Patent ID: 8343318

Claim:
A physical vapor deposition (PVD) system, comprising: a PVD chamber including a target region, a transfer region and a substrate region; a plurality of electromagnetic coils arranged around the PVD chamber; first and second annular bands of permanent magnets arranged around the PVD chamber with poles oriented perpendicular to a magnetic field imposed by the electromagnetic coils, wherein: each of the permanent magnets in the first annular band is arranged with poles having a first polarity closest to a central axis of the PVD chamber; the first annular band comprises N annular rings of permanent magnets arranged around the central axis in the transfer region between the target region and the second annular band, wherein N is an integer greater than one; each of the permanent magnets in the second annular band is arranged anti-parallel with respect to the permanent magnets in the first annular band; and the second annular band comprises M annular rings of permanent magnets arranged around the central axis in the transfer region between the substrate region and the first annular band, wherein M is an integer greater than one.