Principles and Practice of Thin-Film Deposition: Fundamentals, Process Engineering, and Industrial Applications of PVD, CVD, ALD, and Sputtering Technologies

How do atomic-scale surface reactions become reliable, high-performance coatings used in semiconductor devices, energy systems, optics, and advanced manufacturing?
Principles and Practice of Thin-Film Deposition provides a rigorous, application-focused guide to the science and engineering behind modern coating and layer-growth methods. Designed for graduate students, researchers, materials scientists, process engineers, and technical professionals, it connects fundamental physics and chemistry with the equipment, controls, diagnostics, and manufacturing decisions that determine real-world results.
Beginning with vacuum science, gas kinetics, thermodynamics, nucleation, growth modes, microstructure, defects, stress, adhesion, and contamination control, the book builds the foundation required to understand why deposited layers behave as they do. It then examines thermal evaporation, DC and RF magnetron sputtering, reactive sputtering, HiPIMS, ion-assisted methods, pulsed laser deposition, chemical vapor deposition, plasma-enhanced CVD, metalorganic CVD, low-pressure CVD, atomic layer deposition, molecular beam epitaxy, and silicon epitaxy.
Inside, you will learn to:
• Relate pressure, temperature, flow, power, bias, geometry, and surface chemistry to thickness, composition, texture, density, stress, and uniformity.
• Compare major deposition platforms and select suitable methods for metals, dielectrics, semiconductors, optical stacks, barriers, hard coatings, and conformal three-dimensional structures.
• Understand reactor designs, vacuum pumps, gauges, precursor delivery systems, plasma behavior, target erosion, target poisoning, and process-safety requirements.
• Apply structural, chemical, electrical, mechanical, and optical characterization methods, including XRD, XRR, SEM, TEM, AFM, XPS, SIMS, ellipsometry, Hall measurement, nanoindentation, and wafer-curvature analysis.
• Use design of experiments, statistical process control, process-window development, yield modeling, simulation, and qualification strategies to improve repeatability and scale-up.
• Explore applications in CMOS fabrication, advanced memory, photovoltaics, solid-state batteries, optical coatings, MEMS, photonics, flexible electronics, and surface engineering.
Supported by quantitative explanations, technical diagrams, key equations, reference tables, a glossary, and process-selection appendices, this textbook gives you the framework needed to analyze, develop, troubleshoot, and optimize deposition processes with greater confidence.