Methods are disclosed for depositing a thin film of compound material on a substrate. In some embodiments, a method of depositing a layer of compound material on a substrate include: flowing a reactive gas into a plasma processing chamber having a substrate to be sputter deposited disposed therein in opposition to a sputter target comprising a metal; exciting the reactive gas into a reactive gas plasma to react with the sputter target and to form a first layer of compound material thereon; flowing an inert gas into the plasma processing chamber; and exciting the inert gas into a plasma to sputter a second layer of the compound material onto the substrate directly from the first layer of compound material. The cycles of target poisoning and sputtering may be repeated until a compound material layer of appropriate thickness has been formed on the substrate.