A process for the manufacture of sputtering target comprises the steps of i) providing a substrate; ii) plasma melting of a material selected to form the sputtering target, yielding droplets of molten material; and iii) deposition of the droplets onto the substrate, yielding a sputtering target comprised of the coated layer of the material on the substrate. The pull up and pull down circuits are connected to separate power supply lines such that a current path from the inputoutput pad to the pull down circuit through the pull up circuit does not exist when electrostatic discharge is received at the inputoutput pad. Upon identification of at least one irregularity of the measured signal, a suspected fault in the lead is identified and at least one substitute action is taken. The directional filters are connected in a cascade with the first and second inputs of the nth directional filter being connected to the first and second outputs of the th directional filter respectively in the cascade. The plural dummy structure bodies are provided discretely so as to be buried flat by the burying layer. The coating is a silica-stabilized dielectric film, particularly, a diamond-like atomic-scale composite material.