Ion assisted deposition process including reactive source gassification

摘要

A process for depositing a compound of a metal and a reactive gas includes heating a metal target (32), in an evacuated chamber (22) to a predetermined reaction temperature. The reaction temperature is above a critical temperature which is higher than about half the melting point of the metal but below the vaporization temperature of the metal target. At this reaction temperature, the metal target reacts with the reactive gas to produce, in gaseous form, the compound or a sub-compound of the metal and the reactive gas. The gaseous compound or sub-compound is reacted with the reactive gas on a substrate (36) to form a solid layer of the compound on the substrate.