Article
Article
Physical vapor deposition
Article By:
Bunshah, Rointan F. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California, Los Angeles, California.
Last reviewed:January 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.727450
Production of a film of material often on a heated surface and in a vacuum. Physical vapor deposition technology is used in a variety of applications. Coatings are produced from a wide range of materials, including metals, alloys, compound, cermets, and composites. The two basic processes for physical vapor deposition are evaporation deposition and sputter deposition. In evaporation, thermal energy converts a solid or liquid target material to the vapor phase. In sputtering, the target is biased to a negative potential and bombarded by positive ions of the working gas from the plasma, which knock out the target atoms and convert them to vapor by momentum transfer. See also: Alloy; Cermet; Composite materials; Metal
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