Method for depositing electrically insulating layers

1. Method for operating an arc source, whereby an electric spark discharge is ignited and run on a surface of a target ( 5 ) to evaporate the target ( 5 ) to deposit onto a substrate, and the electric spark discharge is simultaneously fed a direct current with an associated constant voltage DV as well as a periodically applied pulsed current, characterized in that

a pulsed voltage signal ( 21 ) is generated by a pulsed voltage source delivering a desired shape of the pulsed voltage signal,

the pulsed current results from the pulsed voltage signal ( 21 ) and the pulsed voltage signal ( 21 ) is generated with a pulse length (T p ) of at least two microseconds, wherein the pulsed voltage signal and pulsed current each have ascending slopes, wherein the pulsed current reaches a pulsed current maximum after the pulsed voltage signal reaches a pulsed voltage maximum, and wherein the pulsed voltage signal remains constant at the used voltage maximum until the used current reaches the pulsed current maximum.

2. Method as in claim 1 , characterized in that a shape of the pulsed voltage signal is arbitrarily selectable.

3. Method as in claim 1 , characterized in that the frequency of the pulsed voltage signal is selected between 1 Hz and 200 kHz.

4. Method as in claim 2 , characterized in that the shape of the pulsed voltage signal is in the form of a sawtooth, a polygon, or a trapezoid.

5. Method as in claim 1 , characterized in that the pulsed voltage signal is applied in gapped succession.

6. Method as in claim 1 , characterized in that the pulsed voltage signal is turned off when a detected current threshold is exceeded.

7. Method as in claim 2 , characterized in that the shape of the pulsed voltage signal is constituted of the resultant ( 21 ) of a succession of spike pulses ( 22 ).

8. Method as in claim 7 , characterized in that the spike pulses ( 22 ) are generated by a time-controlled sequence of discharges of individual capacitors ( 19 ) or by a pulsed power supply ( 15 ).

9. Method as in claim 7 , characterized in that an edge steepness of an ascending slope ( 23 ) of each of the spike pulses ( 22 ) is at least 0.5 V/μs.

10. Method as in claim 7 , characterized in that the succession or duration of the spike pulses ( 22 ) is between 0.1 kHz and 1 MHz or, respectively, between 10 ms and 1 μs.

11. Method as in claim 7 , characterized in that a height of the spike pulses ( 22 ) exceeds that of the associated constant voltage DV by at least 10 percent.

12. Method as in claim 7 , characterized in that at least 3 spike pulses ( 22 ) are used for generating the pulsed voltage signal.

13. Method as in claim 1 , characterized in that the pulsed voltage signal is provided by a pulsed voltage supply ( 15 ) or generator unit ( 16 ) that is arbitrarily adjustable with regard to signal length, signal frequency, voltage amplitude, interpulse periods and/or shape of the signal.

14. Method as in claim 1 , characterized in that the pulsed voltage signal is provided by a pulsed voltage supply ( 15 ) or generator unit ( 16 ) that is arbitrarily adjustable with regard to the timed sequence, slope angle and/or height of the spike pulses ( 22 ).

15. Method as in claim 1 , characterized in that a steepness of the ascending slope ( 23 ) of the pulsed voltage signal is at least 0.5 V/μs.

16. Method as in claim 11 , characterized in that the pulsed voltage signal is applied over an entirety of the pulse length T p .

17. Method as in claim 1 , characterized in that insulating oxide-containing or oxidic layers are deposited.

18. Method as in claim 1 , characterized in that a material of the target ( 5 ) consists of carbon or of a material containing more than 20% carbon by volume.

19. Method for operating an arc source comprising:

igniting an electric spark discharge and running the electric spark discharge on a surface of a target to evaporate the target ( 5 ) to deposit onto a substrate;

using a voltage source to generate a pulsed voltage signal having a pulse length of at least two microseconds;

feeding the electric spark discharge a periodically applied pulsed current, wherein the pulsed current results from the pulsed voltage signal, and simultaneously feeding the electric spark discharge a direct current having a constant voltage; and wherein the pulsed voltage signal and pulsed current each have ascending slopes, wherein the pulsed current reaches a pulsed current maximum after the pulsed voltage signal reaches a pulsed voltage maximum, and wherein the pulsed voltage signal remains constant at the pulsed voltage maximum until the pulsed current reaches the pulsed current maximum.