Patent ID: 7820018
Filing Date: 2010-10-26
Classification: C23C

Abstract:
1. A process for applying optical coatings to a front surface of a substrate located in a vacuum chamber by means of a sputtering operation which includes an ion-enhanced atomization of a target, and comprising depositing a transition layer on the front surface, which serves in particular to match mechanical properties of the substrate to the mechanical properties of the layers or layer systems to be later applied to it, and including introducing in a vapor phase one or more precursors whose reaction products, in the state in which they are incorporated in the transition layer alter the mechanical properties of the transition layer, into the vacuum chamber before and/or during the deposit of the transition layer, with the concentration of the precursors in the vacuum chamber being selected in such a manner that the deposition of reaction products and/or precursors without a simultaneous sputtering operation is substantially precluded, and that, during the sputtering operation, reaction products and/or precursors are deposited virtually exclusively on the front surface of the substrate which lies opposite the target.