Thin Film Techniques
Physical vapour deposition (PVD) is the general term describing a multitude of methods to deposit thin films on various surfaces.
These deposition methods comprise pure physical processes, such as vaporisation of the layer forming material in a vacuum or sputtering, whereby the material to be deposited is atomised through ion bombardment and transferred into the gaseous pase.
For microfluidic devices often Cr/Au, Ti/Pt or ITO is used, for MEMS or MOMS devices rather Al or TiW. Depending on the requirements Micronit deposits metals or dielectric materials.
Technical Details
Technical Details
- Sputtering and evaporation
- Cr, Au, Ni, Al, Pt, Pd, Ti, Ta, Cu, SiO2, ITO, CuNi, etc
- Thickness up to 2000 nm (depending on stress and adhesion)
- Electroplating > 2 µm
- Multi layers
- Annealing (re-crystallisation, stress reduction and diffusion of alloys)
Applications
Applications
- Thermistors
- Electrodes for EC- and amperometric sensors
- Capacitive electrodes / sensors
- Coils
- Thermopile sensors and modules
- Mirrors
- Magnetic sensors
Alternatively metals can be deposited by electroplating via a starting layer or conducting paths can be reinforced through electroplating. See also clean room processes.