In large area sputter coating of glass, the consumption of electric power is one of the major cost drivers. This applies especially to dielectric transparent coatings which are relatively thick and for which sputter yields and rates can be rather low. These materials are usually sputtered from dual magnetrons using medium frequency (sine wave) or bipolar (square wave) power supplies at frequencies up to 100 kHz. Frequencies at 50 kHz or higher are beneficial for suppressing arcing on the target surface, and the power required to achieve viable sputter rates is often high, making the power consumption a significant cost contribution. In this study we look at the effect of the power supply technology and frequency on the sputter rate and the sputtered layer thickness per electrical energy input. The tests were carried out with aluminum dual planar targets and with TiOx dual rotary targets. At low frequencies around 20 kHz, the bipolar generator can yield about 10% higher sputtering rates at the same input power. At about 40 kHz, which is often chosen to minimize arcing, the rates from the two power supplies are about equal.

在玻璃的大面积溅射镀膜中，电力消耗是主要的成本驱动因素之一。这尤其适用于相对较厚且溅射产率和速率可能相当低的介电透明涂层。这些材料通常使用频率高达 100 kHz 的中频（正弦波）或双极（方波）电源从双磁控管溅射。50 kHz 或更高的频率有利于抑制目标表面上的电弧放电，并且实现可行的溅射速率所需的功率通常很高，这使得功耗成为重要的成本贡献。在这项研究中，我们研究了电源技术和频率对溅射速率和每个电能输入的溅射层厚度的影响。测试是用铝双平面靶和 TiOx 双旋转靶进行的。在 20 kHz 左右的低频下，双极发生器可以在相同的输入功率下产生大约 10% 的溅射速率。在大约 40 kHz（通常选择该频率以最大程度地减少电弧放电）时，两个电源的速率大致相等。