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.
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