The concept of a SZD evolved over the years as deposition technology expanded
from evaporation to sputtering and ion beam assisted deposition. In recent years, plasma-based deposition technologies are increasingly applied, such as high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS), and therefore once again the need appeared to modify existing SZDs by including plasma-related deposition parameters. In this contribution, existing SZDs are briefly surveyed before an extended SZD is proposed. It covers the use of high energy ions as they are obtained, for example, by biasing the substrate to high negative potential, and consequently ion etching is considered, too.