Web coating by reactive plasma activated evaporation and sputtering processes

There is a growing interest in the coating of webs with oxides, nitrides and other compounds for a large variety of applications. If layer uniformities of about 2 per cent are needed, magnetron sputtering is the deposition method of choice. Here, the pulsed magnetron sputtering process (PMS-process) opens up unique technological possibilities. Two engineering solutions (SMS and DMS process) are at hand. If layer uniformities in the range of 5 per cent to 10 per cent are adequate evaporation technique recommends itself because of the high deposition rates obtainable. But high deposition rates are often linked with insufficient layer properties. In that case an adapted plasma activation of the deposition process is necessary. Two processes developed for this purpose (HAD and MAD process) are presented and recommendations regarding their use are given.