from the target and that is energized substantially by each of the DC power source and the RF power source.