billiard supplies

Sputtering is a physical process whereby atoms in a solid target material are ejected into the gas phase due to bombardment of the material by energetic ions. It is commonly used for thin-film deposition, as well as analytical techniques (see below).

Sputtering is largely driven by momentum exchange between the ions and atoms in the material, due to collisions. The process can be thought of as atomic billiards, with the ion (cue ball) striking a large cluster of close-packed atoms (billiard balls). Although the first collision pushes atoms deeper into the cluster, subsequent collisions between the atoms can result in some of the atoms near the surface being ejected away from the cluster. Billiard Supplies. The number of atoms ejected from the surface per incident ion is called the sputter yield and is an important measure of the efficiency of the sputtering process. Other things the sputter yield depends on are the energy of the incident ions, the masses of the ions and target atoms, and the binding energy of atoms in the solid.

The ions for the sputtering process are supplied by a plasma that is induced in the sputtering equipment. In practice a variety of techniques are used to modify the plasma properties, especially ion density, to achieve the optimum sputtering conditions, including usage of RF (radio frequency) alternating current, utilization of magnetic fields, and application of a bias voltage to the target.