Ion beam assisted deposition or IBAD or IAD (not to be confused with ion beam induced deposition, IBID) is a materials engineering technique which combines ion implantation with simultaneous sputtering or another physical vapor deposition technique. Besides providing independent control of parameters such as ion energy, temperature and arrival rate of atomic species during deposition, this technique is especially useful to create a gradual transition between the substrate material and the deposited film, and for depositing films with less built-in strain than is possible by other techniques. These two properties can result in films with a much more durable bond to the substrate. Experience has shown that some meta-stable compounds like cubic boron nitride (c-BN), can only be formed in thin films when bombarded with energetic ions during the deposition process.
Famous quotes containing the words beam and/or assisted:
“How can one beam alone support a house?”
—Chinese proverb.
“To anticipate, not the sunrise and the dawn merely, but, if possible, Nature herself! How many mornings, summer and winter, before yet any neighbor was stirring about his business, have I been about mine! No doubt, many of my townsmen have met me returning from this enterprise, farmers starting for Boston in the twilight, or woodchoppers going to their work. It is true, I never assisted the sun materially in his rising, but, doubt not, it was of the last importance only to be present at it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)