This article begins with a list of the factors that influence the properties of physical vapor deposited films. It describes the steps involved in ion plating, namely, surface preparation, nucleation, interface formation, and film growth. The article discusses the factors influencing the properties of ion-plated films. The sources of potential applied on substrate surface, bombarding species, and depositing species are addressed. The article also provides information on the parameters that influence bombardment. It concludes with a discussion on the advantages, limitations, and applications of ion plating.

Ion implantation involves the bombardment of a solid material with medium-to-high-energy ionized atoms and offers the ability to alloy virtually any elemental species into the near-surface region of any substrate. This article describes the fundamentals of the ion implantation process and discusses the advantages, limitations, and applications of ion implantation. It also reviews a typical medium current semiconductor implanter adapted for implantation of metals with the aid of illustrations.

Sputtering is a nonthermal vaporization process in which the surface atoms are physically ejected from a surface by momentum transfer from an energetic bombarding species of atomic/molecular size. It uses a glow discharge or an ion beam to generate a flux of ions incident on the target surface. This article provides an overview of the advantages and limitations of sputter deposition. It focuses on the most common sputtering techniques, namely, diode sputtering, radio-frequency sputtering, triode sputtering, magnetron sputtering, and unbalanced magnetron sputtering. The article discusses the fundamentals of plasma formation and the interactions on the target surface. A comparison of reactive and nonreactive sputtering is also provided. The article concludes with a discussion on the several methods of process control and the applications of sputtered films.

Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) makes it possible to combine structural and compositional analysis in one operation. This article describes the basic concepts of microanalysis and the processing of EPMA that involves the measurement of the characteristic X-rays emitted from a microscopic part of a solid specimen bombarded by a beam of accelerated electrons. It provides information on the various aspects of energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and wavelength-dispersive spectrometry (WDS), and elucidates the qualitative analysis of the major constituents of EDS and WDS. The article includes information on the analog and digital compositional mapping of elemental distribution, and describes the strengths and weaknesses of WDS and EDS spectrometers in X-ray mapping. It also outlines the application of EPMA for solving various problems in materials science.

This article discusses the effects of brazing temperature and thermal treatment on structure and mechanical behavior of different classes of titanium base metals such as commercially pure (CP) titanium, alpha or near-alpha alloys, alpha-beta alloys, and beta alloys. The classification, properties, and potential heat treatment of titanium base alloys are presented in tables. The article provides information on brazed joints of titanium with carbon steels, as well as ceramics and graphite. It discusses the risks involved in titanium brazing, including erosion of base metal, brittle intermetallics, and low ductility. The article reviews induction and torch brazing, infrared brazing, diffusion brazing, and brazing by heating with ion bombardment. It concludes by describing the design criteria and limitations of brazing.

Electron-beam welding (EBW) is a high-energy density fusion process that is accomplished by bombarding the joint to be welded with an intense (strongly focused) beam of electrons that have been accelerated up to velocities 0.3 to 0.7 times the speed of light at 25 to 200 kV, respectively. This article discusses the principles of operation, as well as the advantages and limitations of EBW. It reviews the basic variables employed for controlling the results of an electron-beam weld. These include accelerating voltage, beam current, welding speed, focusing current, and standoff distance. The article reviews the operation sequence and safety aspects of EBW.

This article describes eight stages of the atomistic film growth: vaporization of the material, transport of the material to the substrate, condensation and nucleation of the atoms, nuclei growth, interface formation, film growth, changes in structure during the deposition, and postdeposition changes. It also discusses the effects and causes of growth-related properties of films deposited by physical vapor deposition processes, including residual film stress, density, and adhesion.