Patent ID: 9551066
Date: 2017-01-24
CPC Classifications: C23C,H01J

Claim:
1. A high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering process, wherein: producing within a process chamber via an electrical energy source, a sequence of complex discharge pulses to apply an electrical voltage (V) between an anode and a cathode in order to ionize a sputtering gas; and coating a substrate with a ceramic material, wherein each complex discharge pulse is applied for a complex pulse time (τ) and the cathode being a target comprising a material to be sputtered for the coating of the substrate; wherein the complex discharge pulse comprises an electrical high-power sputtering pulse having a negative polarity with respect to the anode that is applied for a first pulse-time (τ wherein a voltage of the high-power sputtering pulse is between 400V and 2000V, wherein a peak power density of the high-power sputtering pulse is between 1 and 20 KW/cm wherein a ratio τ wherein subsequent to the low-power charge cleaning pulse and before another high-power sputtering pulse is applied, the process further comprises at least one of switching off and setting to zero the voltage (V) applied between the anode and the cathode for a third pulse-time (τ wherein at least one of: a peak current density of the high-power sputtering pulse is between 0.05 A/cm a peak power of the high-power sputtering pulse is between 0.1 MW and 3 MW.