What is Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD)?
Glancing angle deposition (GLAD) is a thin film deposition technique in which a substrate is placed at an angle to the direction of the coating vapor flux, while that substrate is rotated or manipulated to control the film’s characteristics and growth. It is primarily used as an electron-beam thermal evaporation process, but it is also sometimes used with sputtering coatings.
GLAD is a refinement of oblique angle deposition (OAD). Oblique means slanted less than 90 degrees. In OAD, the substrate is stationary and placed at an oblique angle to the direction of deposition flux so as to control columnar and helical nanostructure growth.
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Chemical Vapor Deposition, commonly referred to as CVD, refers to a broad range of thin film deposition techniques that are widely used for producing high quality, high-performance solid coatings or polymers. While there are a wide variety of specific CVD processes, what they all have in common is a chemical reaction of a gaseous chemical precursor driven by either heat or plasma to produce dense thin films on a substrate. …
Pre-cleaning of substrates before PVD coating is an essential first step of surface preparation for thin film deposition by removing contaminants such as oxides, hydrocarbons and water molecules, and to make for good adhesion of deposition layers and be certain the coatings perform defect free.
Mid-frequency AC Sputtering has become a mainstay of thin film sputtering technologies, particularly for the deposition of dielectric or non-conducting film coatings on surfaces such as solar panels, optical glass such as telescope mirrors or rolls of plastic. It is largely replacing RF Sputtering for coating dielectrics because it operates in the kHz rather than MHz range requiring less sophisticated and expensive power sources and is a process that is adaptable to large scale applications.
Gold is one of the most beautifully luminescent and valuable metals on Earth because of its ability to throw light, reflect energy and resist tarnishing. PVD or Physical Vapor Deposition Gold Sputtering is commonly used in the watch and jewelry industry to produce coatings that are hard and durable and won’t rub off with constant contact with the skin or clothes and lose it sheen.