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A sputtering system is a physical vapor deposition tool used to form thin films on wafer surfaces. A sputtering system transfers material from a target to a substrate in vacuum by ejecting atoms from the target and allowing them to condense on the wafer. A deposition tool of this class is used when a process flow needs a controlled metal or compound film rather than a grown or plated layer.

Physical vapor deposition tools operate by creating a vacuum environment, introducing process gas, sustaining a plasma, and removing material from a target so that the released species travel to the wafer and form a film. Sputtering tools commonly use direct current or radio frequency power depending on the target material and process needs. Sputtering tools may also apply substrate bias or preclean functions to influence film adhesion, density, and interface condition.

Deposition tools of this class sit in module builds where conductive, barrier, adhesion, seed, or other functional thin films must be added to patterned or unpatterned wafers. A sputtering step is commonly placed after wafer cleaning and before later lithography, etch, anneal, lift-off, or integration steps, depending on the device flow. A vacuum deposition step is chosen when the process requires a deposited film with controlled composition and thickness across the wafer surface.

Sputtering systems are used for thin-film formation in semiconductor, microsystem, and related wafer processes. Sputtering systems can deposit metals, alloys, and some compound films for interconnect, contact, electrode, barrier, adhesion, and similar functional layers. Sputtering systems can also support surface preparation by plasma-based preclean or etch functions before deposition.