Appeal No. 2001-1812
Application No. 08/854,008
igniting a plasma in said chamber adjacent to said target;
after said plasma has been ignited, holding an interior of
said chamber at a pressure of less than 1×10-6Torr and applying
sufficient electrical power to said target to self-sustain a
target plasma in a volume of said chamber adjacent to said magnet
assembly; and
moving said magnet assembly over said side of said target,
wherein said magnet assembly has an area between magnet portions
thereof of no more than 25% of an area of said target.
The references set forth below are relied upon by the
examiner as evidence of obviousness:
Mikalesen et al. (Mikalesen) 4,824,544 Apr. 25, 1989
Demaray et al. (Demaray) 5,330,628 Jul. 19, 1994
Hazuki (JP) 61-1747251 Aug. 6, 1986
Tokuda Seisakusho (JP) 64-282911 Jan. 31, 1989
Tokyo Electron (JP) 2-2982631 Dec. 10, 1990
Ogawa et al. (Ogawa)(JP) 3-1404671 Jun. 14, 1991
Naoe (JP) 3-2409441 Oct. 28, 1991
Igarashi (JP) 5-1952131 Aug. 3, 1993
Shiraishi (JP) 5-3114191 Nov. 22, 1993
Asamaki (JP) 7-1268441 May 16, 1995
Posadowski et al. (Posadowski), “Sustained self-sputtering using
a direct current magnetron source,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol A, Vol.
11, No. 6, pp. 2980-2984 (1993).
Asamaki et al. (Asamaki), “Copper Self-Sputtering by Planar
Magnetron,” Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 33, pt. 1, No. 5A,
pp. 2500-2503 (1994).
1 We refer to these Japanese references with the respective
names used by the examiner, and our understanding of these
references is based upon the respective English translations
thereof.
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