Plasma CVD: process capabilities and economic aspects

Process shortcomings in both PVD (physical vapour deposition) and CVD (chem ical vapour deposition) technologies have led to an increasing interest in plasma CVD coating technology. Over the past 10-15 years, extensive researc h effort has been made in this area but problems have, to a large extent, p revented the development of the technology into a production process. Recen t progress with respect to equipment as well as process know-how has now le d to the establishment of plasma CVD as a technique for producing TIN and T iCN coatings on hardmetal and steel on a routine basis at deposition temper atures ill the range 480-560 degrees C. This recent progress is reviewed br iefly, and an overview of the coating properties is given. The ability of t he plasma CVD technology to supplement and complement PVD and conventional CVD technologies is described, and examples from industrial applications de monstrate the possibilities of coating tools with rather complex shapes. Th e examples show that anti-stick coating properties solve production problem s in the industry, none of which could be solved by the existing technologi es. Some aspects of the economics of plasma CVD technology are described an d tentatively compared with those of PVD. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. Al l rights reserved.