A New Apparatus for Cathodic Sputtering

Abstract

THE cathodic sputtering process has been almost completely replaced in recent years by the vacuum evaporation technique for the production of thin solid films. However, renewed interest in the sputtering technique has been created by the discovery that films of metal oxide can be deposited by sputtering from a metal cathode in a glow discharge containing oxygen. Such films are usually required in combination with metal and other dielectric films for interferometry, etc. It is a simple procedure to deposit multi-layer coatings by vacuum evaporation, whereas their preparation is tedious when using the conventional form of sputtering apparatus. This is because it is necessary to break the vacuum and insert a new disk cathode of the required metal for each fresh layer. I have recently developed apparatus for the deposition during one coating cycle, on to plane receivers, of several sputtered films in sequence or for laminating sputtered deposits with vacuum-evaporated films. It is also possible to dispense with the need for rectification of the high-tension output without loss in the sputtering efficiency.