Abstract: The subject invention is a method of sputtering a material on a substrate in which the substrate is first locally heated so that the mobility on the surface of the substrate is increased to a value E.sub.s. A material is then sputtered on the substrate with a sputtering energy E.sub.k whereby the sum of E.sub.k and E.sub.s is greater than the activation energy required for a chemical reaction to occur between the sputtered surface of the substrate and the sputtered material. In the preferred embodiment, the substrate is silicon and the material to be sputtered is a refractory metal such as titanium.

Abstract: An optical device for monitoring pressure is described. The device is capable of monitoring pressure in relatively hostile high temperature, high pressure environments through the use of a pressure-sensitive means having an all-glass housing. The subject optical device relies on the photoelastic effect produced when a material is subjected to a uniaxial stress to produce birefringent banding. In the subject device, polychromatic light is modified to produce a signal having wavelength-dependent intensity variations to allow the pressure-sensitive device to monitor pressure over a relatively wide range.

Abstract: An optical interferometer matrix is described which includes a reference waveguide for optically transmitting a reference signal. The optical interferometer matrix further includes a signal source waveguide for optically transmitting a source signal which has been modulated with respect to the reference signal in response to an applied physical effect. The physical effect may be, for example, thermal, acoustic, hydrodynamic, electrical, electromechanical or magnetic. The reference and signal waveguides are then optically coupled to one another at two different points so that interference between the light in the waveguides occurs under two different phase conditions, with a phase difference between these conditions which approaches .pi./2 radians. In the preferred embodiment, the two points of optical coupling are confined in a small space so that thermal- or pressure-induced differential phase changes of light between the first and second coupling points are negligible.