A system is disclosed, including a processing chamber for a deposition process; a cathode within the chamber, configured to introduce a sputter gas and a reactive gas adjacent to a target; a substrate holder, disposed opposite the cathode within the processing chamber, configured to secure a substrate to receive a deposition from the target; and a control system configured to monitor a target voltage and to control a flow rate of the reactive gas to maintain the target voltage within a desired range during the deposition process. Methods and devices for deposition processes are also disclosed.

A DC magnetron sputtering apparatus is for depositing a film on a substrate. The apparatus includes a chamber, a substrate support positioned within the chamber, a DC magnetron, and an electrical signal supply device for supplying an electrical bias signal that, in use, causes ions to bombard a substrate positioned on the substrate support. The substrate support includes a central region surrounded by an edge region, the central region being raised with respect to the edge region.

A virtual cathode deposition apparatus utilises virtual plasma cathode for generation of high density electron beam to ablate a solid target. A high voltage electrical pulse ionizes gas to produce a plasma which temporarily appears in front of the target and serves as the virtual plasma cathode at the vicinity of target. This plasma then disappears allowing the ablated target material in a form of a plasma plume to propagate toward the substrate. Several virtual cathodes operating in parallel provide plumes that merge into a uniform plasma which when condensing on a nearby substrate leads to wide area deposition of a uniform thickness thin film.

The invention relates to a method for coating a substrate 40, a coating system for carrying out the method, and a coated body. In a first method step 62, the substrate 40 is to pretreated in a ion etching process. In a second method step 64, a first coating layer 56a with a thickness of 0.1 μm to 6 μm is deposited on the substrate 40 by means of a PVD process. In order to achieve a particularly high-quality and durable coating 50, the surface of the first coating layer 56a is treated by means of an ion etching process in a third method step 66, and an additional coating layer 56b with a thickness of 0.1 μm to 6 μm is deposited on the first coating layer 56a by means of a PVD process in a fourth method step 68. The coated body comprises at least two coating layers 56a, 56b, 56c, 56d with a thickness of 0.1 μm to 6 μm on a substrate 40, wherein an interface region formed by ion etching is arranged between the coating layers 56a, 56b, 56c, 56d.

A plasma processing system used for reactive sputtering may include multiple dual magnetron sputtering (DMS) components. Each DMS component may include a power supply coupled with two electrodes that switch between operation as a cathode and anode and are located within a plasma chamber. The power supply may be configured to operate as a transmitter or receiver power supply. A transmitter power supply may receive a phase-control-input signal that includes a phase offset value and may produce a phase-control-output signal and synchronization signal. The transmitter power supply may send the phase-control-output signal and synchronization signal to a receiver power supply, which may use these signals to synchronize electrode switching with the transmitter power supply and to apply the phase offset.

The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for pretreating and coating bodies by means of magnetron sputtering. In a vacuum chamber having a metallic chamber wall (26), magnetrons with sputter targets are arranged, at least one of which is an HPPMS magnetron to which electric pulses are fed by connecting a capacitive element (6) with the sputter target of the HPPMS magnetron via a switching element (5). To achieve effective pretreatment and coating of substrates it is provided according to a first aspect to arrange the switching element on the chamber wall. According to a second aspect, an electrode pair is provided, wherein a first electrode is an HPPMS magnetron (1) and the first and second electrodes are arranged in such a manner that a body (11) supported on a substrate table (4) is arranged between the active surfaces of the electrode pair or is moved through the space between the active surfaces of the electrode pair. In a third aspect, a method is provided, wherein, in an etch step, a negative bias voltage is applied to the body and the body is etched by means of metal ion bombardment, and subsequently the bias voltage is continuously lowered so that material sputtered-off from the sputter targets results in a layer build-up on the body.

An apparatus for generating sputtering of a target to produce a coating on a substrate is provided. The apparatus has a magnetron including a cathode and an anode. A power supply is operably connected to the magnetron and at least one capacitor is operably connected to the power supply. The apparatus also includes an inductance operably connected to the at least one capacitor. A first switch and a second switch are also provided. The first switch operably connects the power supply to the magnetron to charge the magnetron and the first switch is configured to charge the magnetron according to a first pulse. The second switch is operably connected to discharge the magnetron. The second switch is configured to discharge the magnetron according to a second pulse.

A high-power pulsed surface processing system includes insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) to replicate desirable pulse structures with high precision, at low cost, and with high reliability within a single system. The pulsed surface processing system includes a power supply, an anode and a cathode, a dual gate driver supplying power to one or more IGBT gates, and one or more capacitor banks. Pulse formation software controls the timing and duration of electrical pulses to the electrodes. A freewheeling diode protects the system from an abrupt reduction of current in the circuit. The high-power pulsed surface processing system may be used to control versatile and complex pulse structures while with precise control of instantaneous pulse powers, pulse timing, and process control. The inclusion of dual gate drivers also offers the ability for multiple pulsers to be created and “slaved” together for a wide variety of custom processes.

The sputtering cathode has a tubular shape having a pair of long sides facing each other in cross-sectional shape, has a sputtering target whose erosion surface faces inward, and a magnetic circuit is provided along the sputtering target. The pair of long sides are constituted by rotary targets each having a cylindrical shape. The rotary target is internally provided with a magnetic circuit and configured to allow the flow of cooling water. The magnetic circuit is provided parallel to the central axis of the rotary target and has a rectangular cross-sectional shape having a long side perpendicular to the radial direction of the rotary target.

Power supplies, waveform function generators and methods for controlling a plasma process are described. The power supplies or waveform function generators include a component for executing the method in which a waveform shape change index is determined during a plasma process and evaluated for compliance with a predetermined tolerance.