The reactive sputtering technology of vacuum coating machine, as its name implies, means that one substance reacts with another substance and then sputters, and the film formed on the substrate is collectively called compound film. In the vacuum coating industry, reactive magnetron sputtering generally refers to the reaction between target elements and gases (oxygen, nitrogen, etc.) rushed into the cavity, and then sputters to form the compound film required by the market. What are the characteristics of reactive sputtering?

The first, the target materials (single-element targets or multi-element targets) and reaction gases (oxygen, nitrogen, hydrocarbons, etc.) used in reactive magnetron sputtering have high purity, which is conducive to the preparation of high-purity compound films.

Secondly, chemical or non-chemical compound films can be prepared by adjusting the process parameters in reactive magnetron sputtering, and the film characteristics can be controlled by adjusting the film composition.

Third, the temperature rise of the substrate during reactive magnetron sputtering deposition is small, and the substrate is usually not required to be heated at high temperature during film formation, so there is less restriction on the substrate material.

Fourth, reactive magnetron sputtering is suitable for preparing large-area uniform thin films, and can realize industrial production of coating with an annual output of millions of square meters per machine.

Fifth, it is easy to produce hysteresis phenomenon, which makes some compounds with chemical dose ratio unable to be obtained by reactive sputtering. Moreover, the compounds generated by the reaction gas interacting with the target cover the surface of the target and accumulate a large amount of positive charges which cannot be neutralized. As a result, a higher and higher positive potential is established on the surface of the target, and the potential in the cathode drop zone decreases accordingly. Finally, the potential drop in the cathode drop zone decreases to zero, the discharge goes out and sputtering stops. This phenomenon is called "target poisoning".

The reactive sputtering technology of vacuum coating machine has been applied to many fields for a long time, such as large-area glass coating: low-e glass, solar control glass, automobile glass and solar cell; Semiconductors. Electronic coating field: MEMS, electronic components, LED, LCD, etc. Magnetic disk and hard disk coating field: ferromagnetic film. Decoration field: watchcase, mobile phone case, notebook case, and ornaments, etc. Different film layers (film systems) can modulate various colors, etc.