Electrochromic devices and methods may employ the addition of a defect-mitigating insulating layer which prevents electronically conducting layers and/or electrochromically active layers from contacting layers of the opposite polarity and creating a short circuit in regions where defects form. In some embodiments, an encapsulating layer is provided to encapsulate particles and prevent them from ejecting from the device stack and risking a short circuit when subsequent layers are deposited. The insulating layer may have an electronic resistivity of between about 1 and 10.sup.8 Ohm-cm. In some embodiments, the insulating layer contains one or more of the following metal oxides: aluminum oxide, zinc oxide, tin oxide, silicon aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, tungsten oxide, nickel tungsten oxide, and oxidized indium tin oxide. Carbides, nitrides, oxynitrides, and oxycarbides may also be used.

An arc treatment device includes an arc detector operable to detect whether an arc is present in a plasma chamber, an arc energy determiner operable to determine an arc energy value based on an energy supplied to the plasma chamber while the arc is present in the plasma chamber, and a break time determiner operable to determine a break time based on the determined arc energy value.

A vacuum device includes a processing target placement unit that is arranged inside a vacuum chamber and a vacuum evacuation unit that is connected to the vacuum chamber. The processing target placement unit has one main surface on which processing targets are placed and a side surface that is connected to the one main surface. The processing target placement unit is provided with a plurality of grooves that have openings at the one main surface. When the processing target placement unit is viewed from the one main surface side thereof, the smallest width of the opening of each groove in the one main surface is equal to or less than half the smallest width of the processing target.

The present disclosure provides embodiments of a system and method for detecting processing chamber condition. The embodiments include performing a wafer-less processing step in a processing chamber to determine the condition of the chamber walls. Based on an analysis of the residual gas resulting from the wafer-less processing step, an operator or a processing controller can determine whether the chamber walls have deteriorated to such an extent as to be cleaned.

Embodiments of methods and systems for an inductively coupled plasma sweeping source for an IPVD system. In an embodiment, a method includes providing a large size substrate in a processing chamber. The method may also include generating from a metal source a sputtered metal onto the substrate. Additionally, the method may include creating a high density plasma from a high density plasma source and applying the high density plasma in a sweeping operation without involving moving parts. The method may also include controlling a plurality of operating variables in order to meet one or more plasma processing objectives.

A film formation apparatus includes a chamber that is a sealed container in which a target formed of a film formation material is placed, and into which the workpiece is carried, a gas discharging unit discharging a gas in the sealed container for a predetermined time period after the workpiece is carried into the chamber to obtain a base pressure, and a sputter gas introducing unit introducing a sputter gas containing oxygen to the interior of the chamber having undergone the discharging and becoming the base pressure. The sputter gas introducing unit decreases an oxygen partial pressure in the sputter gas to be introduced in the chamber in accordance with an increase in the base pressure due to an increase of the film formation material sticking to the interior of the chamber.

A device has an ion beam source for coating at least one substrate in a vacuum chamber, which chamber has an inlet that is closable in a pressure-tight manner using a closure apparatus and through which the at least one substrate can be fixed in the vacuum chamber in a substrate holder in a substrate holder receptacle, and can be removed therefrom once the coating process has finished, wherein the substrate holder, together with the substrate, in the substrate holder receptacle is designed to be reversibly movable in a translational manner inside the vacuum chamber, between turning points that are in particular settable, using a motor-drivable transport apparatus of the device.

A magnetron structure is described for use in a sputtering apparatus. The magnetron structure comprises a magnetron and a controller rigidly connected to the magnetron. The controller is adapted for at least partly controlling a condition and/or a functioning of the sputtering unit.

A magnet bar structure for a sputter magnetron system comprises a magnet bar having attached to it a sensing device for sensing intrinsic and/or extrinsic properties of a tubular sputtering target when mounted over the magnet bar structure.

Provided is a niobium sputtering target having improved film thickness uniformity throughout the target life.

In the niobium sputtering target, a rate of change in a {111} area ratio of each of an upper, central, and lower portions of the sputtering target, as represented by the following equation (2), is 2.5 or less, and the {111} area ratio of each of the upper, central and lower portions is determined by dividing a cross section of a plate-shaped sputtering target perpendicular to a sputtering surface into three equal portions: the upper portion, the central portion and the lower portion from a sputtering surface side in a normal direction of the sputtering surface at an intermediate position between a center and an outer circumference of the sputtering surface of the plate-shaped sputtering target, and measuring a crystal orientation distribution of each of measured regions of the upper portion, the central portion, and the lower portion using an EBSD method:

the {111} area ratio=total area of crystal grains having a {111} plane oriented in the normal direction in the measured regions/total area of the measured regions  Equation (1);

the rate of change=[maximum value−minimum value]/minimum value  Equation (2).