Three minutes to know Physical Vapor Deposition(PVD) gold sputtering
Gold is a popular precious metal that has been used for centuries as currency, hedging and jewelry for its noble and beautiful gold color.
Gold sputtering coating is a thin film deposition process in which gold or gold alloy is bombarded with high energy ions in a vacuum chamber, causing gold atoms or molecules to be "sputtered" into the vapor and condensed on the substrate to be coated. Sputtering is one method of PVD process, the other two of which are thermal evaporation deposition and electron beam vapor deposition, and gold is also applied in these two methods. In thermal evaporation deposition, gold evaporates in a low pressure environment with resistive heating elements; and in electron beam vapor deposition, gold is heated by an electron beam, and then condensed on the substrate to be coated.
Apart from PVD coating, there are other ways for gold coatings such as gold plating and gold filling. Gold plating is a method which deposits a thin layer of gold on the surface of another metal by chemical or electrochemical plating. The advantages of gold plating are inexpensive and easy. However, the coating it produces is relatively soft and less durable, and what’s worse, its chemical process would cause pollution that is far away from environmentally friendly. Gold Filling is the mechanical bonding of gold to metal under high temperature and pressure. It produces a thicker coating than PVD gold sputtering and gold plating, and thus it is usually more expensive.
The constant contact of skin or clothing may abrade the coatings, especially in watch and jewelry industry. Thus, PVD gold sputtering is preferred in these two industries because the coatings it produces are harder and more durable than that of electrolytic gold plating or gold filling. Compared to other types of gold coatings, the main advantages of PVD gold sputtering coating are their durability, retention of gloss, corrosion resistance and abrasion resistance in contact with the skin, thus extending the life of jewelry. PVD gold sputtering not only provides the exact color and brightness which evokes the general feeling of love and attraction with jewelry, but also has the advantage of being more environmentally friendly and durable than gold plating or gold filling for producing a gold coating.
Stanford Advanced Materials(SAM) is a global sputtering targets manufacturers which supplies high-quality and consistent products to meet our customers’ R&D and production needs. Please visit https://www.sputtertargets.net/ for more information.
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