A METHOD FOR REACTIVE SPUTTERING DEPOSITION

摘要

The invention is a method for obtaining a reactive sputtering process with a reduced or eliminated hysteresis behavior. This is achieved by focusing the ion current onto a small area, a reduced erosion area (14), which is in constant motion along the target (10) to avoid melting of target material. This means that the current density is very high at the reduced erosion area (14) while the average overall current density is significantly lower. The problem with arcing during reactive sputtering will be suppressed since the compound layer is effectively removed if the current density is sufficiently high. Moreover, the high current density results in a substantial increase of the fraction of ionized sputtered species.