Fundamental studies of plasma and sputtering processes mainly carried out i
n the authors' laboratories have been surveyed and discussed in the relatio
n to the application to sputter deposited thin films. Experimental results
on target, substrate and transportation phenomena have been presented The b
ombarding effect by energetic particles on substrates during plasma and spu
ttering processes on the interface structures between sputter deposited thi
n films and substrates was discussed. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Scienc
e Ltd. All rights reserved.