Chapter 1 - Introduction

Abstract

A surface modification process changes the properties of the surface, but the substrate material is still present on the surface. One of such processes is physical vapor deposition (PVD) processes that are atomistic deposition processes in which material is vaporized from a solid or liquid source in the form of atoms or molecules and transported in the form of a vapor through a vacuum or low pressure gaseous (or plasma) environment to the substrate, where it condenses. The main categories of PVD processing are vacuum deposition (evaporation), sputter deposition, arc vapor deposition, and ion plating. There are a number of other thin film deposition processes that should be considered for certain applications, for example, a TiN hard coating can be deposited by PVD or chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The ability to scale-up (up-scale) a deposition process and associated equipment to provide a quality product at an attractive price is essential in the commercialization of any process. It is important that the development work be done on representative substrate material and with processes and equipment that can be scaled to production requirements. An important factor in manufacturability is the deposition fixturing, which holds the substrates in the deposition chamber.