A sputter deposition apparatus including: a remote plasma generation arrangement arranged to provide a plasma for sputter deposition of target material within a sputter deposition zone; a confining arrangement arranged to provide a confining magnetic field to substantially confine the plasma in the sputter deposition zone a substrate provided within the sputter deposition zone; and one or more target support assemblies arranged to support one or more targets in the sputter deposition zone so as to provide for sputter deposition of the target material on the substrate. The confining arrangement confines the remote plasma to the target support assemblies such that in use there is deposited: target material as a first region on the substrate; target material as a second region on the substrate; and an intermediate region between the first and second region with no target material.

A titanium aluminide (TiAl) coating capable of improving high-temperature oxidation resistance of titanium alloys and a preparation method thereof are provided. The TiAl coating includes α-AlF.sub.3 nanoparticles, and a content of the α-AlF.sub.3 nanoparticles is 5-30 vol. % of the TiAl coating. The preparation method of the TiAl coating includes: using a TiAl alloy target and an α-AlF.sub.3 target as raw materials, and performing magnetron sputtering on a substrate surface to prepare a coating; the magnetron sputtering is double-target co-sputtering, and a substrate temperature during the magnetron sputtering is 150° C., the TiAl alloy target is performed direct current sputtering with a power of 0.5-2 kW, and the α-AlF.sub.3 target is performed radio frequency sputtering with a power of 0.07-0.2 kW. After the coating is obtained by the double-target co-sputtering, the obtained coating is heat-treated at 600-800° C. for 5-20 h to obtain a final coating.

Certain examples described herein relate to a sputter deposition apparatus including a substrate holder, a target loader, a plasma source to generate a plasma, and a magnet arrangement. The substrate holder is to position a substrate in a sputter deposition zone for sputter deposition of target material from a first target to the substrate in use. The target loader is to move a second target from a target priming zone into the sputter deposition zone for sputter deposition of target material from the second target to the substrate in use. The magnet arrangement configured to confine the plasma within the apparatus to the target priming zone and the sputter deposition zone. Within the target priming zone, a respective target is exposed to the plasma in use. The sputter deposition zone provides for sputter deposition of target material.

A sputter deposition apparatus including: a substrate support assembly arranged to support a substrate; a target support assembly arranged to support at least one sputter target for use in a sputter deposition of a target material onto the substrate; a plasma generation arrangement arranged to provide plasma for said sputter deposition; and a cartridge arranged to contain the substrate with deposited target material after said sputter deposition. The cartridge is removable from the sputter deposition apparatus.

Provided is a Low-E glass plate protection method capable of preventing or inhibiting Low-E layer alteration. In the protection method, a protective sheet having a substrate and a PSA layer provided to at least one face of the substrate is applied for protection via the PSA layer to a Low-E glass plate having a Low-E layer that comprises a zinc component. The method is characterized by using the protective sheet wherein the PSA layer is formed from a water-dispersed PSA composition and includes less than 850 μg ammonia per gram of PSA layer weight.

Ternary and quaternary shape memory alloys, particularly nickel-titanium based quaternary and quaternary shape memory alloys, are disclosed and made by a method employing physical vapor deposition (PVD), such as by sputtering, of NiTiX, wherein X is a ternary metal constituent. By employing PVD processing, ternary and quaternary NiTi alloy bulk materials may be made in in the as-deposited state such that the configuration and conformation of a desired precursor material, e.g., wires, tubes, planar materials, curvilinear, or as the near finished end product, such as a hypotube for stent manufacture, semilunar for cardiac valves or conical for embolic or caval filters, is formed on a removable deposition substrate in the configuration and conformation of the precursor material or near-finished end product.

Provided is a Low-E glass plate protection method capable of preventing or inhibiting Low-E layer alteration. The protection method includes a step of applying a protective sheet to a surface of a Low-E glass plate having a Low-E layer comprising a zinc component. Here, the protective sheet has a PSA layer. The Low-E layer comprises a zinc component. The PSA layer includes ammonia and an acid or acid salt capable of forming a counterion to an ammonium ion.

An Fe—Co—Al alloy magnetic thin film contains, in terms of atomic ratio, 20% to 30% Co and 1.5% to 2.5% Al. The Fe—Co—Al alloy magnetic thin film has a crystallographic orientation such that the (100) plane is parallel to a substrate surface and the <100> direction is perpendicular to the substrate surface. The Fe—Co—Al alloy magnetic thin film has good magnetic properties, that is, a magnetization of 1440 emu/cc or more, a coercive force of less than 100 Oe, a damping factor of less than 0.01, and an FMR linewidth ΔH at 30 GHz of less than 70 Oe.

An apparatus for sputter deposition of material on a substrate. The apparatus includes a deposition chamber and a cathode array mounted in the deposition chamber. The array has three or more rotating cathodes. Each cathode has a cylindric target of equal target length L.sub.T and a magnetic system. The cathodes are spaced from one another such that their longitudinal axes Y.sub.Cj are arranged parallel to each other, in a distance T.sub.SD from a substrate plane S, and spaced apart along a projection of a substrate axis X in a distance T.sub.TT, whereat each cathode of the cathode array includes a magnetic system. The magnetic system of at least one cathode is swivel mounted round respective cathode axis Y.sub.Cj to swivel the magnetic system into and out of a swivel plane P.sub.TS. A pedestal is designed to support at least one substrate of maximal dimensions x*y to be coated in a static way. The pedestal is positioned in the deposition chamber in front of and centered with reference to the cathode array. At least one pulsed power supply is configured for supplying and controlling a power to at least one of the cathodes.

In a method for coating a base body, a first target and a second target are arranged in a vacuum chamber. A base body to be coated is arranged in the vacuum chamber is heated to a coating temperature of less than 600° C. During sputtering with sputter gas ions, first target particles are liberated from the first target and second target particles are liberated from the second target and are deposited as coating particles on the base body. A first sputter rate is specified for the first target and a second sputter rate is specified for the second target such that, during the sputtering process, the coating is generated as an A15 phase with an intended stoichiometric ratio of the first target particles to the second target particles. A functional element has a base body and a coating of Nb.sub.3Sn applied directly on the surface of the base body.