Leybold Aktiengesellschaft

Bernd Wolf

Peter Wirz

Hans Neudert

Juergen Mueller

In a cathode system for coating a substrate (46), having a cathode which is connected to a direct-current and/or alternating-current source (high-frequency source) and is disposed in an evacuable coating chamber (2), and is electrically connected to a target (29) which is sputtered and whose sputtered particles deposit themselves on the substrate, a process gas is brought into the coating chamber. The cathode is formed from a substantially pot-like housing (3) whose solid bottom (39) is fixedly joined to the target (29) and whose open end facing away from the target (29) is sealingly held in an opening (49) in the outer wall (30) of the coating chamber such that the interior (49) of the housing (3) is exposed to atmospheric pressure, while the target (29) and the outer surface of the shell-like part of the housing (3) joined thereto are affected by the pressure prevailing in the coating chamber.

Cathode for coating a substrate

Sputtering cathode (1) according to the magnetron principle, having a target (11) of the material to be sputtered, which consists of at least one piece. Behind the target (11) there is a magnet system with a plurality of endless magnet units (14, 15, 16) of alternately different polarity, one inside the other. An endless magnetic tunnel (20) of arcuately curved lines of force is thereby formed. Those poles of the magnet units (14, 15, 16) which are turned away from the target (11) are connected together through a magnet yoke (19) of soft magnetic material. To achieve an especially good target utilization, the geometry and the amount of the magnetic field forming a magnetic tunnel (20) are variable relative to the magnetic field strength of another magnetic field through an electromagnetic (17), the current for the electromagnet (17) being variable in frequency, amplitude and pulse shape.

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Hanau, Germany

Bernd Wolf