i)The general high quality of the coatings produced; ii)The scalability of the process; iii)The flexibility of the process; iv)High degree of process control; v)Continuous process development.

This paper will give an overview of some of the major recent developments that have kept this process at the head of the field, including closed field unbalanced magnetron sputtering systems, pulsed magnetron sputtering and variable field strength magnetrons. Examples will be given from the vast range of applications that make use of this technology, ranging in scale from microelectronic components for telecomms devices to large area architectural glazing. Novel developments, such as the coating of powders and the sputtering of powder targets will also be considered.