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Advanced Thin Film Fabrication by Sputtering
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Advanced Thin Film Fabrication by Sputtering

A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412). This special issue belongs to the section "Surface Characterization, Deposition and Modification".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 March 2026 | Viewed by 572

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Jang-Hsing Hsieh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei 300093, Taiwan
Interests: thin film processing; plasma technology; atmospheric pressure plasma
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The thin film fabrication industry is a technology-intensive industry, widely used to produce all types of scientific and precision products, in which sputtering is an indispensable key technology. In recent years, the development of the science and technology of products has become increasingly sophisticated. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop more advanced coating materials and to integrate sputtering technology for meeting the needs of various industries. As thin film materials become more and more complex-alloyed, it is a requirement to obtain films with excellent characteristics through very precise material design and control, and sputtering processes. The following describes some of  the recent major research topics in the field of sputtering thin film technologies:

  1. High-entropy alloys have different material characteristics such as high-temperature strength, high corrosion/wear resistance, high resistance, and low resistance temperature coefficients, and have been regarded as emerging materials with great potential for special applications in recent years.
  2. Quasicrystalline thin films have the properties of low resistivity, low thermal conductivity, low friction coefficients, high hardness and low surface energy.
  3. In recent years, the research and development of metal oxide ceramic targets have made the preparation of nanocomposite thin films easier. These nanocomposite thin film materials can perform well in catalysis, biomedical engineering, hydrogen production or storage, and other applications.
  4. HiPIMS technology has the following advantages: high-density plasma production, a low-temperature process, a dense film structure,better mechanical properties, low residual stress, smooth film, and good step coverage.

This Special Issue aims to to showcase the latest experimental and theoretical developments in advanced thin film fabrication via sputtering, featuring a combination of original research papers and review articles from leading research groups worldwide. We welcome contributions covering various types of films and coatings that are deposited for various functions.

We look forward to your participation in advancing the knowledge and application of sputtered thin film technologies.

Prof. Dr. Jang-Hsing Hsieh
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Coatings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plasma
  • sputtering
  • thin film characterization
  • applications of thin films and coatings
  • sputtering process control
  • HiPIMS

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 9390 KB  
Article
Effects of TaN Cap Layer on the Tribological and Antibacterial Properties of TaN-(Ag,Cu) Nanocomposite Thin Films
by Jang Hsing Hsieh, Anwesha Dey, Chuan Li and You Jen Cho
Coatings 2025, 15(10), 1175; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings15101175 - 8 Oct 2025
Viewed by 251
Abstract
Reactive co-sputtering was applied to deposit TaN-(Ag,Cu) nanocomposite films on Si and tool steels. Prior to post-deposition annealing, the films were deposited with TaN cap (diffusion barrier) layers in various thicknesses in order to slow down the nucleation and growth of emerging Ag [...] Read more.
Reactive co-sputtering was applied to deposit TaN-(Ag,Cu) nanocomposite films on Si and tool steels. Prior to post-deposition annealing, the films were deposited with TaN cap (diffusion barrier) layers in various thicknesses in order to slow down the nucleation and growth of emerging Ag and Cu particles. The thickness of the cap layers was set at 5, 10, 20, or 50 nm. The films were then annealed using Rapid Thermal Annealing (RTA) at 400 °C to induce the nucleation and growth of Ag and Cu nanoparticles. These films’ surface morphologies and structures were examined. The samples were tested for their anti-wear and antibacterial behaviors against Gram-positive S. aureus and Gram-negative E. coli, with a variation in cap layer thickness. It is found that, through the application of TaN cap layers, the out-diffusion of Ag and Cu atoms may be slowed down. The surface concentrations of Ag and Cu might decrease from 35 at.% and 17 at.% to 18 at.% and 6 at.%, respectively, when the cap layer thickness increases to 50 nm (after being annealed for 12 min). The diffusion mechanism is proposed to explain the formation of nanoparticles on the surface through boundary diffusion. Antibacterial behaviors against both bacteria, as well as tribological properties, could still be effective but become less significant with an increase in the cap layer thickness. The antibacterial efficiency after 3 h testing decreased from 99% to 5% and 8% against E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. At 12 h, all the samples reached >99% antibacterial efficiency, despite the variation in cap thickness. For sliding wear, the wear rate was doubled when the cap thickness increased to 50 nm (when the normal load was 1 N). On the other hand, the difference was minor when the normal load was changed to 5 N. The sliding lifetime of the samples was studied using a tribometer. The total lifetime may increase with an increase in the cap thickness. The wear is found to be due to the oxidation of Ag and Cu nanoparticles, which results in the loss of low coefficient behaviors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Thin Film Fabrication by Sputtering)
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