| 摘要 |
<p>A method of sputtering material on to a substrate (19) within a vacuum chamber (40) from a target surface (17) composed substantially entirely of a non-electrically conductive element, comprising the steps of: introducing into the vacuum chamber a combination of gases which includes at least one gas (67) that reacts with the target element and a combination of at least first and second noble gases (63, 65), causing the partial pressure of the first noble gas (63) to be within a range of from 20 to 80 percent of a total partial pressure of the combination of the at least first and second noble gases within the vacuum chamber, and maintaining relative proportions of the at least one reactive gas and a total of the combination of the at least first and second noble gases flowing (31) in to the vacuum chamber in order to operate (49) with a partial pressure within the vacuum chamber of the at least one reactive gas being equal to substantially zero. <MATH></p> |
