The progressive technologies today boost the development of physical vapor deposition technique to generate the desired PVD materials that are highly sought after for their many uses.
The process which is applied to generate these required layers is called sputter deposition.
Sputter Deposition Process
The process of sputter deposition happens inside a vacuum chamber with a source called sputtering target. This piece of tool could be made of metal, plastic or ceramic. The vacuum is kept constant with the removal of air and argon gas is continuously introduced to maintain the desired low pressure in the atmosphere.
Behind the target is positioned a magnet array to generate the magnetic field with a high voltage on the target. Plasma is created via the arc along the magnetic field with argon atoms and ions as well as free electrons present. The argon ions get attracted to the surface of the sputtering target to chip off the atoms to form the desired thin film.
Only specialized manufacturers are able to create and produce high purity metals as well as the desired custom alloys using special equipment and skills. An experienced manufacturing team would have the right skills to formulate thin material solutions to fit the application.
With the right equipment and skills, master alloys and metal ingots could be manufactured. The apt manufacturing processes involve milling, cutting and grinding various materials to meet customized material requests.
PVD Applications
There is a high demand for thin PVD materials in a wide scope of industries and their applications; these include architectural glass, solar cells and touch panel displays. Other relevant applications include bank ATMS, smartphones, car navigation systems, digital photo printers and even library information terminals.
PVD materials could be applied to many areas in life; this include aluminum tracks, optic and plastic coatings as well as ceramic resistors for electronic circuitry. The right thin film applications could prevent fogging, corrosive and staining of tools.
