Patent ID: 8496792

Claim:
A rotary magnet sputtering apparatus comprising a substrate holder for holding a substrate to be processed, a target facing said substrate holder, and a magnet disposed on a back side of said target relative to said substrate holder, and adapted to confine plasma on a target surface by forming a magnetic field on the target surface using said magnet, wherein: said magnet comprises a rotary magnet group having a plurality of plate-like magnets arranged on a surface of a columnar rotary shaft of a polygonal shape in cross-section, the columnar rotary shaft being extended in parallel with the target surface so that the plurality of the plate-like magnets form a plurality of helices around the surface of the columnar rotary shaft, the plate-like magnets included in one of the plurality of helices having the same magnetic pole that is directed towards surfaces of the plate-like magnets of the one of the helices and that is different from that of the plate-like magnets included in adjacent ones of the helices; the magnet further comprising a fixed outer circumferential frame magnet which is arranged in parallel with the target surface around said rotary magnet group and which is magnetized in a direction perpendicular to the target surface; a magnetic field pattern on the target surface moves with time by rotating said rotary magnet group along with said columnar rotary shaft parallel with the target surface, and said rotary magnet sputtering apparatus comprises means for measuring a consumption amount of said target, and has a function of moving said columnar rotary shaft, said rotary magnet group, and said fixed outer circumferential frame magnet away from said target by a distance equal to said consumption displacement amount, thereby always maintaining constant a distance between the target surface and each of said columnar rotary shaft, said rotary magnet group, and said fixed outer circumferential frame magnet.