Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
  • H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
  • H01J37/34—Gas-filled discharge tubes operating with cathodic sputtering
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
  • C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
  • C23C14/00—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material
  • C23C14/22—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material characterised by the process of coating
  • C23C14/34—Sputtering
  • C23C14/3407—Cathode assembly for sputtering apparatus, e.g. Target
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
  • H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
  • H01J37/34—Gas-filled discharge tubes operating with cathodic sputtering
  • H01J37/3402—Gas-filled discharge tubes operating with cathodic sputtering using supplementary magnetic fields
  • H01J37/3405—Magnetron sputtering
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
  • H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
  • H01J37/34—Gas-filled discharge tubes operating with cathodic sputtering
  • H01J37/3411—Constructional aspects of the reactor
  • H01J37/3414—Targets
  • H01J37/3417—Arrangements
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
  • H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
  • H01J37/34—Gas-filled discharge tubes operating with cathodic sputtering
  • H01J37/3464—Operating strategies
  • H01J37/3467—Pulsed operation, e.g. HIPIMS

Definitions

• the present disclosure relates to a sputter deposition source configured for depositing a layer on a substrate.
• the present disclosure further relates to a sputter deposition apparatus with a sputter deposition source as well as to a method of depositing a thin layer on a substrate by sputtering. More specifically, the present disclosure is directed at sputtering with an array of rotatable electrodes.
• TFTs thin film transistors
• thickness uniformity and uniformity of electrical properties of one or more deposited layers may be an issue for reliably manufacturing display channel areas.
• One method for forming a layer on a substrate is sputtering, which has developed as a valuable method in diverse manufacturing fields, for example in the fabrication of
• sputtering atoms are ejected from the material of a sputter target by bombardment thereof with energetic particles of a plasma (e.g., energized ions of an inert or reactive gas). The ejected atoms may deposit on the substrate, so that a layer of sputtered material can be formed on the substrate.
• a plasma e.g., energized ions of an inert or reactive gas.
• Known sputter deposition sources include a power supply arrangement with a power supply for generating and supplying electric energy to one or more electrodes, e.g. cathodes, of the sputter deposition source.
• Sputtering can be accomplished with a wide variety of devices having differing electrical, magnetic, and mechanical configurations.
• the known configurations include power source arrangements providing direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC) for producing the plasma, wherein AC electric fields that are applied to a gas regularly provide for higher plasma rates than DC electric fields.
• RF radio frequency
• the plasma is struck and maintained by applying an RF electric field. Accordingly, also non-conductive materials may be sputtered.
• DC sputtering typically provides higher deposition rates than RF sputtering, but may be more problematic since the arcing rate may be high.
• a sputter deposition source configured for providing high deposition rates, while at the same time reducing the arcing rate. Further, a sputter deposition source as well as a sputter deposition apparatus for facilitating uniform layers of sputtered material would be beneficial.
• a sputter deposition source a sputter deposition apparatus as well as a method of depositing a layer on a substrate are provided.
• a sputter deposition source includes: an array of electrodes with two or more pairs of electrodes, wherein each electrode of the array of electrodes is rotatable around a respective rotation axis and is configured for providing a target material to be deposited on a substrate; and a power supply arrangement configured to supply the two or more pairs of electrodes with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage, respectively.
• a sputter deposition apparatus includes a vacuum chamber; a sputter deposition source including an array of electrodes with two or more pairs of electrodes, wherein the array of electrodes is arranged in the vacuum chamber; and a substrate support arranged in the vacuum chamber and configured to support a substrate during deposition.
• Each electrode of the array of electrodes is rotatable around a respective rotation axis and is configured for providing a target material to be deposited on a substrate.
• the sputter deposition source further includes a power supply arrangement configured to supply the two or more pairs of electrodes with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage, respectively.
• a method of depositing a layer on a substrate with a sputter deposition source comprising an array of rotatable electrodes includes supplying two or more pairs of electrodes of the array of rotatable electrodes with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage, respectively.
• FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a sputter deposition source in accordance with some embodiments described herein;
• FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of a sputter deposition source in accordance with some embodiments described herein;
• FIG. 3 is a graph showing a bipolar pulsed DC voltage and the respective current that may be applied to a pair of electrodes in a sputter deposition source in accordance with embodiments described herein;
• FIG. 4 A and FIG. 4B are diagrams for illustrating the arcing rate reduction by sputtering according to methods described herein;
• FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of a sputter deposition apparatus in accordance with embodiments described herein;
• FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method according to embodiments described herein.
• the process of coating a substrate with a material as described herein refers typically to thin-film applications.
• coating and the term “depositing” are used synonymously herein.
• the coating process used in embodiments described herein is sputtering.
• a sputter deposition source includes an array of rotatable electrodes.
• Each electrode of the array may be configured for providing a target material to be deposited on the substrate.
• each electrode may include a target, e.g. a cylindrical target, made of the target material to be deposited on the substrate.
• each electrode may be configured to be rotatable around a respective rotation axis together with the target material.
• the utilization of the cylindrical targets can be improved.
• sputtering can be undertaken as diode sputtering or as magnetron sputtering. Magnetron sputtering is particularly advantageous in that the deposition rates are rather high.
• a magnet assembly is positioned within the rotatable electrode.
• the magnet assembly By arranging the magnet assembly within the rotatable electrode, i.e. inside a cylindrical target, the free electrons above the target surface are forced to move within the magnetic field and cannot escape. This enhances the probability of ionizing the gas molecules typically by several orders of magnitude. This increases the deposition rate significantly.
• the substrate may be continuously moved during coating (“dynamic coating”) or the substrate may rest during coating (“static coating”).
• Static coating is advantageous in that the amount of target material used for the coating is smaller in comparison to dynamic coating since in the latter case the substrate holders are often coated as well.
• Static coating particularly allows the coating of large-area substrates. The substrates enter a coating area, are coated, and the substrates are taken out of the coating area again.
• Sputtering can be used in the production of displays.
• sputtering may be used for metallization such as the generation of electrodes or buses.
• Sputtering is also used for the generation of thin film transistors (TFTs).
• Sputtering may also be used for the generation of a transparent and conductive oxide layer, e.g. of an ITO (indium tin oxide) layer.
• ITO indium tin oxide
• Sputtering can also be used in the production of thin-film solar cells.
• a thin-film solar cell comprises a back contact, an absorbing layer, and a transparent and conductive oxide layer (TCO).
• TCO transparent and conductive oxide layer
• the back contact and the TCO layer is produced by sputtering, whereas the absorbing layer is typically made in a chemical vapour deposition process.
• substrate as used herein shall embrace both inflexible substrates, e.g. a wafer or a glass plate, and flexible substrates, such as webs and foils.
• the substrate is an inflexible substrate, such as a glass plate, e.g., used in the production of solar cells.
• the voltage applied to the rotatable electrodes is varied over time. That is, a non-constant voltage is applied to the rotatable electrodes.
• FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a sputter deposition source 100 according to embodiments described herein.
• the sputter deposition source 100 includes an array of electrodes 110 including two or more pairs of electrodes, e.g. a first pair of electrodes 114 and a second pair of electrodes 115.
• the first pair of electrodes 114 and the second pair of electrodes 115 are shown in FIG. 1. More than two pairs of electrodes may be provided in other embodiments. In some embodiments, an even number of electrodes is provided. In other embodiments, an uneven number of electrodes may be provided. In the latter case, one electrode, e.g. an outermost electrode, may not belong to one of the two or more pairs of electrodes.
• the electrodes of a pair of electrodes may be adjacent electrodes.
• each pair of electrodes may include a first electrode and a second electrode which are arranged at a distance of 50 cm or less, particularly 30 cm or less therebetween.
• a first pair of electrodes 114 includes two adjacent electrodes
• a second pair of electrodes 115 includes two adjacent electrodes of the array of electrodes 110.
• a plasma 130 may be generated between the electrodes of a pair of electrodes by applying a potential difference between the electrodes, e.g. by applying a negative voltage to the first electrode of the pair of electrodes and by applying a positive potential to the second electrode of the pair of electrodes. Accordingly, the first electrode acts as a cathode and the second electrode acts as an anode, or vice versa.
• the electrodes of the array of electrodes may be arranged at evenly spaced distances.
• the distance between the two electrodes of the pairs of electrodes may correspond to the distance between two adjacent electrodes of different pairs.
• the electrodes 112 of the array of electrodes 110 may be provided in an essentially linear arrangement.
• a linear row of electrodes may be provided. Accordingly, a large-area substrate can be coated by simultaneous sputtering from the electrodes 112 which are provided in a linear arrangement.
• the electrodes 112 are rotatable around a respective rotation axis A and are configured for providing a target material to be deposited on a substrate 10.
• each electrode 112 may be provided with an essentially cylindrical target.
• the sputter deposition source 100 further includes a power supply arrangement 120 configured to supply the two or more pairs of electrodes with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage, respectively.
• each pair of electrodes may be supplied with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage by the power supply arrangement 120.
• the power supply arrangement 120 is configured for applying a bipolar pulsed DC voltage to the first pair of electrodes 114 and for applying a bipolar pulsed DC voltage to the second pair of electrodes 115.
• a bipolar pulsed DC voltage as used herein is a voltage with an alternating polarity (“bipolar") that is applied to the electrodes of a pair of electrodes. Accordingly, the first electrode of the pair of electrodes acts alternately as a cathode and as an anode, and the second electrode of the pair of electrodes acts alternately as an anode and as a cathode.
• Bipolar pulsed DC sputtering is different from regular AC sputtering, e.g. MF sputtering or RF sputtering, in that the waveform of the voltage is not a sine wave. Rather, the waveform of the voltage may be temporarily essentially constant (direct current, "DC").
• a waveform of the bipolar pulsed DC voltage may be a rectangular or square wave.
• a positive part of the waveform may be temporarily essentially constant and/or a negative part of the waveform may be temporarily essentially constant, different from a sine wave voltage.
• each electrode of the array of electrodes may act alternately as an anode and as a cathode. No separate electrodes are provided that need to act continuously as anodes.
• the frequency of the bipolar pulsed DC voltage may be 1 kHz or more and 100 kHz or less, particularly 10 kHz or more and 80 kHz or less, more particularly 30 kHz or more and 50 kHz or less.
• a waveform of the bipolar pulsed DC voltage may iterate at a frequency of 1 kHz or more and 100 kHz or less.
• Pulsed magnetron sputtering processes exist as single magnetron sputtering (SMS) and as dual magnetron sputtering (DMS).
• SMS single magnetron sputtering
• DMS dual magnetron sputtering
• a unipolar pulsed voltage may be applied to cathodes of an array of cathodes. Separate anodes are typically provided.
• an array of electrodes is divided into a plurality of electrode pairs, which are respectively supplied with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage.
• a large number of pairs of electrodes can be provided, e.g. two, three, four or more pairs of electrodes. This allows a quick and efficient coating of large area substrates with a conductive layer or with a dielectric layer.
• the pulsed DC voltage e.g. a square wave voltage
• the power efficiency is higher than in the case of an AC voltage, e.g. a sine wave voltage.
• sputtering with a pulsed DC voltage provides a better sputtering stability than sputtering with an AC sine wave voltage.
• the deposition rate according to embodiments described herein is hardly reduced.
• the arcing rate can be considerably reduced as compared to DC sputtering.
• ions are attracted toward the negatively charged electrode and sputtering occurs.
• electrons are accelerated toward the positively charged electrode and the buildup of positive charges on the electrode is reduced.
• Sputtering occurs at the other electrode of the respective pair which may simultaneously be negatively charged. The risk of arcing is decreased, because high charge differences cannot build up between the electrodes of the pairs of electrodes.
• sputtering with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage enables an improved arcing suppression, has no process stability issues and provides a better layer uniformity control when compared to conventional DC sputtering.
• a rectangular waveform voltage in DC bipolar sputtering enables less loss of deposition rate when compared to conventional AC sine wave sputtering methods.
• the power supply arrangement 120 may be configured to supply each electrode 112 of the array of electrodes 110 alternately with a positive voltage, particularly a positive DC voltage, and with a negative voltage, particularly with a negative DC voltage.
• the electrodes of the array of electrodes may act alternately as cathodes and as an anodes, particularly with respect to the other electrode of the same pair of electrodes.
• the power supply arrangement may be configured to apply a rectangular or square wave voltage to each of the two or more pairs of electrodes.
• the rectangular or square wave voltage may have a frequency of about 40 kHz.
• the power supply arrangement 120 may be configured to supply the two or more pairs of electrodes with a symmetric bipolar pulsed DC voltage, respectively.
• a negative voltage amplitude of the bipolar pulsed DC voltage may correspond to a positive voltage amplitude of the bipolar pulsed DC voltage.
• a negative voltage period of the bipolar pulsed DC voltage may correspond to a positive voltage period of the bipolar pulsed DC voltage.
• the shape and/or the amplitude of a positive waveform part of the bipolar pulsed DC voltage may essentially correspond to the shape and/or the amplitude of a negative waveform part of the bipolar pulsed DC voltage.
• an asymmetric (also referred to as anti-symmetric) bipolar pulsed DC voltage may be applied.
• the magnitude of the positive part of the waveform may be smaller than that of the negative part, or vice versa.
• a symmetric bipolar pulsed DC voltage may be beneficial, as a uniform layer can be deposited on the substrate.
• the two or more pairs of electrodes may be provided in an essentially linear arrangement, e.g. in a linear row of electrodes.
• FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of a sputter deposition source 200 in accordance with some embodiments described herein.
• the sputter deposition source 200 of FIG. 2 essentially corresponds to the sputter deposition source 100 of FIG. 1 so that reference can be made to the above explanations, which are not repeated here.
• the sputter deposition source 200 includes an array of electrodes 110 comprising three or more pairs of electrodes, particularly four or more pairs of electrodes, more particularly six or more pairs of electrodes.
• Each pair of electrodes includes a first electrode and a second electrode which are typically adjacent electrodes.
• the electrodes are configured to be rotatable around a respective rotation axis.
• the sputter deposition source 200 further includes a power supply arrangement 120 configured to supply each pair of electrodes with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage.
• the electrodes of the array of electrodes 110 may be provided in an essentially linear arrangement.
• the electrodes may be provided in a curved arrangement, e.g. in an arc arrangement.
• the power supply arrangement 120 may be configured to supply the pairs of electrodes synchronously with the bipolar pulsed DC voltage.
• the operation of the pairs of electrodes may be synchronized such that, at a first time, the electrodes of the array of electrodes alternately act as cathodes and anodes, and, at a second time, the electrodes are inversely charged and act alternately as anodes and cathodes.
• the electrodes may synchronously change polarity at a predetermined frequency.
• the power supply arrangement 120 may be configured to supply the pairs of electrodes independently of each other with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage, i.e. without synchrony between the pairs of electrodes.
• the electrodes 112 may be provided with a respective cylindrical target comprising a target material to be deposited.
• the target material may be or comprise at least one or more of a metal, a metal alloy, a semiconductor, a metal-nonmetal- compound, ITO, IGZO, and aluminum.
• the sputter deposition source 200 may be configured for depositing a TCO layer on a substrate. In some embodiments, the sputter deposition source 200 may be configured for depositing an IGZO layer on the substrate 10.
• each of the two or more pairs of electrodes may be connected via a pulsing unit 122 to a DC power supply 125 of the power supply arrangement 120.
• the number of pulsing units 122 and the number of DC power supplies 125 may correspond to the number of pairs of electrons.
• the pulsing unit 122 may be configured for converting a DC voltage provided by the DC power supply to a bipolar pulsed DC voltage.
• At least one of the DC power supplies may be configured to provide a power of 1 kW or more and 200 kW or less, particularly 10 kW or more and 100 kW or less.
• the DC power supplies may be configured for providing a power range from 1 kW to 10 kW, a power range from 10 kW to 100 kW, and/or a power range from 100 kW to 200 kW, respectively.
• the DC power supplies may be configured for providing a power of 120 kW.
• at least one of the power supplies, particularly each DC power supply may be configured to provide a voltage of 100 V or more and 1000 V or less.
• each power supply may be configured to provide a power of 30 kW or more and 60 kW or less as well as a voltage of 300 V or more and 800 V or less.
• the voltage amplitude may periodically change between a first value of +500 V and a second value of -500 V.
• FIG. 3 is a graph showing a bipolar pulsed DC voltage that may be applied to a pair of electrodes in a sputter deposition source in accordance with embodiments described herein, as a function of the time (t).
• the first graph shows the voltage Ul applied to the first electrode of a pair of electrodes
• the second graph shows the voltage U2 applied to the second electrode of the pair of electrodes which may be the inverted voltage.
• a bipolar square wave or rectangular wave voltage is applied to the pair of electrodes.
• the positive and negative parts of the voltage may only be approximately constant, respectively.
• a corresponding voltage may be synchronously applied to each pair of electrodes in some embodiments.
• the current (I) flowing between the electrodes of a pair of electrodes during operation is illustrated in FIG. 3, as a function of the time (t).
• the current may follow the shape of the applied voltage waveform, i.e. the frequency of the current may correspond to the frequency of the applied voltage.
• FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are diagrams for illustrating the arcing rate reduction by sputtering according to methods described herein.
• FIG. 4 A shows the arcing rate (arcs/sec) depicted as a function of the frequency of the applied bipolar pulsed DC voltage.
• the bar on the left side of the graph shows that the arcing rate in the case of DC sputtering is higher than 0.5 arc/sec for a given set of sputtering parameters.
• the arcing rate decreases as a function of the frequency of the bipolar pulsed DC parameters for the given set of sputtering parameters, down to a rate of less than 0.05 arcs/sec.
• a frequency of the bipolar pulsed DC voltage of 10 kHz or more and 80 kHz or less is beneficial due to the low arcing rate at a manageable complexity of the power supply arrangement 120.
• FIG. 4B shows the arcing rate (arcs/sec) depicted as a function of the sputtering power provided by the DC power supply 125 that is connected to one of the two or more pairs of electrodes via a pulsing unit 122.
• a given set of sputtering parameters is provided.
• a sputtering power of 30 kW or more and 60 kW or less is beneficial due to the low arcing rate at a comparably high deposition rate.
• the graph is shown for different portions of oxygen in a background gas in the vacuum chamber during sputtering. As can be seen in FIG. 4B, the arcing rate increases depending on the oxygen rate in the vacuum chamber, while still remaining at a low level.
• FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of a sputter deposition apparatus 400 according to embodiments described herein.
• the sputter deposition apparatus 400 includes a vacuum chamber 402, a sputter deposition source 100 with an array of electrodes 110 arranged in the vacuum chamber 402, and a substrate support 406 arranged in the vacuum chamber 402 and configured to support a substrate 10 during deposition.
• the sputter deposition source 100 includes four electrodes 112 arranged inside the vacuum chamber 402, i.e. two pairs of electrodes.
• the electrodes 112 are configured as rotary electrodes. More than four rotatable electrodes may be provided.
• a power supply arrangement 120 is arranged outside the vacuum chamber 402 and is electrically connected to the electrodes 112 via respective electric connections and power connectors.
• further chambers 411 can be provided adjacent to the vacuum chamber 402.
• the vacuum chamber 402 can be separated from the further chambers 411 by valves having a valve housing 404 and a valve unit 405, respectively.
• process gases can include inert gases such as argon and/or reactive gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and ammonia, ozone, activated gases or the like.
• rollers 408 may be provided in order to transport the substrate support 406 with the substrate 10 into the vacuum chamber 402 and out of the vacuum chamber 402.
• substrate as used herein shall embrace both inflexible substrates, e.g., a glass substrate, a wafer, slices of transparent crystal such as sapphire or the like, and flexible substrates, such as a web or a foil.
• a magnet assembly 409 may be arranged in each of the electrodes 112.
• the magnet assembly 409 may be pivotable around a pivot axis which may correspond to the rotation axis A of the respective electrode in some embodiments.
• the power supply arrangement 120 of the sputter deposition source 100 may correspond to any of the above described power supply arrangements so that reference can be made to the above explanations.
• the power supply arrangement 120 is configured for providing each pair of electrodes with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage.
• the power supply arrangement 120 may include at least one DC power supply 125 and at least one pulsing unit 122 for converting the DC voltage of the DC power supply 125 to a bipolar pulsed DC voltage.
• a plurality of DC power supplies 125 and a plurality of pulsing units 122 may be provided.
• each of the two or more pairs of electrodes may be connected to a respective DC power supply via a respective pulsing unit.
• a common controller (not shown) may be provided for synchronizing the bipolar pulsed DC voltages which are supplied to the two or more pairs of electrodes.
• FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of depositing a layer on a substrate with a sputter deposition source according to embodiments described herein.
• the method includes, in box 610, providing an array of rotatable electrodes arranged in a vacuum chamber, wherein each electrode of the array of rotatable electrodes includes a target made of a target material to be deposited.
• two or more pairs of electrodes of the array of rotatable electrodes are supplied with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage, respectively.
• the two or more pairs of electrodes are supplied with at least one of a rectangular wave voltage, a square wave voltage and a symmetric bipolar pulsed DC voltage, respectively.
• a symmetric bipolar square wave voltage may be supplied.
• a waveform of the bipolar pulsed DC voltage includes a negative voltage part and a positive voltage part, wherein the negative voltage part essentially corresponds in shape and/or amplitude to the positive voltage part.
• a bipolar pulsed DC voltage with a frequency from 1 kHz to 100 kHz, particularly from 10 kHz to 80 kHz, is supplied. Arcing can be reduced. Further, a bipolar DC voltage in said frequency range can be generated with a manageable effort.
• four or more pairs of electrodes may be supplied with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage.
• the electrodes may be arranged in an essentially linear setup.
• the pairs of electrodes may be supplied synchronously with the bipolar pulsed DC voltage.
• the polarities of each of the two or more pairs of electrodes may switch essentially synchronously and at the same frequency.
• the power supply arrangement may include a plurality of pulsing units which may be synchronized with a common controller.
• Each of the two or more pairs of electrodes may be provided with a power of 1 kW or more and 200 kW or less, particularly 10 kW or more and 100 kW or less, more particularly 30 kW or more and 60 kW or less.
• each electrode may be provided with a voltage alternating between a first value between +100 V and +1000 V and a second value between -100V and -1000 V. A low arcing rate can be ensured, while at the same time a high deposition rate can be provided.
• the substrate is coated with at least one or more of a transparent conductive oxide layer (TCO-layer), an ITO-layer, an IGZO-layer, an IZO-layer, an AlOx- layer, an Si02-layer, or a metal layer.
• TCO-layer transparent conductive oxide layer
• ITO-layer ITO-layer
• IGZO-layer ITO-layer
• IZO-layer IZO-layer
• AlOx- layer an Si02-layer
• Si02-layer Si02-layer
• metal layer a metal layer

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