Pokročilé technológie / Techniky povlakovania /

Physical vapor deposition


General description

Physical vapor deposition presents a group of deposition techniques (evaporation, magnetron sputtering, and pulsed laser deposition) for preparation of thin films and coatings with thickness in the range from several nanometers to micrometers.

Principle of operation

Magnetron sputtering represents one of the mostly used PVD deposition techniques. Magnetron sputtering is a plasma coating process whereby sputtering material is ejected due to bombardment of ions to the target surface. The vacuum chamber of the PVD coating machine is filled with an inert gas, such as argon or reactive gas, such as nitrogen or oxygen. By applying a high voltage, a glow discharge is created, resulting in acceleration of ions to the target surface. The argon-ions will eject sputtering materials from the target surface (sputtering), resulting in a sputtered coating layer on the products in front of the target.

Typical applications

  • hard, wear resistant coatings
  • low-friction coatings
  • corrosion resistant coatings
  • decorative coatings
  • superconducting coatings
  • coatings with specific optical, or electrical properties
  • protective coatings for high-temperature applications

 MagnetronPrinciple of magnetron sputtering

Equipment