Patent ID: 7794574

Claim:
A sputtering system comprising: a low pressure chamber having side walls and a top wall for maintaining a low pressure in the chamber; a pallet in the chamber facing the top wall, the pallet having a plurality of workpiece support areas for concurrently supporting a plurality of workpieces on the pallet; a plurality of electrically conductive target support surfaces, forming a portion of the top wall, supporting a plurality of targets having sputtering surfaces facing the pallet; an electrically conductive first plate, forming a portion of the top wall, supporting the target support surfaces and being electrically insulated from the target support surfaces by an insulator forming a portion of the top wall, the insulator separately circumscribing each of the target support surfaces and each of the targets, the first plate extending laterally between each of the target support surfaces and each of the targets; each target being separated from the first plate by a first gap to provide electrical insulation between each target and the first plate, the first gap separately circumscribing each target; and a unitary shield plate, forming a portion of the top wall, fixed to and abutting the first plate and covering the first plate at least between the targets, the shield plate having openings for the targets, the shield plate shielding the first plate during a sputtering process, the shield plate overlying a portion of the first gap, with no other plate in-between the shield plate and the first gap, such that a resulting second gap between each target and the first plate is less than the first gap, the shield plate being removable from the first plate for cleaning of the shield plate or disposing of the shield plate.