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.