Stable high rate reactive sputtering

A reactive sputter deposition apparatus, comprising:

• a vacuum chamber;
• an anode;
• a reactive gas source that provides a reactive gas into the vacuum chamber, the reactive gas characterized by a given partial pressure in the chamber or given flow rate into the chamber;
• a target as a cathode in the vacuum chamber and including a material to be combined with reactive species corresponding to the reactive gas to form a compound;
• a power source electrically coupled to said target such that said target may be selectively powered by the power source to excite the reactive gas to generate the reactive species that combine with the material of the target to form the compound;
• a control device that senses a signal representative of the voltage at said cathode and provides a control signal to said power source such that the power supplied to the cathode is adjusted to stabilize the cathode voltage at an approximate voltage, wherein said approximate voltage and said given flow rate or given partial pressure of the reactive gas correspond to a transition region between a low slope metal mode and a low slope compound mode of a hysteresis curve that represents the cathode voltage as a function of the flow rate or partial pressure of the reactive gas at a given power supplied by said power source to the cathode.

A reactive sputter deposition apparatus, comprising:

• a vacuum chamber;
• an anode;
• a reactive gas source that provides a reactive gas into the vacuum chamber, the reactive gas characterized by a given partial pressure in the chamber or given relative flow rate into the chamber;
• a target as a cathode in the vacuum chamber and including a material to be combined with reactive species corresponding to the reactive gas to form a compound;
• a power source electrically coupled to said target such that said target may be selectively powered by the power source;
• a control device that senses a signal representative of the voltage at said cathode and provides a control signal to said power source such that the power supplied to the cathode is adjusted to balance the arrival and removal rate of said reactive species at the target to stabilize deposition of the compound on a transition region between a low slope metal mode and a low slope compound mode of a hysteresis curve that represents the voltage of said cathode as a function of the flow rate or partial pressure of said reactive species at a given power supplied to said cathode.

A reactive sputter deposition apparatus, comprising:

• a vacuum chamber;
• an anode;
• a reactive gas source that provides a reactive gas into the vacuum chamber, the reactive gas characterized by a given partial pressure in the chamber or given relative flow rate into the chamber;
• a target as a cathode in the vacuum chamber and including a material to be combined with reactive species that correspond to the reactive gas to form a compound;
• a power source electrically coupled to said target such that said target may be selectively powered by the power source;
• means for controlling the power source to stabilize deposition of the compound on a transition region between a low slope metal mode and a low slope compound mode of a hysteresis curve that represents the voltage of said cathode as a function of the flow rate or partial pressure of said reactive species at a given power supplied to said cathode.