Chapter 3 - Thick-film deposition techniques: How to make thick films – the processing techniques used to create films

Abstract

This chapter describes the deposition techniques for the thick-films. One of the techniques is directed coating techniques, which includes spray coating—in this coating atomized liquid suspensions are deposited onto a substrate to build up a coating to the required thickness; mist coating—it is similar to spray coating, but is gentler, so it can be used to coat very fragile substrates; aerosol deposition—it is an exception in the directed coating techniques, it does not make use of a liquid ink, although it does share features with the spray-coating approach. Another techniques discussed in this chapter are spreading coating techniques, these include screen printing—it can be used to create uniform coatings on flat substrates; spin coating—very uniform coatings can be created using this process; doctor blade/tape casting—a uniform film can be created by drawing a blade across ink while maintaining a set separation between the blade and substrate. This chapter also discusses immersion coating techniques that include dip coating—the sample is immersed to be coated into a liquid and subsequently removing it to produce a uniform coating; electrophoretic deposition—it is classified as an immersion technique; sedimentation—it is to be avoided, but it can be used to create thick films; interfacial polymerization—an alternative approach to building up the thick film; texturing-some materials can be enhanced is through texturing where individual grains are aligned in certain directions.