Patent ID: 7744735

Claim:
An ionized physical vapor deposition (IPVD) apparatus comprising: a vacuum chamber configured to perform an ionized physical vapor deposition on a substrate therein, over a pressure range of at least from approximately 1 mTorr to over 30 mTorr; a sputtering target in the chamber at one end of the chamber and having a target surface facing the chamber; a DC power source coupled to the target; a substrate support in the chamber spaced from the sputtering target and having a substrate support surface facing the sputtering target; a bias source connected to the substrate support and configured to impose a negative bias to a substrate on the support; a sputtering gas source and a vacuum pump coupled to the chamber to maintain sputtering gas in the chamber at a vacuum pressure level; an ICP source operable to inductively couple RF energy into the chamber between the target and the substrate support to form a high density plasma in the chamber to ionize sputtering gas to contribute to the sputtering of material from the target during deposition modes, to etch the substrate during etch modes, and to ionize sputtered material for deposit onto the substrate; a permanent magnet magnetron assembly located in a fixed position behind the sputtering target and having a static magnetic field extending between the target and the substrate support having a static magnetic field strength of at least 20 Gauss at the sputtering surface of the sputtering target and of not more than approximately 10 Gauss at the substrate support surface; and a controller programmed to operate the apparatus sequentially, with a single substrate on the substrate support and without opening the chamber, in a plurality of cycles that each includes at least one deposition mode followed by at least one etch mode, wherein: the DC power source energizes the target to provide sputtered material into the chamber during deposition modes, the bias source imposes a deposition mode bias to a substrate on the support during deposition modes and an etch mode bias to the substrate on the support during etch modes that is greater in magnitude than the deposition mode bias, and the RF energy from the ICP source produces ions of sputtering gas to sputter material from the target during deposition modes and to etch the substrate during etch modes, and produces ions of sputtered material to deposit by IPVD onto the substrate during deposition modes.