Abstract: A production process in which in an element isolation process for a magnetoresistive effect element, a re-deposited film adhered to a side wall of the element is efficiently removed by ion beam etching. Ion beam etching is performed while a substrate located being inclined relative to the grid is rotated. In the ion beam etching, an energy amount of an ion beam entering from a direction in which a pattern groove formed on the substrate extends is increased larger than the energy amount of the ion beam entering from another direction by controlling a rotation speed of the substrate, and the re-deposited film adhered to the side wall of the magnetoresistive effect element formed on the substrate is efficiently removed by etching.

Abstract: A vacuum processing apparatus includes a tilting unit configured to tilt, in a vacuum vessel, a substrate holder including a refrigerator, and a rotary joint provided in the tilting unit and including a coolant path configured to supply or exhaust a coolant gas to or from the refrigerator. The rotary joint includes a fixed portion fixed to the vacuum vessel, a pivotal portion provided so as to pivot with respect to the fixed portion and fixed to the substrate holder, and a grease supply passage.

Abstract: A magnetic recording medium having high coercivity, in which an L10-type ordered alloy with a high magnetic anisotropy is used in a magnetic recording layer, and a method for manufacturing the magnetic recording medium at high throughput are provided. By providing a metal base layer having a face-centered cubic structure below an orientation control layer which is for enhancing crystallinity of the magnetic recording layer that contains the ordered alloy having an L10-type structure, the magnetic recording layer that has enough high coercivity even in the case of reducing a thickness of the orientation control layer can be deposited, and the thickness of the orientation control layer that is mainly made of oxide can be reduced, whereby the throughput can be improved.

Abstract: A substrate holder stocker device capable of reducing foot print is provided. The device includes: a movable table A which holds a plurality of substrate holders side by side in a plate thickness direction thereof and moves back and forth; a movable table B which is provided parallel to the movable table A and holds a plurality of the substrate holders side by side in a plate thickness direction thereof, and which moves back and forth; and an inter-table transfer mechanism for allowing the substrate holder which is held by one of the movable tables A and B stopped at predetermined positions to be held by the other of the movable tables A and B.

Abstract: The inventors of this invention conducted a test and found out that to prevent peel-off of an adherent film, it is not of essential importance to set the radius of curvature equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold. The inventors of the present invention also found out that peel-off of an adherent film occurs in the region in which the curvature of a shield changes and is less likely to occur when the change in curvature of the shield is small. Accordingly, the key to the problem is the magnitude of a change in curvature of the shield, so changing the curvature stepwise makes it possible to suppress a large change in curvature, and thus to prevent peel-off of an adherent film free from any disadvantages such as deterioration in film thickness distribution, which may occur due to an increase in size of the shield.

Abstract: In fin FET fabrication, side walls of a semiconductor fin formed on a substrate have certain roughness. Using such fins having roughness may induce variations in characteristics between transistors due to their shapes or the like. An object of the present invention is to provide a fin FET fabrication method capable of improving device characteristic by easily reducing the roughness of the side walls of fins after formation. In one embodiment of the present invention, side walls of a semiconductor fin are etched by an ion beam extracted from a grid to reduce the roughness of the side walls.

Abstract: A film thickness distribution exists in a substrate plane after CMP step. This film thickness distribution results in, for example, variation in gate threshold value voltages of metal gates, and causes variation in element characteristics. It is an object of the present invention to easily improve the film thickness distribution processed by this CMP step. By using the ion beam etching method after the CMP step, the film thickness distribution in the plane of the substrate 111 is corrected. More specifically, when the ion beam etching is performed, the plasma density in the plasma generation chamber 102 is caused to be different between a position facing a central portion in the plane of the substrate 111 and a position facing an outer peripheral portion, so that the etching rate in the central portion in the plane of the substrate 111 and the etching rate in the outer peripheral portion in the substrate plane 111 are caused to be different.

Abstract: The present invention provides a film forming apparatus and a film forming method which are unlikely to be affected by changes in size and shape of a shield board caused by a recovery process. A film forming apparatus includes a shield board surrounding a sputtering space between a process-target substrate on a stage and a target facing each other in a vacuum chamber, and forms a film on the process-target substrate by causing at least one kind of reactive gas and a film forming material to react with each other. The film forming apparatus is configured to control a ratio of the flow rate of the gas to be introduced into the sputtering space to the flow rate of the gas to be introduced into a space between an inner wall of the vacuum chamber and the shield board, based on a pressure value of the sputtering space measured by pressure detection means.

Abstract: In an embodiment of the present invention, the following operations are performed while a substrate holder is being rotated at a fixed rotation speed with plasma being generated. Specifically, a first state where a substrate holding surface of the substrate holder is exposed to a target holder is formed to start a first deposition of divisional depositions, and a second state where the surface is shut off from the target holder is formed in T/X seconds after the start of the first divisional deposition. Moreover, the first state is formed to start an n-th deposition of the divisional depositions when a reference point set on the substrate holder arrived at a position rotated by (n?1)×360/X degrees from a position of the reference point located at the start of the targeted deposition, and the second state is formed in T/X seconds after the start of the n-th divisional deposition.

Abstract: This invention provides a production process in which in a process for producing a magnetoresistive effect element, noble metal atoms in a re-deposited film adhered to a side wall after element isolation are efficiently removed to prevent short-circuiting due to the re-deposited film. The noble metal atoms are selectively removed from the re-deposited film by applying an ion beam, formed using a plasma of a Kr gas or a Xe gas, to the re-deposited film formed on the side wall of the magnetoresistive effect element after the element isolation.

Abstract: An apparatus includes a process chamber, a substrate holder arranged in the process chamber, a first shield provided on the peripheral portion of the substrate holder, and a second shield provided inside the process chamber. The internal space of the process chamber is partitioned into an outer space and a process space to process the substrate, by at least the first shield, the second shield, and the substrate holder. The substrate holder can be driven along a driving direction perpendicular to a substrate holding surface. The length, in a direction parallel to the driving direction, of a minimum gap portion having a minimum size in a direction perpendicular to the driving direction between the first and second shields does not change even if the substrate holder is driven in the driving direction.

Abstract: A heat treatment apparatus including a vacuum vessel, a substrate stage which holds a substrate mounted on it, a heating unit for heating the substrate, and an exhaust unit for evacuating the vacuum vessel includes a first reflector which covers the upper portion of the exhaust port of the exhaust unit while being spaced apart from the exhaust port, and a second reflector which surrounds the exhaust port. At least one of reflector members which form the second reflector faces a direction defined from the heating unit to the exhaust port.

Abstract: A sputtering apparatus includes a chamber, a substrate holder, first to fourth target holders, a shutter unit, and a gate valve through which the substrate is conveyed. The first to fourth target holders are arranged on vertices of a virtual rectangle having long sides and short sides and inscribed in a virtual circle centered on the axis, the first target holder and the second target holder are respectively arranged on two vertices defining one short side of the virtual rectangle, and a distance to the gate valve is shorter than distances from the third target holder and the fourth target holder to the gate valve.

Abstract: A sputtering apparatus includes a shutter unit, a plurality of target holders, and a substrate holder which can rotate about an axis perpendicular to a surface on which a substrate is held. The shutter unit includes a first shutter having first and second apertures and a second shutter having third and fourth apertures. The plurality of target holders are arranged on a first virtual circle centered on the axis, with the arrangement intervals between the plurality of target holders on the first virtual circle including at least two types of arrangement intervals.

Abstract: Provided is a substrate processing apparatus including an openable and closable lid and being capable of precisely controlling a gap between multiple shields. The substrate processing apparatus includes: an openable and closable lid provided on an opening of a chamber; a first shield provided on a surface of the lid at the chamber side and having an insertion hole; an insertion section fixed to the lid while inserted through the insertion hole, and configured to support the first shield in a manner movable within a predetermined distance; a restriction section provided on an end portion of the insertion section and configured to restrict the movement of the first shield; and biasing means configured to bias the first shield to a member provided inside the chamber when the lid is closed.

Abstract: A vacuum processing apparatus includes a process chamber; a transport unit for transporting a plurality of substrates; a gas supply unit; a substrate processing unit for processing the substrates placed on the transport unit; a detection unit for detecting a substrate interval between adjacent substrates out of the plurality of substrates; and a control unit for controlling, based on the substrate interval detected by the detection unit, a supply amount of the gas to be supplied by the gas supply unit.

Abstract: The present invention provides a processing apparatus including a supply source including a first supply source and a second supply source arranged to respectively face a first surface of a substrate and a second surface on an opposite side to the first surface and configured to supply a material to apply a process to the substrate, a shield member including a first shield provided around the first supply source and a second shield provided around the second supply source, the first shield and the second shield being arranged to sandwich the substrate, and a moving device configured to move the first shield and the second shield to set one of a close state in which the first shield and the second shield are close to each other and a separate state in which the first shield and the second shield are separate from each other.

Abstract: An apparatus includes a plurality of target electrodes having attachment surfaces, a substrate holder, a first shutter member provided between the plurality of target electrodes and the substrate holder and having a plurality of openings, a first separating portion disposed between the openings of the first shutter member on its surface of the target electrode side, and a second separating portion disposed between the first shutter member and the target electrodes. The first shutter member is driven so as to bring the first separating portion and the second separating portion toward each other so that an indirect path can be formed between the first separating portion and the second separating portion, and driven so as to bring the first separating portion and the second separating portion away from each other so that the first shutter plate can be rotated.

Abstract: An electronic device manufacturing method includes a first step of moving a substrate holder close to a first shield member and locating a first projecting portion formed on the first shield member and having a ring shape and a second projecting portion having a ring shape and formed on a second shield member installed on the surface of the substrate holder at the outer peripheral portion of a substrate at a position to engage with each other in a noncontact state, a second step of, after the first step, sputtering a target while maintaining the first projecting portion and the second projecting portion at the position to engage with each other in the noncontact state, and a third step of, after the second step, setting the first shield member in an open state and sputtering the target to perform deposition on the substrate.

Abstract: Provided is a substrate processing apparatus including an openable and closable lid and being capable of precisely controlling a gap between multiple shields. The substrate processing apparatus includes: an openable and closable lid provided on an opening of a chamber; a first shield provided on a surface of the lid at the chamber side and having an insertion hole; an insertion section fixed to the lid while inserted through the insertion hole, and configured to support the first shield in a manner movable within a predetermined distance; a restriction section provided on an end portion of the insertion section and configured to restrict the movement of the first shield; and biasing means configured to bias the first shield to a member provided inside the chamber when the lid is closed.