The technique of depositing a thin layer of metal onto a substrate or previously obtained thin layer is called surface deposition. The term "thin" here is a relative concept, but most deposition techniques can control the thickness of thin layers within a range of several to tens of nanometers. Molecular beam epitaxy technology can obtain a single atomic layer structure.
Deposition technology has applications in optical instruments (anti reflective films, anti reflective films, self-cleaning surfaces, etc.), electronic technology (thin film resistors, semiconductors, integrated circuits), packaging, and modern art. When the requirement for film thickness is not high, techniques similar to deposition are often used. For example, processes similar to chemical meteorological deposition are used in the purification of copper, silicon deposition, and uranium using electrolysis.
Sedimentary techniques are mainly based on vapor deposition, which can be divided into two categories according to principles: chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods and physical vapor deposition methods.
The PVD method has unique advantages over the CVD method, therefore, in the preparation process of metal multilayer films, the PVD method is mostly used.
The PVD method can take on various forms, such as vacuum evaporation deposition, sputtering deposition, ion beam and ion beam irradiation deposition, molecular beam epitaxy deposition, pulsed laser deposition, ionized cluster beam deposition, pulsed arc deposition, etc.