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Because physical vapor deposition (PVD) coatings are grown atom by atom, the adhesion is based on the attraction between the atoms, not on mechanical clamping between coating and the rough substrate surface. For PVD, if the surface is smoother and free of defects, grease or dust, that increases adhesion. The result is a film with excellent adhesion, that even stands up to scratching with a diamond.

In the physical vapor deposition process, the metal vapor is transported through a vacuum and condensed on a substrate. This causes the deposition of a thin film. The resulting PVD coatings are metallic or ceramic, and form hard, dense protective layers on the products loaded into the PVD system. The coatings are very thin, much less than the thickness of a hair, and can be created in many appealing colours. The combination of aesthetic value and wear protection make physical vapor deposition coatings increasingly popular for many products in daily life.

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Hauzer has been a pioneer in top-of-the-line physical vapor deposition (PVD) coating equipment since 1983, but what is PVD coating?

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As encapsulated in the term physical vapor deposition, the physical vapor deposition (PVD) process works as follows: a metal or other solid material is vaporised by physical means and then deposited onto the substrate material. This is in contrast to chemical vapor deposition (CVD), where the precursors are vaporised by heat. In addition to that, PVD is operating in temperature between 50 to 600°C. Where CVD mostly works in temperature between 800 and 1000°C.

Arc evaporation and sputtering are the two main physical vapor deposition technologies that Hauzer uses. In this article, we will briefly discuss their basic differences. In practice, these technologies have each given rise to many advanced technologies that capitalise on their strengths and reduce their drawbacks. Both arc and sputter technology can create metallic and ceramic layers, each with a wide range of properties. Even for some application a combination is used.

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Sputtering is the main alternative to arc evaporation to generate metal gases. If low friction is of the utmost importance, sputtering is often the technology of choice. In sputtering, a negative potential is applied to the material to be sputtered (the target), making it the cathode. A noble gas, such as argon (Ar), is introduced into the vacuum chamber. Any free electron in the chamber – always negatively charged – accelerates away from the cathode. If such an electron gains sufficient energy, it can collide with an Ar atom at such speed that an Ar ion is created. This Ar ion is positively charged and will therefore accelerate towards the target. The creation of these Ar ions results in a plasma.

A disadvantage is that few or no metal atoms will be ionised. That means it is more challenging to make the coating hard and dense than it is with arc evaporation. However, as sputtering technology can also be chosen for materials with very high or low melting points and materials with limited electrical conductivity, the range of coatings that can be produced is larger than with arc evaporation. By adding pulse technology to sputtering, the coatings getting more dense and grow in fine crystaline structure.

The advantage of arc technology is that the vaporised metal also becomes ionised: in this case, positively charged. By applying a negative voltage (a bias voltage) to the parts we want to coat, the metal ions are drawn to the parts and will hit the surface at speed. This is called metal ion bombardment, and causes the resulting coating to be extremely dense. Depending on the type of metal and the used gas (e.g. Nitrogen) different layer compositions can be synthesized. So that the coating characteristics can be tuned to the desired properties, such as:

When the Ar ion hits the target, an atom can be sputtered away from the target, somewhat comparable to a cue ball hitting the pack of balls on a pool table. The sputtered atom will move towards the products in the physical vapor deposition system and grow a film atom by atom, and also similar to arc, reactive gases are used like nitrogen to create nitrides.

Arc evaporation PVD works by generating an arc discharge between the target (negatively charged electrode) and the chamber wall. The discharge strikes the cathode at the arc spot, where the temperature becomes so high (several thousand degrees C) that the metal is sublimated: changed from solid to gas phase without passing through the liquid phase.