ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a discussion of reactive pulsed DC magnetron sputtering and control. Reactive sputtering deals with sputtering in a reactive gas or a mixture of reactive gas and inert gas atmosphere. Many complex compounds and multilayered designs can be realized with reactive magnetron sputtering. In reactive magnetron sputtering, the reactive gas can form a compound layer on the target surface. The reactive gas partial pressure required for the formation of a particular stoichiometric compound at the substrate may result in a partially reacted target surface. The mass spectrometer measures the partial pressure of the reactive gas at the point where it is mounted on the system, not in front of the sputtering target. Pulsed DC power and reactive gas partial pressure control are a very powerful combination that will expand the deposition and use of non-conducting films significantly.
