Winkler, T.T.WinklerJunghaehnel, M.M.JunghaehnelGoedicke, K.K.GoedickeFrach, P.P.FrachMueller, M.M.MuellerHaese, F.F.HaeseStrecker, H.H.StreckerMeyer, D.W.D.W.Meyer2022-03-082022-03-081997https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/303734Magnetron sputter coating comprises: (a) using at least two targets and a pulsed frequency of 30-100, preferably 50 kHz in which during two pulses for at least 3 mu s the anode poles are short circuited; (b) restricting the energy content of possible micro-arcs, during coating, to below 10 W.s; (c) detecting the presence of micro-arcs, during sputtering, and counting the numbers; and (d) stopping coating during periodic time intervals of at least 5 sec, during which the restriction of the energy content of the micro-arcs is removed and the sputter process is reduced, or made non-reactive by changing the pressure and/or composition of the process gases, and/or the power fed to the magnetrons is increased by 5-50%. The pulsed frequency between two magnetron is time delayed by tau i is given as: tau i=(1/n-f) multiply ai where f is the pulsed frequency, n is the number of magnetrons, and ai is a predetermined factor of 1 at most ai at most n; USE - Used for magnetron sputter coating of ca rbon layers, especially in production of writing/reading heads and magnetic storage plates. ADVANTAGE - By restricting the amount of micro-arcs, the carbon layer has a reduced number of large and dense particles in the final coating.de608667670620patent1996-19651615