Patent ID: 7947337

Claim:
A method for coating substrates by means of plasma enhanced vapor deposition, the method comprising: evacuating at least part of the surroundings of the substrate surface of a substrate to be coated with a coating; admitting a process gas with a starting substance for the coating; and depositing the coating by a plasma being ignited by radiating in electromagnetic energy in the surroundings of the substrate surface filled with the process gas; wherein the electromagnetic energy is radiated in the form of a multiplicity of pulse sequences with a multiplicity of pulses spaced apart temporally by first intermissions, wherein intermissions between the pulse sequences are at least a factor of 3 longer than the first intermissions between the pulses within a pulse sequence, and wherein the electromagnetic energy radiated in is turned off in the first intermissions and in the intermissions between the pulse sequences; wherein the intensity of specific components of the emitted light spectrum of the plasma is spectrally selectively measured and integrated with respect to time; and wherein the pulse sequence is terminated when the measured light emission integrated with respect to time exceeds a predefined threshold value.