Thin-film coatings

Thin-film deposition is any technique for depositing a thin film (about 1 mm)
of material onto a substrate or onto previously deposited layers.
"Thin" is a relative term, but most deposition techniques allow layer
thickness to be controlled within a few tens of nanometers, and some other
techniques allow one layer of atoms to be deposited at a time.

Types:
Physical vapour deposition (PVD)
1. Thermal Evaporation
2. Sputtering
3. Ion Plating
Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)

Physical vapour deposition (PVD)

Physical vapour deposition (PVD) is fundamentally a vaporisation coating
technique, involving transfer of material at an atomic level. It is an alternative
process to electroplating.
Thermal Evaporation:
This method involves evaporation of a metal is (to be coated) connected to a
tungsten filament / high energy beam of electrons (The electron beam with

energy up to 15keV). Evaporation of a metal is accomplished by increasing the

temperature of the filament until the metal is melted and vaporized. During this
stage, a target, consisting of the material to be deposited is bombarded by a high
energy source such as a beam of electrons or ions. This dislodges atoms from the
surface of the target, vaporizing them. Metal to be coated is placed in a boat or
crucible. Electron beam is directed into the crucible to melt the metal (which is to
be coated). The movement of vaporised atoms from the target to the substrate
in the form of atomic cloud that coats all surfaces in the line of sight of the boat
or crucible because of low pressure. The pressure should be maintained
throughout is Pvapor > 10-4 torr.

Wafers (substrates) are rotated around source to ensure uniform coverage.

Wafers are also often radiantly heated to improve adhesion and uniformity of thin
films. Deposition rate is controlled by changing the current and energy of electron
beam.
Applications
This process is widely used to produce decorative coatings on plastic parts those
are resembling shiny metal.

1. Many automobile parts are plastic with a PVD coating of aluminium.

2. A lacquer coating is applied over the decorative coating to provide
corrosion protection.
3. This process is also used to apply relatively thick (1mm) coatings of heat
resistant materials on jet engine parts, A special alloy of chromium,
aluminium and yttrium is used for this type of coating.
Sputtering
Sputtering is a physical process whereby atoms in a solid target material are
ejected into the gas phase due to bombardment of the material by energetic ions.
The ions for the sputtering process are supplied by a plasma that is induced in the
sputtering equipment.
The principle of sputtering involves making atomic flux (cloud) of a metal to be
coated is kicked by Ar plasma.
Anode contains a substrate (where deposition to happen) and cathode contains a
metal which to be coated. When high energy Ar plasma is accelerated to cathode,
target metal is moved towards an anode where the substrate is kept (anode).
Momentum transfer of Ar+ on cathode takes away cathode atoms into flux to an
anode; a substrate.

anode

cathode

The main principle is to build a vacuum chamber and fill with Argon.

By applying a

high voltage [through direct current (DC) / radio frequency (RF)] the argon gas (Ar)
becomes ionized into a plasma state(Ar ++e-). The argon ion (Ar+) (anode) will
move towards to cathode (metal to be coated) with high speed and sputter the
target material (use target as cathode). The target atom or molecular will be hit to
substrate surface and condense as a film.

Instead of heat melting in evaporation

method, the plasma Ar+ ion hit and sputter the target is the main mechanism in
plasma sputtering method. The target atom is knocked out by Ar+ ion, the knock
force is so big and can accelerate target atom a high speed. With such velocity, the
target atom can hit and attach to substrate surface deeply.
Applications towards electronics by depositing..
Metals (Au, Al, Ag..)
-Used for electrical connections
-Doping
-Optical reflectors

Chemical Vapor Deposition

CVD

is

film

growth

from

vapor /gas phase via gas phase

via chemical reactions in gas and on substrate PVD differs in that the precursors are
solid, with the material to be deposited being vaporized from a solid target and
deposited onto the substrate.
Criteria for CVD:

1. The precursors have to be volatile (gaseous).

Ex: SiH4 (Silane) is a popular precursor to deposit Silicon.
1
2. The chemical reactions need to be thermodynamically predicted to result in a
solid film.This means that there should be an energy advantage for the
desired reaction to occur, meaning the Gibbs Free Energy (GFE) has to
decrease.
2

Temp. and Pressure can be adjusted for G < 0.

3. The by-products need to be volatile (gaseous).

Process:

Precursor gases (often diluted in carrier gases) are delivered into the reaction
chamber at approximately ambient temperatures. As they pass over or come into
contact with a heated substrate, they react or decompose forming a solid phase
which and are deposited onto the substrate by decomposition reaction. The
substrate temperature is critical and can influence what reactions will take place.
The substrate temperature must be greater than that of chamber for effective
deposition of metal is on the substrate.

substrate >

chamber

Typical CVD Process - Example : Ni(CO)4 for the deposition of Ni

Differences
The process is similar to chemical vapour deposition (CVD) except that the raw
materials/precursors, i.e. the material that is going to be deposited starts out in
solid form, whereas in CVD, the precursors are introduced to the reaction chamber
in the gaseous state.