Abstract: The present invention provides a shield arrangement that prevents deposition in the area of the chamber surrounding the substrate. This shield arrangement is equipped with a wall-like member which surrounds a substrate, and includes a projecting annular flange and a substrate support which extends in the horizontal direction beyond the substrate, and includes a groove therein. The annular flange is received in the groove to shield the deposition region of the chamber from the remainder of the chamber.

Abstract: The present invention provides electronically conducting polymer films formed from photosensitive formulations of pyrrole and an electron acceptor that have been selectively exposed to UV light, laser light, or electron beams. The formulations may include photoinitiators, flexibilizers, solvents and the like. These solutions can be used in applications including printed circuit boards and through-hole plating and enable direct metallization processes on non-conducting substrates. After forming the conductive polymer patterns, a printed wiring board can be formed by sensitizing the polymer with palladium and electrolytically depositing copper.

Abstract: A heater and pedestal actuator is provided to actuate the pedestal of a deposition chamber from a first position wherein a wafer may be placed thereon to a second position adjacent to the deposition target. To adjust the inward travel of the heater to compensate for target erosion, the actuator includes a worm drive apparatus driven by a stepper motor. The worm drive is pitched, and the stepper motor is selected, to allow fine movement of the heater on the order of less than 0.01 mm for each arcuate step of the stepper motor. A computer is used to actuate the stepper motor, and cause additional stepper motor actuation, to increase the travel of the heater toward the target to compensate for target erosion. Additionally, the computer may vary the speed of the worm drive rotation, to create different heater travel speeds within the chamber.

Abstract: A sputtering apparatus deposits a material layer on a substrate. The apparatus includes a tube extending partially between the target and substrate, to selectively prevent portions of the target material flux from reaching the substrate to provide a more symmetrical deposition flux at each region of the substrate. In one aspect, the tube includes a single tubular wall which provides an inner and an outer particle blocking surface. The upper end of the inner surface of the tube is positioned to block, from the substrate edge, that portion of the sputtering target surface inward of the substrate edge which exceeds the target surface located outward of the substrate edge, and the lower surface of the outer wall is located to block access of particles sputtered from the edge of the target to the center of the substrate.

Abstract: A feedthrough extending through the wall of an enclosure includes a body portion having a stem portion extending through the wall and a head portion abutting against the wall. The feedthrough assembly further includes a seal member and a biasing member to bias at least a portion of the head against the seal member. The body portion may be conductive, to form an electric current path through the wall of the enclosure, or may form a non-conductive passage to route a feed member, such as an optic cable, or tubular gas or liquid supply conduits, into the enclosure.

Abstract: A sputtering apparatus deposits a layer of material on a substrate. The apparatus includes a screening member, such as a plate collimator or a tube collimator, located between the target and substrate. A motor drive reverses the respective positions of the two opposite sides of the screening device which respectively face the substrate and the target.

Abstract: Vacuum CVD chambers are disclosed which provide a more uniformly deposited thin film on a substrate. The chamber susceptor mount for the substrate is heated resistively with a single coil firmly contacting the metal of the susceptor on all sides, providing uniform temperatures across the susceptor mount for a substrate. A purge gas line is connected to openings in the susceptor outside of the periphery of the substrate to prevent edge and backside contamination of the substrate. A vacuum feed line mounts the substrate to the susceptor plate during processing. A refractory purge guide, or a plurality of placement pins, maintain a fixed gap passage for the purge gases to pass alongside the edge of the wafer and into the processing area of the chamber. An exhaust pumping plate improves the uniformity of exhaustion of spent gases from the chamber.