Process and apparatus for the coating of shaped articles by cathode sputtering

USRE33530E · kind E · reissue

Assignee

• Leybold GmBH · DE

Inventors

• Wolf-Dieter Munz · Somborn, DE
• Gerhard Hessberger · Karlstein, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 16, 1986
• Grant date: Feb 5, 1991
• Expiry date: Jan 16, 2006

Classification

• Technology area (CPC —): General

Abstract

The invention concerns a method of coating shaped parts having a three-dimensional coating surface by the cathodic atomization of target material of a first cathode arrangement. The cathode arrangement comprises a magnetic field generator for the concentration of a first discharge space (plasma cloud) in the zone of the target surface by means of a first magnetic field (plasma trap), which is spatially closed with respect to the target. According to the invention and for the purpose of producing a uniform coating even on parts of complicated shape, it is proposed that, on their side disposed opposite the first cathode arrangement, the shaped parts should be simultaneously subjected to the atomizing action of a second cathode arrangement with the same target material. The second cathode arrangement likewise comprises a magnetic field generator for concentrating a second discharge space in the zone of the target surface by means of a second magnetic field, spatially closed with respect to the target; the second cathode arrangement is so arranged in relation to the first that the two cathode arrangements between them form a gap in which discharge occurs and through which the shaped pa…