Educational Guides to Vacuum Coating Process

This publication written by Donald M. Mattox, SVC Technical Director, contains individual stand-alone, two-page guides on different aspects of the equipment, technology and products associated with thin film processing by physical vapor deposition. The Guides are updated annually.

Periodically one or more guides will be reproduced here see Feature Guide.
The titles of individual guides are listed below.

Introduction
Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) Processes
Applications of Vacuum Coatings
Factors Affecting the Properties of PVD-Deposited Films
Patents and Copyrights Revised!
Process Flow Chart
Process Documentation

Materials Science
Glass as a Substrate Material
Atomic Arrangement
Crystalline Structure by Diffraction Techniques
Metals as Substrate Materials
Alloys, Compounds, and Dispersions
Polymers as Substrate Materials

Vacuum Technology
Heating and Cooling in Vacuum New!
Gas Manifolds New!
What Is a Vacuum?
Vacuum Systems for PVD Processing
Steady State and “Transit” Conductance Revised!
Deposition Chambers and Vacuum-Surface “Conditioning”
In-Line Processing Systems
Fixtures and Tooling
Vacuum Gauging
Heating and Temperature Measurement
Mass Flow Control of Gases
Reactive Deposition—Gas Control
Mechanical Vacuum Pumps
The Return of the Piston Pump
Oil Contamination from Oil-Containing Mechanical Pumps
Oil Diffusion Pumps
Turbomolecular Vacuum Pumps
Cryopumps, Sorption Pumps, and Cryopanels
Ideal Gas Law
Water and Water Vapor
Leaks and Leak Detection
Pumpdown—Leakup Revised!
Reactive Plasma Stripping
Purchasing and Characterizing Vacuum Deposition Systems

Plasma Technology
Plasma Chemistry, Etching, and Deposition
DC Glow Discharges for Sputtering and Biasing
Pulsed Power for Sputtering and Biasing
Broad-Beam Reactive Plasma Sources—I: DC Sources
RF and Microwave Plasma Sources
Ion (Plasma) Guns
Arcs, Microarcs, and Flashovers
Vacuum Gauges for the Plasma Environment

Surface Preparation
External Cleaning
Cleaning Environment
In Situ Cleaning
Plasma Cleaning
Substrate Surface Modification
Surface Energy, Wetting Agents, and Surfactants
Pure and Ultrapure Water
Cleaning with CO₂ Revised!
Reactive Cleaning
Enclosed and Closed-Loop Cleaning Systems
Cleaning Lines
Substrates for Tribological Coatings
Rinsing and Drying
Basecoats for Vacuum Coating New!
“Glow Bars” for Plasma Cleaning New!
Vacuum Evaporation
Vacuum Evaporation and Vacuum Deposition
Vaporization Sources
Evaporant Materials
Heating and Cooling
Substrate Fixturing and Fixture Cleaning
Reactive Evaporation
Feeding-Type Thermal Vaporization Sources
Deposition Rate Monitors

Sputter Deposition
Physical Sputtering
DC Diode Sputter Deposition
DC Magnetron Sputter Deposition
Reactive Sputter Deposition
Sputtering Targets

Low-Pressure CVD and PECVD
Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition
Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and Nanolayer Deposition (NLD) New!

Atomistic Film Growth and Resulting Film Properties
Film Formation by Atomistic Deposition—I
Film Formation by Atomistic Deposition—II
Pinholes
Residual Film Stress
Ultrafine Particles
Topcoats and Postdeposition Processing New!

Surface and Film Characterization
Wear for Vacuum Coaters New!
Characterization of PVD Films
Film Adhesion and “Deadhesion”
Characterization of Surface Morphology
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES)
X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF)
Infrared (IR) Spectroscopy
Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS)
X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS)
Scanning Laser Confocal Optical Microscopy
Corrosion for Vacuum Coaters New!
Wear for Vacuum Coaters New!

Applications
Advanced Mirror Coatings New!
Vacuum Web (Roll) Coating
PVD Coatings on Polymers
Diamond and Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) Coatings
Metallic Thin Film Electrical Conductors
Optically Transparent, Electrically Conductive Oxide Thin Films
Reflecting Coatings
Antireflection (AR) Coatings
Hard Coatings by PVD
Ophthalmic Coatings
Thermal Control Coatings