Patent ID: 8152975

Claim:
A deposition system, comprising: a plurality of substrates; a plurality of target assemblies are sequentially positioned in a first close loop that defines a plane, wherein at least one of the target assemblies comprises: a first target piece including a first sputtering surface and a first target material configured to be sputtered off the first sputtering surface and to deposit on one of the substrates; and a second target piece juxtaposed to the first target piece, wherein the second target piece includes a second sputtering surface and a second target material configured to be sputtered off the second sputtering surface and to deposit on the one of the substrates, wherein the first target piece and the second target piece are configured to be switched in positions, or orientation, or a combination thereof after a period of sputtering operations; and a transport mechanism configured to produce relative movements between the plurality of substrate and the plurality of target assemblies in a direction perpendicular to the plane defined by the close loop to allow at least one of the plurality of substrates to receive materials sputtered off the first sputtering surface and the second sputtering surface.