Physical vapor deposition
Okay kiddo, have you ever seen a mirror or know what it is? Great! So when we look at the mirror, we can see our reflection, right? But did you ever wonder how the mirror got that shiny and reflective surface? That's where physical vapor deposition (PVD) comes in!
Now, imagine you have a big block of metal that you want to make shiny like a mirror. To do that, we need to apply a thin layer of metal atoms onto the surface of our block, which is exactly what PVD does.
First, we take a small amount of the metal we want to coat onto the block and put it into a special machine called a vacuum chamber. Inside the chamber, the metal is heated up until it becomes a gas (like steam coming out of a boiling pot of water), and this is called vaporization.
As the metal vapor rises, it starts colliding with the surface of the block and sticks onto it. This process is called deposition. The metal atoms that have deposited onto the block cool down and start to form a thin layer of a new material that's super reflective just like a mirror.
But it's not just mirrors that use PVD! We can also use it to create other useful things like scratch-resistant coatings on eyeglasses, protective layers on phone screens, and even car parts that have unique colors and designs.
So next time you look in the mirror, you can remember that it was made possible by PVD - and now you know what that means!
Now, imagine you have a big block of metal that you want to make shiny like a mirror. To do that, we need to apply a thin layer of metal atoms onto the surface of our block, which is exactly what PVD does.
First, we take a small amount of the metal we want to coat onto the block and put it into a special machine called a vacuum chamber. Inside the chamber, the metal is heated up until it becomes a gas (like steam coming out of a boiling pot of water), and this is called vaporization.
As the metal vapor rises, it starts colliding with the surface of the block and sticks onto it. This process is called deposition. The metal atoms that have deposited onto the block cool down and start to form a thin layer of a new material that's super reflective just like a mirror.
But it's not just mirrors that use PVD! We can also use it to create other useful things like scratch-resistant coatings on eyeglasses, protective layers on phone screens, and even car parts that have unique colors and designs.
So next time you look in the mirror, you can remember that it was made possible by PVD - and now you know what that means!
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