Apparatus and method for pretreating and coating bodies

Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for pretreating and coating bodies by means of magnetron sputtering. In a vacuum chamber having a metallic chamber wall (), magnetrons with sputter targets are arranged, at least one of which is an HPPMS magnetron to which electric pulses are fed by connecting a capacitive element () with the sputter target of the HPPMS magnetron via a switching element (). To achieve effective pretreatment and coating of substrates it is provided according to a first aspect to arrange the switching element on the chamber wall. According to a second aspect, an electrode pair is provided, wherein a first electrode is an HPPMS magnetron () and the first and second electrodes are arranged in such a manner that a body () supported on a substrate table () is arranged between the active surfaces of the electrode pair or is moved through the space between the active surfaces of the electrode pair. In a third aspect, a method is provided, wherein, in an etch step, a negative bias voltage is applied to the body and the body is etched by means of metal ion bombardment, and subsequently the bias voltage is continuously lowered so that material sputtered-off from the sputter targets results in a layer build-up on the body.