Patent ID: 7785455

Claim:
A sputtering system comprising: a low pressure chamber; a pallet in the chamber, the pallet having a plurality of workpiece support areas for concurrently supporting a plurality of workpieces on the pallet; a generally circular first plate facing the pallet, the first plate supporting a plurality of targets having sputtering surfaces facing the pallet, the first plate being electrically conductive and electrically insulated from the targets, the first plate and targets being at different potentials, the targets being located at different radial positions with respect to a center axis of the first plate such that any single workpiece support area may be positioned under only a single target, there being no target intersecting the center axis of the first plate, the first plate having openings for each of the targets, the first plate extending laterally between the targets, the first plate being insulated from each of the targets by an insulator circumscribing each of the targets; the first plate forming at least a portion of a wall for the chamber for maintaining a low pressure in the chamber; a substantially flat and circular shield plate rigidly fixed to the first plate inside the chamber, abutting the first plate, and substantially covering all of the first plate at least between the targets, the shield plate being formed of a metal and being at the same potential as the first plate, the shield plate having separate openings for all the targets to allow sputtered material from all the targets to be deposited on the workpieces below the targets, the shield plate shielding the first plate from sputtered material during a sputtering process, the shield plate being removable from the first plate for cleaning of the shield plate or disposing of the shield plate; and a plurality of cross-contamination shields fixed to the shield plate, so as to be removed along with the shield plate, and extending toward the pallet, the cross-contamination shields extending radially across the shield plate between adjacent targets, the cross-contamination shields at least partially shielding workpieces not directly beneath a particular target from sputtered material from that particular target, an area between adjacent cross-contamination shields being larger than a workpiece on one of the workpiece support areas.