Appeal No. 1998-2308
Application No. 08/379,868
14. A method as in claim 13 wherein the potential is
applied from a high-impedance source.
19. A method of depositing oxidized coatings on a
pair of substrates in a chamber having throughout an
atmosphere comprising a mixture of reactive and inert
gases and having a sputtering station and an oxidizing
station spaced apart within said chamber, the oxidizing
station providing a glow discharge, including the steps of
disposing one substrate at the sputtering station and
there sputtering onto the substrate from a metal
target a layer of elemental metal and oxidized metal,
disposing the other substrate at the oxidizing station and
there subjecting it to reactive ions which oxidize the
metal in any layer of elemental metal and oxidized metal
previously sputtered thereon, and repetitively moving the
one substrate between the sputtering and oxidizing
stations while repetitively moving the other substrate
between the oxidizing and sputtering stations.
20. A method of depositing an oxidized metal coating
on a substrate in a chamber having throughout an
atmosphere comprising a mixture of reactive and inert
gases and having a sputtering station comprising an
electrode and a target including the steps of disposing
the substrate at the sputtering station, applying between
the electrode and the target a generally square wave
voltage such that the target has a negative voltage
relative to the electrode for more than half a cycle and a
positive voltage relative to the electrode for less than
half a cycle, each of said positive and negative voltages
producing discharges well into the abnormal glow region
but a safe margin below the voltage at which an arc
discharge would be initiated, the positive and negative
voltages having absolute values roughly equal to one
another, the square wave voltage having a roughly constant
RMS value irrespective of its duty cycle, and varying the
duty cycle of said square wave voltage to oppositely vary
the DC and RMS AC components thereof such that the RMS AC
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