What is PVD Coating Technology?
Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) is a thin film preparation technique that physically vaporizes the surface of a material source (solid or liquid) into gaseous atoms, molecules, or partially ionized into ions under vacuum conditions. Then, a film having a specific function is deposited on the surface of the substrate by a low-pressure gas (or plasma). The main methods of physical vapor deposition include vacuum evaporation, sputtering deposition, arc plasma plating, ion plating, etc. PVD film has fast deposition speed as well as strong adhesion, good diffraction, and a wide application range.
PVD Basic Principles
The basic principles of physical vapor deposition technology can be divided into three process steps:
(1) Gasification of the plating material: that is, the plating material is evaporated, dissimilar, or sputtered.
(2) Migration of plating atoms, molecules or ions: a variety of reactions occurs after the collision of atoms, molecules or ions.
(3) The plating atoms, molecules or ions are deposited on the substrate.
Read more: PVD Thin Film Deposition Materials List
PVD Advantages
1. Good Durability. Compared with other coatings, for example, electroplating, PVD coatings are sometimes harder and more resistant to corrosion.
2. Wide Application. Nearly all types of inorganic and some organic coating materials can be used on many groups of substrates and surfaces using a wide variety of finishes.
3. Environmentally friendly. Since the process of PVD Coating happens in a vacuum environment, it is more environmentally friendly than other traditional coating techniques such as electroplating and painting.
4. Convenient cleaning: You can save (reduce) the time and cost of cleaning and polishing general copper (gold) products, and a soft cloth or glass cleaner is sufficient to clean the PVD film.
5. High quality and multiple choices: The PVD film has a wide variety of colors, and the surface is fine and smooth, rich in metallic luster, and never fades. Common colors are golden yellow (TiN), bright silver (CrN), purple (TiAlN) and so on.
Read more: Advantages of Physical Vapor Deposition
PVD Applications
The physical vapor deposition technology is simple, environmentally friendly, non-polluting, less consumable, uniform and compact, and strong in binding to the substrate. PVD technology is widely used in the processing of door and window hardware, lamps, jewelry, handicrafts, and other decorative products. PVD is now quite popular in the hardware field, and many of the world’s leading hardware manufacturers have begun to develop PVD products and mass production.
PVD Coating Colors
PVD can coat gold, brass, rose gold, silver white, black, smoky, copper, brown, purple, blue, burgundy, bronze and other colors on stainless steel, copper, zinc alloy and other metals. There are many choices and the price is affordable, compared to pure gold or other pure metals.
PVD vs. CVD: What’s the Difference?
Physical vapor deposition (PVD) is a widely used thin film fabrication technique. When it comes to this phrase, many people compare it to chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Although the two phrases literally differ by only one word, the difference between them is actually great.
Physical vapor deposition uses physical methods, that is, the transformation of the three states of the substance (gaseous, solid, liquid), so no new substances are produced during the manufacturing process; chemical vapor deposition involves chemical reactions, including the consumption of old materials and the production of new substances. It can be seen that physical vapor deposition has almost no pollution, so in the current “environmentally-friendly” society, physical vapor deposition is increasingly favored by people.
Stanford Advanced Materials (SAM) Corporation is a global evaporation material and sputtering target manufacturing company. We provide metals, alloys, oxides and ceramic materials of high quality and at a competitive price. And we regularly update industrial knowledge and news on our website. If you are interested, please visit https://www.sputtertargets.net/ for more information.
