If you’ve ever heard of thin film coatings, then you might know about Sputtering! This involves materials being ejected from a source called a “target” onto a “substrate” like a silicon wafer. By injecting a reactive gas (usually oxygen or nitrogen) into the plasma, which is normally created by an inert gas like argon (the...Continue Reading
What is Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD)? Pulse laser deposition is a method of physical vapor deposition. In this process, a high-power pulsed laser beam is centered on a target within the vacuum chamber. The laser beam vaporizes the target material and deposits it as a thin film on a substrate. The process involves evaporation, ablation,...Continue Reading
What is Hot Isostatic Pressing? Hot isostatic pressing is one of the methods popularly used to process chemical materials. In this method, a material is compressed in a furnace at temperatures between 1173 K to 2523 K and pressures between 100 to 200 MPa. It is quite similar to another process known as hot pressing....Continue Reading
What is Cold Isostatic Pressing (CIP)? Cold isostatic pressing is a method of processing materials. It is quite similar to another process known as metal mold processing. CIP functions based on a principle proposed by Blaise Pascal. This principle is popularly known as Pascal’s law and it states that pressure applied in an enclosed fluid...Continue Reading
Introduction Electron beam evaporation and thermal evaporation are types of physical vapor deposition methods. Both processes have some similarities as well as differences. Ever wondered which of these processes is best for coating a substrate you’re working on? Read on. What is Physical Vapor Deposition? Physical vapor deposition is a method of coating substrates below...Continue Reading
Introduction Plasma spray coating is a form of thermal spraying. It involves heating a material electrically and spraying it on the substrate to be coated. This process can be used on a large surface area at a higher deposition rate than most other methods of thin-film deposition. A wide range of materials can be used...Continue Reading
Introduction Chemical vapor deposition is a coating method that is commonly used to produce thin films and coatings of very high quality. Gaseous reactants are usually used in this process. In chemical vapor deposition, you transport one or more volatile precursors to the reaction chamber. The volatile precursors usually decompose on a heated substrate surface...Continue Reading
What is CIGS Thin-Film Photovoltaic? Thin-film photovoltaics, also called solar cells, are devices that convert light energy into electrical energy using the photovoltaic effect. The photovoltaic effect explains how voltage is produced when light strikes a material. CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide) is a semiconductor material most popularly known for its use in solar cells with...Continue Reading
What is Magnetron Sputtering? Sputtering is the process in which the atoms or molecules of a material are ejected from a target by bombarding the target with high-energy particles. This is called DC sputtering or diode sputtering. A major disadvantage of such a sputtering technique is that it has very low deposition rates and involves...Continue Reading
