Physical vapor deposition is a materials engineering process for depositing thin films by physically vaporizing a solid source material, typically by heating it or bombarding it with high-energy particles, and letting the vapor condense onto a substrate in a vacuum chamber. Common techniques grouped under the term include thermal evaporation, sputtering and electron-beam evaporation, and the process is used to apply everything from decorative and wear-resistant coatings on tools to reflective coatings on mirrors and the metal layers used in microelectronics and optical devices. Unlike chemical vapor deposition, it involves no chemical reaction at the substrate, relying instead on physical transport of material from source to surface.
Facts
Core PrincipleMaterial transitions from a condensed phase to a vapor phase and back to a thin-film condensed phase 1 FAQs
How do sputtered atoms differ from evaporated atoms in physical vapor deposition?
Sputtered atoms carry 5 to 50 electron volts, evaporated atoms only 0.1 to 0.3.
The two main ways of making the vapor differ in the energy the atoms carry. Evaporated atoms have relatively low energies that correspond mainly to their thermal energies, typically between 0.1 and 0.3 electron volts. Sputtered atoms have a much larger range of energies, from 5 to 50 electron volts, and this wide range can affect how uniform the finished film is.
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Source Physical vapor deposition, Wikipedia
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1. Physical vapor deposition, Wikipedia
Introduction
PVD is characterized by a process in which the material transitions from a condensed phase to a vapor phase and then back to a thin-film condensed phase.
In Field: Materials Engineering, Categories
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