PVD Technology – Sputtering, evaporation and process control

An overview of PVD deposition techniques: magnetron sputtering, thermal and electron beam evaporation, GLAD, and dynamic in-situ process control. Built for semiconductor and advanced device manufacturing.

PVD deposition techniques

Physical vapour deposition (PVD) is a vacuum-based thin film process in which material is transferred from a solid source to a substrate, forming a coating of precisely controlled thickness, composition, and microstructure.

Coating material is physically vaporised and deposited onto a substrate under vacuum conditions. Atoms ejected from a solid source – whether by plasma bombardment, resistive heating, or an electron beam – travel through the vacuum chamber and condense onto the substrate, forming a thin film of precisely controlled thickness, composition, and microstructure.

The Flextura platform integrates the core PVD techniques, from high-rate magnetron sputtering to nanostructured glancing angle deposition, each available as a standalone module or combined within a cluster configuration.

All techniques share a common automation framework and are supported by dynamic in-situ process control for real-time deposition monitoring and feedback.

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Technology

Magnetron sputtering

The primary and most broadly applicable technique, supporting DC, RF, reactive, HiPIMS, and gradient sputtering for a wide range of semiconductor applications including metallisation, barrier layers, piezoelectric films, and MEMS.

Magnetron sputtering

Thermal evaporation

A lower-energy process well suited to temperature-sensitive substrates, optimised in the Flextura Evaporator for high film uniformity in optical coatings and lift-off processes.

Thermal evaporation

Electron beam evaporation

Enables high-purity deposition from refractory metals and oxides, preferred for optical interference coatings and applications where contamination must be minimised.

Electron beam evaporation

Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD)

A specialised PVD variant producing nanostructured, columnar, or helical films with unique porosity, optical anisotropy, and mechanical properties.

Glancing angle deposition

Dynamic in-situ process control

An optical monitoring and feedback system that measures film properties in real time and adjusts process parameters on the fly, compensating for source drift, target erosion, and run-to-run variation across production batches.

Dynamic in-situ process control