Embodiments described herein provide for post deposition anneal of a substrate, having an amorphous carbon layer deposited thereon, to desirably reduce variations in local stresses thereacross. In one embodiment, a method of processing a substrate includes positioning a substrate, having an amorphous carbon layer deposited thereon, in a first processing volume, flowing an anneal gas into the first processing volume, heating the substrate to an anneal temperature of not more than about 450° C., and maintaining the substrate at the anneal temperature for about 30 seconds or more. Herein, the amorphous carbon layer was deposited on the substrate using a method which included positioning the substrate on a substrate support disposed in a second processing volume, flowing a processing gas into the second processing volume, applying pulsed DC power to a carbon target disposed in the second processing volume, forming a plasma of the processing gas, and depositing the amorphous carbon layer on the substrate.

A coated cutting tool includes a substrate with a coating including a (Ti,Al)N layer having an overall composition (Ti.sub.xAl.sub.1-x)N, 0.34≤x≤0.65. The (Ti,Al)N layer contains columnar (Ti,Al)N grains with an average grain size of from 10 to 100 nm. The (Ti,Al)N layer also includes lattice planes of a cubic crystal structure. The (Ti,Al)N layer shows a pattern in electron diffraction analysis, wherein there is a diffraction signal existing, which is shown as a peak (P) in an averaged radial intensity distribution profile having its maximum within a scattering vector range of from 3.2 to 4.0 nm.sup.−1, the full width half maximum (FWHM) of the peak (P) being from 0.8 to 2.0 nm.sup.−1.

A system and method are described for depositing a material onto a receiving surface, where the material is formed by use of a plasma to modify a source material in-transit to the receiving surface. The system comprises a microwave generator electronics stage. The system further includes a microwave applicator stage including a cavity resonator structure. The cavity resonator structure includes an outer conductor, an inner conductor, and a resonator cavity interposed between the outer conductor and the inner conductor. The system also includes a multi-component flow assembly including a laminar flow nozzle providing a shield gas, a zonal flow nozzle providing a functional process gas, and a source material flow nozzle configured to deliver the source material. The source material flow nozzle and zonal flow nozzle facilitate a reaction between the source material and the functional process gas within a plasma region.

A method for forming a film of an oxide of In, Ga, and Zn, having a spinel crystalline phase comprises providing a substrate in a chamber; providing a sputtering target in said chamber, the target comprising an oxide of In, Ga, and Zn, wherein: In, Ga, and Zn represent together at least 95 at % of the elements other than oxygen, In represents from 0.6 to 44 at % of In, Ga, and Zn, Ga represents from 22 to 66 at % of In, Ga, and Zn, and Zn represents from 20 to 46 at % of In, Ga, and Zn; and forming a film on the substrate, the substrate being at a temperature of from 125° C. to 250° C., by sputtering the target with a sputtering gas comprising O.sub.2, the sputtering being performed at a sputtering power of at least 200 W.

The invention relates to a method and a device to for applying a layer 64 to a body 60, 62, and to a coated body 60. The body 60, 62 is disposed in a vacuum chamber 12 and process gas is supplied. A plasma is generated in the vacuum chamber 12 by operating a cathode 30 by applying a cathode voltage V.sub.P with cathode pulses and by sputtering a target 32. A bias voltage V.sub.B is applied to the body 60, 62 so that charge carriers of the plasma are accelerated into the direction of the body 60, 62 and attached to its surface. In order to achieve favorable properties of the coating 64 in a controlled way, the time course of the bias voltage V.sub.B is varied during the coating duration D. In the coating 64 of the body 60, 62, the material of the layer 64 comprises proportions of a noble gas, the concentration of which in the layer 64 varies over the layer thickness.

An electrically and magnetically enhanced ionized physical vapor deposition (I-PVD) magnetron apparatus and method is provided for sputtering material from a cathode target on a substrate, and in particular, for sputtering ceramic and diamond-like coatings. The electrically and magnetically enhanced magnetron sputtering source has unbalanced magnetic fields that couple the cathode target and additional electrode together. The additional electrode is electrically isolated from ground and connected to a power supply that can generate positive, negative, or bipolar high frequency voltages, and is preferably a radio frequency (RF) power supply. RF discharge near the additional electrode increases plasma density and a degree of ionization of sputtered material atoms.

A method for applying a coating having at least one TiCN layer to a surface of a substrate to be coated by means of high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS), wherein, to deposit the at least one TiCN layer, at least one Ti target is used as the Ti source for producing the TiCN layer, said target being sputtered in a reactive atmosphere by means of a HIPIMS process in a coating chamber, wherein the reactive atmosphere comprises at least one inert gas; preferably argon, and at least nitrogen gas as the reactive gas, wherein: the reactive atmosphere additionally contains, as a second reactive gas, a gas containing carbon, preferably CH4, used as the source of carbon to produce the TiCN layer wherein, while depositing the TiCN layer, a bipolar bias voltage is applied to the substrate to be coated, or at least one graphite target is used as the source of carbon for producing the TiCN layer, said target being used for sputtering in the coating chamber using a HIPIMS process with the reactive atmosphere having only nitrogen gas as the reactive gas, wherein the Ti targets are preferably operated by means of a first power supply device or a first power supply unit and the graphite targets are operated with pulsed power by means of a second power supply device or a second power supply unit.

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.

A physical vapor deposition system includes a deposition chamber, a support to hold a substrate in the deposition chamber, a target in the chamber, a power supply configured to apply power to the target to generate a plasma in the chamber to sputter material from the target onto the substrate to form a piezoelectric layer on the substrate, and a controller configured to cause the power supply to alternate between deposition phases in which the power supply applies power to the target and cooling phases in which power supply does not apply power to the target. Each deposition phase lasts at least 30 seconds and each cooling phase lasts at least 30 seconds.

An electromagnetic separation type coating device is provided, and belongs to the technical field of vacuum coating. The device comprises a main vacuum cavity, the front side and the rear side of the main vacuum cavity are each provided with a vacuum cavity door, middle positions of the front vacuum cavity door and the rear vacuum cavity door are each provided with a set of magnetron sputtering targets, and the two sets of magnetron sputtering targets are symmetrically arranged; two sets of ion sources are symmetrically arranged on the outer walls of the left side and the right side of the main vacuum cavity, and two sets of magnetic induction coils are symmetrically arranged at two sides of each set of ion sources, respectively; a vacuum pump set is connected to the top of the main vacuum cavity, a workpiece rest is installed at the bottom in the main vacuum cavity, and is used for installing a to-be-deposited sample piece; and an auxiliary anode is further installed in the main vacuum cavity. An electromagnetic separation type coating method is further provided. The electromagnetic separation type coating device and method provided by the present disclosure have the advantages of effectively improving the three-dimensional space plasma density, increasing ion energy, and obtaining a thin film with excellent performance.