High rate reactive sputtering using gas pulsing: a technique for the creation of films onto large, fat substrates

We call the conversion of a surface layer of an isolated material exposed t o a reactive plasma: plasma anodization. The potential driving the ion reac tion is given by the self-bias appearing on an insulating or isolated surfa ce exposed to a dense plasma. This potential is usually quite small and onl y a thin layer is converted. In order to build up a significant thin film w e have chosen to repeat the process with successive deposition and plasma-a nodization processes. The use of an unbalanced planar magnetron to sputter both the material to be anodized and to provide the reactive plasma, when a suitable gas is admitted as a pulse controlled by discharge conditions rec ognized by optical emission or operating voltage, allows this successive pu lse plasma anodization (SPPA) process to provide oxide films of high qualit y at a high rate on large area glass substrates. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.