Ultra-high vacuum apparatus and method for high productivity physical vapor deposition.

摘要

A magnetron sputtering system is provided that uses a backing plate assembly having an insulating spacer ring coupled between and hermetically sealed to the backing plate and an extender ring. The insulating spacer ring can be constructed from a ceramic material, and the extender ring can be constructed from a metal material. The use of this backing plate assembly allows the backing plate assembly to be coupled directly to the chamber walls with a metal-to-metal contact, while the backing plate remains electrically isolated from the chamber walls. This allows the sealing of a vacuum chamber in the magnetron sputtering system using a seal suitable for creating an ultra-high vacuum in the vacuum chamber.