Granted Patent B2

US 12,668,870 · App. 18/522,193 · Granted Jun 30, 2026

Inventors: Narasimhan Srinivasan (Plainview, NY); Tania Henry (Plainview, NY); Frank Cerio (Plainview, NY); Paul Turner (Plainview, NY); Vincent Ip (Plainview, NY); Rutvik Mehta (Plainview, NY)

Assignee: VEECO INSTRUMENTS INC.

C23C14/3442C23C14/16H01J37/3426

Abstract

Claims (17)

1 . A metal film comprising:

a thickness of about 100 to about 300 Angstroms,

a resistivity of about 8 to 12 μΩ-cm, and

a highly oriented crystalline structure with greater than 90% of grains in a dominant orientation.

2 . The metal film of claim 1 , wherein the metal film is tungsten.

3 . The metal film of claim 2 , having no discernable β-phase.

4 . The metal film of claim 1 , wherein the crystalline structure has α(110) as the dominant orientation and an average grain size greater than 100 nm.

5 . The metal film of claim 1 formed by:

depositing a metal material from a target onto a substrate via ion beam deposition in a process chamber, the substrate at a temperature of at least 250° C.; and

simultaneously bombarding at least some of the deposited material from the substrate in the process chamber with an assist ion beam at a net deposition rate of at least 0.5 angstroms/second.

6 . The metal film of claim 5 , wherein the metal film, the metal material, and the target all comprise tungsten.

7 . The metal film of claim 5 , further formed by adjusting an ion beam deposition rate and an assist ion beam bombardment rate to control a microstructure, grain size and grain orientation of the metal film.

8 . The metal film of claim 5 , further formed by adjusting an ion beam deposition rate and an assist ion beam bombardment rate to control a smoothness of the metal film.

9 . The metal film of claim 5 , wherein the metal film is made using a single step with an ion beam deposition rate and an ion beam bombardment rate.

10 . The metal film of claim 5 , wherein the metal film is made using multiple steps, including a first step with a first ion beam deposition rate and a first ion beam bombardment rate and a second step with a second ion beam deposition rate and a second ion beam bombardment rate.

11 . The metal film of claim 5 , wherein the assist ion beam utilizes a voltage of at least 100V and no more than 1000V.

12 . The metal film of claim 5 , wherein the net deposition rate is between 0.5 angstroms/second and 200 angstroms/second.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (55)