Maximizing the Potential of Rotatable Magnetron Sputter Sources for Web Coating Applications

Presented by Dermot Monaghan, Gencoa

Magnetron sputtering is the most widely used technique for creating a flux of vapour for the vacuum deposition industries. The flux of vapour is generated by a magnetically confined plasma over the ‘target’ surface which ‘sputters’ the target material (‘target’ is the name given to the source of the material). The common geometry of source material is a flat plate like target. In recent years a new form of magnetron source has become much more popular. This type of magnetron is known as a rotatable magnetron and uses a tube type target as the source of the vapour – see figure 1.