EP0061906A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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A method of, and an apparatus for, processing a workpiece with energetic particles and a product processed thereby
Assignee: Japan Kinoko Research Center Foundation
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Filing: 1982-03-25
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2002-03-25
Abstract
Abstract A method of and an apparatus for processing (e.g. plating, diffusion, etching or milling) a workpiece (2) with energetic particles of atomic or molecular size, i.e. ions and/or neutral particles (atoms or molecules), are provided, using a plurality of beams (7, 8) of such particles obtained from different source substances and impinging jointly on the workpiece (2). The plural beams of ions, or parallel- produced beam(s) of ions and beam(s) of neutral particles may be applied simultaneously or successively on the workpiece (2). Each beam of ions or neutral particles of a given substance is preferably pulsed with a pulse duration of 0.5 to 10 microseconds to produce a cluster thereof containing the particles therein ranging between 100 and 1000 in number. The pulsing of the beam may be effected by pulsing an ionization voltage for forming ions of each particular substance and pulsing an energy beam applied to a source material for providing neutral particles, and/or pulsing the extraction/acceleration voltage for the feimed ions to direct them to impinge with an adjusted magnitude of impact energy on the workpiece (2) and pu sing the vacuum pressure used to extract and direct the neutral particles to impinge with an adjusted magnitude of inpact energy on the workpiece (2). Different and parallel produced beams may be focused to form a unitary composite bean in which different energetic particles are mixed together prior to impingement on the workpiece (2). A programmed controller is provided to variably establish the numbers, the total charges, the mass-to-charge ratios, the magnitudes of impact energy and other parameters of the energetic particles in the respective beams impinging on the workpiece.
Inventors
- 👤 Kiyoshi Inoue
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 03:40
CPC Classifications
H; H01; H01J; H01J37/00; H01J37/32; H01J37/32431; C; C23; C23C; C23C14/00; C23C14/22; C23C14/221; C23C14/48; C23C8/00; C23C8/06; C23C8/36; C30; C30B; C30B33/00
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 59
Claim 1
Independent Claim
133 words
A method of processing a workpiece with energetic particles, comprising:therstepsxof a) disposing said workpiece within an evacuation chamber; b) providing a plurality of sources of such particles of predetermined different substances and arranging said sources within respective receptacles so that each of siad receptacles is in vacuum communication with said chamber and opens towards said workpiece; said c) forming siad particles of the respective substances from the corresponding sources within the respective receptacles; and d) extracting said formed particles of the respective substances from the respective receptacles in the form of res- beams pective particle beams (fluxes) directed towards said workpiece and beams energizing the extracted particles in the respective fluxes of them the different substances to propelLwith respective magnitudes of kinetic energy to bombard said workpiece jointly therewith in said evacuation chamber.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
133 words
A method of processing a workpiece with energetic particles, comprising:therstepsxof a) disposing said workpiece within an evacuation chamber; b) providing a plurality of sources of such particles of predetermined different substances and arranging said sources within respective receptacles so that each of siad receptacles is in vacuum communication with said chamber and opens towards said workpiece; said c) forming siad particles of the respective substances from the corresponding sources within the respective receptacles; and d) extracting said formed particles of the respective substances from the respective receptacles in the form of res- beams pective particle beams (fluxes) directed towards said workpiece and beams energizing the extracted particles in the respective fluxes of them the different substances to propelLwith respective magnitudes of kinetic energy to bombard said workpiece jointly therewith in said evacuation chamber.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
34 words
A according to 2. the method definedxin claim 1, wherein said energetic beams particles in at least one of said fluxes are continuously extracted from the corresponding receptacle to continuously impinge upon said workpiece.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
21 words
A according to 3. The method defined in claim 2,wherein said energetic beam particles in each of said fluxes are ions.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
40 words
A according to beams 4. The method defined claim 2,wherein said fluxes com- beam prise at least one flux of the energetic particles constituted beam by ions and at least one flux of the energetic particles constituted by neutral particles.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
43 words
A according to 5. The method defined in claim 3 or claim 4, further com- beams beam prising focusing said fluxes to form a unitary flux in which the energetic particles of the different substances are mixed prior to impingement upon said workpiece.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
32 words
A according to 6. The method defined in claim 5, further comprising the step of controlling the proportion of said energetic ions to said energetic neutral particles in said unitary flux beam.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
34 words
A according to 7. The method defined in claim 5, further comprising the step of displacing said workpiece within said vacuum chamber to subject successive surface areas thereof to impingement of said unitary flux.beam.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
44 words
A according to 8. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising beams pulsing at least one of said fluxes with a predetermined time duration to form a cluster of the corresponding energetic particles and bombarding said workpiece with said particles in the cluster.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
36 words
A according to 9. The method defined in claim 8,wherein said time duration ranges between 0.5 and 10 microseconds to form the cluster having said energetic particles grouped therein ranging between 100 and 1000 in number.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
36 words
A according to 10. The method defined in claim 8,wherein said at least one beam flux is pulsed intermittently to form a succession of clusters of the individual energetic particles for successive impingment upon said workpiece.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
28 words
A according to beams 11. The method defined in claim 10, wherein said fluxes com- beams prise two fluxes of the energetic particles composed of two different substances.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
24 words
A according to 12. The method defined in claim 10,wherein said energetic beams particles in said two fluxes are ions of the different substances.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
43 words
A according to 13. The method defined in claim 10, wherein said energetic beams particles in one of said two fluxes are ions of a first substance beam and said energetic particles in the other flux are neutral particles of a second substance.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
69 words
A according to 14. The method defined in claim 13, further comprising the beams steps of focusing said first and second fluxes to form a unitary beam beam flux to mix said ions in said first flux and said neutral par- beam ticles in said second flux together prior to impingement upon beams said workpiece and pulsing one of the first and second fluxes repetitively with said pulse duration.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
38 words
A according to 15. The method defined in claim 14, further comprising the step of controlling the mass to charge ratio of said energetic particles impinging upon said particles at least in part by controlling said pulse duration.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
52 words
A according to beams 16. The method defined in claim 1Q wherein said two fluxes are pulsed out of phase to produce a first cluster of the energetic particles of a first substance and a second cluster of the energetic particles of a second substance alternately for alternate impingement upon said workpiece.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
28 words
A according to 17. The method defined in claim 16,wherein the energetic particles in said first and second clusters are ions of the first and second substances, respectively.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
38 words
A according to 18. The method defined in claim l6,wherein the energetic particles in said first cluster are ions of the first substance and the energetic particles in said second cluster are neutral particles of the second substance.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
53 words
A according to 19. The method defined in claim 16, further comprising the step of controlling the time durations of pulsing said first and beams second fluxes, respectively, to control the ratio in numbers of the energetic particles in said first and second clusters impinging upon said workpiece for a given time period.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
22 words
A according to 20. The method defined in claim 19, wherein each of said time duration ranges between 0.5 and 10 microseconds.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
60 words
A according to beams 21. The method defined in claim 10, wherein said two fluxes are recurrently pulsed substantially synchronously to produce a first cluster of the energetic particles constituted by ions of a first substance and a second cluster of the energetic particles constituted by neutral particles of a second substance, respectively, for substantially synchronous impingement upon said workpiece.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
54 words
A according to 22. The method defined in claim 21, further comprising the beams step of focusing said first and second fluxes to mix said energetic ions in said first cluster and said neutral particles in said second cluster together to form a unitary composite cluster ' thereof prior to impingement upon said workpiece.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
26 words
A according to 23. The method defined in claim 22, further comprising the step of controlling the mass to charge ratio of said unitary composite cluster.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
26 words
A according to beams 24. The method defined in claim 21,wherein said two fluxes are pulsed with the pulse duration ranging between 0.5 and 10 microseconds.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
42 words
A according to beams 25. The method defined in claim 1, wherein said fluxes com- beam prise at least one flux of said energetic particles constituted beam by ions and at least one flux of said energetic particles constituted by neutral particles.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
48 words
A according to 26. The method defined in claim 25, further comprising the beam step of pulsing said at least one flux of the energetic ions with a predetermined pulse duration to form a cluster having said ions grouped therein with a number ranging between 100 and 1000.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
85 words
A according to 27. The method defined in claim 26,wherein said energetic beam ions in said flux are extracted from said receptacle by applying an acceleration voltage ranging between 500 volts and 5 kilovolts recurrently pulsed with a pulse duration of 0.5 to 10 microseconds to form a succession of such clusters of said ions for successive impingement upon said workpiece, further comprising the step of controlling the impact energy of each of said successive clusters impinging on said workpiece by controlling said acceleration voltage.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
44 words
A according to 28. The method defined in claim 25,wherein said neutral beam particles in said at least one flux are formed within said corresponding receptacle by impinging an energy beam on said corresponding source to knock out atoms thereof constituting said neutral particles.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
65 words
A according to 29. The method defined in claim 28,wherein said neutral particles are extracted from said receptacle in the corresponding beam flux to acquire said corresponding magnitude of kinetic energy by applying a vacuum to said receptacle from a region proximal to said workpiece, further comprising the step of controlling said kinetic energy of said neutral particles by controlling the pressure of said vacuum.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
38 words
The A method defined in according to claim 28 or claim 29, further beam comprising the step of recurrently pulsing said at least one flux of said neutral particles by pulsing said energy beam impinging on said source.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
78 words
A according to 31. The method defined in claim 25, further comprising the step of maintaining the receptacle with said source of ions, the receptacle with said source of neutral particles and said evacuation chamber at pressures of 10 -3 to 10 Torr, 10 -6 to 10 -2 Torr and 10 -6 to 10 -4 Torr respectinely. (≈0.1333 to 1333 Pa,1.333 x 10 -4 to 1.333 Pa, and 1.333 x 10 to 1.333 x 10 -2 Pa),respective ly.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
31 words
A according to beams 32. The method defined in claim 1, wherein said fluxes com- beam prise more than one fluxes of said energetic particles constituted by ions of different substances.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
37 words
A according to 33. The method defined in claim 1 or claim 32, further com- beams prising the step of sequentially producing the fluxes of said energetic particles of different substances to bombard said workpiece successively therewith.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
35 words
A according to 34. The method defined in claim 33, wherein the impact energy of said energetic particles impinging on said workpiece suc- beams cessively with said sequential fluxes are set at predetermined respective magnitudes.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
48 words
A according to 35. The method defined in claim 34, further comprising beams maintaining each of said sequential fluxes of said energetic particles impinging on said workpiece for a predetermined time duration in conjunction with a predetermined crystallographi modification desired in the bombarded surface zone of the workpiece.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
33 words
A according to 36. The method defined in claim 32,wherein the different beams fluxes are sequentially produced by sequentially forming said particles of different substances from the corresponding sources in the respective receptacles.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
29 words
A according to 37. The method defined in claim 32,wherein the different beams fluxes are sequentially produced by sequentially extracting and energizing said particles formed in the respective receptacles.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
33 words
A according to 38. The method defined in claim 32,wherein said workpiece is bombarded with the energetic particles constituted by ions of different substances to sequentially deposite said substances successively on said workpiece.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
47 words
A according to 39. The method defined in claim 32, further comprising beams step of focusing said fluxes of energetic ions of the different substances prior to impingement upon said workpiece to form a beam composite flux of said ions mixed together for deposition upon said workpiece.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
48 words
A according to 40. The method defined in claim 32, further comprising the beams step of focusing said fluxes of energetic ions of the different substances prior to arrival on said workpiece to form a composite beam flux of ions mixed together for kinetic diffusion into said workpiece.
Claim 42
Independent Claim
140 words
An apparatus for processing a workpiece with energetic particles of atomic or molecular size, comprising: an evacuation chamber; support means for supporting said workpiece within said evacuation chamber$; a plurality of sources of such particles of predetermined different substances, each source being held within an individual receptacle which is in a vacuum communication with said chamber; a plurality of particle generating means associated with said plural sources, respectively, for forming said particle of the respective substances from the corresponding sources within said receptacles, respectively; a plurality of energy supply means associated with said plural receptacles, respectively, for withdrawing said formed particles of the respective substances therefrom in the form of beams respective particle fluxes directed towards said workpiece and beams energizing said respective fluxes to propel with respective magnitudes of kinetic energy for a joint bombardment of the workpiece therewith.
Claim 43
Independent Claim
140 words
An apparatus for processing a workpiece with energetic particles of atomic or molecular size, comprising: an evacuation chamber; support means for supporting said workpiece within said evacuation chamber$; a plurality of sources of such particles of predetermined different substances, each source being held within an individual receptacle which is in a vacuum communication with said chamber; a plurality of particle generating means associated with said plural sources, respectively, for forming said particle of the respective substances from the corresponding sources within said receptacles, respectively; a plurality of energy supply means associated with said plural receptacles, respectively, for withdrawing said formed particles of the respective substances therefrom in the form of beams respective particle fluxes directed towards said workpiece and beams energizing said respective fluxes to propel with respective magnitudes of kinetic energy for a joint bombardment of the workpiece therewith.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
79 words
An according to beams 42. The apparatus defined in claim 4l,wherein said fluxes beam comprise at least one flux of said energetic particles constituted by ions, said plural particle generating means comprise at least one ion chamber for forming said ions and said plural energy supply means comprise at least one voltage supply for applying an acceleration potential to said ions to cause them to propel with a predetermined magnitude of kinetic energy and to impinge upon said workpiece.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
66 words
An apparatus according to claim 41, wherein said beams comprise at least one beam of said energetic particles constituted by neutral particles, said plural generating means comprise at least one means for forming said neutral particles and said energy supply means comprise at least one means for ejecting said formed neutral particles with a predetermined magnitude of kinetic energy towards said workpiece from the corresponding receptacle.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
26 words
An apparatus according to claim 42 or 43,further comprising switching means for pulsing said at least one beam of said ions to form a cluster thereof.
Claim 47
Independent Claim
40 words
An apparatus according to any one of claims 41 - 44 including means for focusing said beams to form a unitary beam in which the energetic particles of the different substances are mixed prior to their impingement upon said workpiece.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
24 words
An apparatus according to claim 45 including means for controlling the proportion of the energetic particles from the individual beams in the unitary beam.
Claim 49
Independent Claim
35 words
An apparatus according to any one of claims of claims 41 -.46 including means for displacing said workpiece within said evacuation chamber to subject successive surface areas thereof to impingement of said beam or beams.
Claim 50
Independent Claim
45 words
An apparatus according to any one of claims 41 - 47 including means for pulsing at least one of said beams with a predetermined time duration to form a cluster of the corresponding energetic particles and bombarding said workpiece with said particles in the cluster.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
39 words
An apparatus according to claim 48 wherein the means provide pulses the time duration of which ranges between 0.5 and 10 microseconds to form the cluster having said energetic particles grouped therein ranging between 100 and 1000 in number.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
35 words
An apparatus according to claim 48 or 49 wherein the means pulses at least one said beam intermittently to form a succession of clusters of the individual energetic particles for successive impingement upon said workpiece.
Claim 53
Dependent Claim
24 words
An apparatus according to claim 45 and any claim appended thereto including means for pulsing one of the beams in the unitary beam repetitively.
Claim 54
Dependent Claim
43 words
An apparatus according to claim 45 and any claim appended thereto wherein said beams are pulsed out of phase to produce a first cluster of the energetic particles and a second cluster of the energetic particles alternately for alternate impingement upon said workpiece.
Claim 55
Independent Claim
30 words
An apparatus according to any one of claims 41 to 52 including means for extracting said energetic particles by applying an acceleration voltage ranging between 500 volts and 5 kilovolts.
Claim 56
Independent Claim
39 words
An apparatus according to any one of claims 41 to 53 including an arrangement whereby a beam of neutral particles is formed by impinging an energy beam on said source to knock out atoms thereof constituting said neutral particles.
Claim 57
Independent Claim
28 words
An apparatus according to any one of claims 41 to 54 including means for applying a vacuum to said evacuation chamber from a region proximal to said workpiece.
Claim 58
Independent Claim
112 words
An apparatus according to any one of claims 41 to 55 wherein one said source is a source of ions situated in one said receptacle, wherein another of said sources is a source of neutral particles situated in another said receptacle, the apparatus being so arranged that the receptacle with said source of ions, the receptacle with said source of neutral particles, and said evacuation chamber are maintained, respectively, at pressures of 10 -3 to 10 Torr, 10 -6 to 10 -2 Torr and 10 -6 to 10 -4 Torr (≈0.1333 to 1333 Pa, 1.333 x 10 -4 to 1.333 Pa, and 1.333 x 10 -4 to 1.333 x 10 -2 Pa).
Claim 59
Dependent Claim
31 words
A product processed by a method according to any one of claims 1 to 40 or with the use of an apparatus according to any one of claims 41 to 56.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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