ИСТИНА

The metallic coatings were deposited onto the glass spheres having diameters from few to one hundred micrometers by the magnetron sputtering. Two different experimental schemes were exploited. One of them was the traditional configuration where the magnetron sputter was placed at one hundred millimeters from the particles. Continuous mechanical agitation in the fluidized bed was used to achieve uniformity of the coatings in the case. In the second scheme the treated particles levitated in the magnetron rf plasma over the sputtered target (rf electrode) at the distance d of few mm from it and at gas pressure p values, which were quite different from ones in the traditional sputtering. Agitation due the features of particles confinement in the dusty plasma was used here to obtain uniform coatings. The thickness and morphology of the obtained coatings were studied. As known, the film growth rate and structure are determined by the substrate temperature and by the densities of the ion and neutral atom fluxes to the substrate surface, radiation flux density, and heats of surface condensation and recombination processes. These parameters particularly depend on the product pd. It was observed that in the case of magnetron rf dusty plasma the pd value may be achieved which is several times lower than the lowest value proper to the first, traditional case. The quite different dependencies of the films growth rate and structure on the pd value in these sputtering processes were observed and qualitatively explained