Aluminium nitride (AlN) and aluminium oxide (Al2O3) are ceramic materials well known for their high electrical resistivity and excellent thermodynamic stability. Therefore, these materials have been used for various applications in low and high-temperature conditions, but especially for insulating purposes. Consequently, it is highly pertinent to explore how to grow thin films of AlN and Al2O3 with economically and sustainable deposition techniques. [1,2] Therefore, within this study, the deposition of AlN and Al2O3 thin films using different physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods has been explored in detail. All films were grown in an in-house developed magnetron sputter system using 3’’ Al targets. The coatings were deposited reactively, utilizing N2 and O2 for AlN and Al2O3, respectively. As the reactive growth of these insulating materials is challenging with respect to process stability, various techniques, including direct magnetron sputtering (DCMS), high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HPPMS), and pulsed magnetron sputtering (PMS), have been explored. A strong focus was the influence of the sputtering technique on the poisoning behaviour in relation to the respective N2 or O2 partial pressure. In addition, the impact of these various conditions on the structure, morphology, and electrical resistivity was investigated using high-resolution characterization methods. Phase formation was examined using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), while the deposition rate and film morphology were investigated through scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM). The insulating behaviour of the coatings was analysed using in-situ impedance spectroscopy across a temperature range from room temperature to 600°C. Ti/Pt electrode pads were deposited on the thin films using a lithography process for the impedance spectroscopy. For both thin materials AlN and Al2O3, a threshold reactive gas amount is required to shift the electric behaviour from a metallic to a purely dielectric mode, varying with the sputtering technique employed. In all cases, the enrichment of nitrogen or oxygen in the gas atmosphere is accompanied by a substantial decrease in the sputtering rate but stabilization of the single-phase pure structure, suggesting poisoned target conditions.