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Particles generated during reactive magnetron sputtering cause defects in optical thin films, which may lead to losses in optical performance, pinholes, loss of adhesion, decreased laser-induced damage thresholds and many more negative effects. Therefore, it is important to reduce the particle contamination during the manufacturing process. In the present paper, the origin of particles during the deposition of various oxide films by midfrequency pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering was investigated. Several steps have been undertaken to decrease the particle contamination during the complete substrate handling procedure. It was found that conditioning of the vacuum chamber can help to decrease the defect level significantly. This level remains low for several hours of sputtering and increases after 100 hours of process time. Particle densities of SiO(2) films deposited with cylindrical and planar dual magnetrons at different process parameters as well as different positions underneath the target were compared. It was observed that the process power influences the particle density significantly in case of planar targets while cylindrical targets have no such strong dependence. In addition, the particle contamination caused by different cylindrical target materials was analyzed. No major differences in particle contamination of different cylindrical target types and materials were found.

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The deposition of optical precision coatings on glass by magnetron sputtering is still a challenging problem regarding particle density and long term stability of coating plants due to target material erosion. A novel approach to increase process stability and reduce drifts is the usage of cylindrical cathodes. These cathodes allow a particle free deposition process as they have virtually no redeposition zones that can lead to destruction of coatings by arcing caused by surface charges. In the present paper optical single layers as well as multilayer coatings were sputtered by means of reactive magnetron sputtering using a double cylindrical cathode setup. The particle density is determined and compared to particles produced with planar magnetrons. A new sputter coater concept will be presented wherein the magnetrons are attached to a rotating disc coater in a sputter-up configuration. The process was stabilized by means of oxygen partial pressure control. Preliminary optical properties as well as deposition rates of different oxide films will be presented