Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) refers to a variety of vacuum deposition methods which can be used to produce thin films and coatings. In a PVD process, the material to be deposited (the target) is vaporized by heating, sputtering or arc vaporization and then transported in vapor form to the substrate where it condenses to form a thin film.

History and Development of Physical Vapor Deposition

The first recorded use of Physical Vapor Deposition dates back to the late 19th century when gold plating became commercially viable. Over the following decades, other techniques like evaporation and sputtering were developed and refined. During the 1980s and 90s, major advances were made including the introduction of magnetron sputtering which enabled higher deposition rates and better film properties. Today, PVD is widely used across many industries for applications like hard coatings, decorative coatings, semiconductor manufacturing and solar panels.

Main PVD Techniques

There are several different PVD techniques that are commonly used:

Evaporation Deposition

In evaporation, the target material is heated by resistive, electron beam or laser ablation until it evaporates. Evaporated atoms travel ballistically to the substrate in a line-of-sight process. Evaporation is well suited for depositing materials with low melting points like aluminum.

Sputter Deposition

Sputtering uses ion bombardment from an inert gas like argon to eject atoms from the target material, which are then deposited on the substrate. Adding a magnetic field parallel to the target during sputtering is known as magnetron sputtering and significantly increases deposition rates. Reactive sputtering also allows compounds to be deposited.

Cathodic Arc Deposition

During cathodic arc deposition, a high-density arc discharge vaporizes target material which is then transported to the substrate. It provides very high deposition rates but the vapor is highly ionized which can improve film properties. However, it is also associated with higher levels of macroparticles in the coating.

 

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