Thin film deposition techniques fall into two broad categories: physical vapour deposition (PVD) and chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) PVD relies on mechanical, electromechanical, or thermodynamic processes to coat the target material with the atomised film. The most common technique involves vaporising a solid material in a high-vacuum deposition chamber and then depositing that material onto a substrate material. Physical deposition produces a highly durable, corrosion-resistant film that changes the properties of the substrate. Vapourisation methods include: Evaporation, such as electron beam evaporation, ion-assisted deposition (IAD), and thermal evaporation Magnetron sputtering Reactive sputtering Ion beam sputtering (IBS) Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) CVD relies on volatile precursor chemicals in the gas phase to create a chemical reaction that results in a thin layer of deposited film on the substrate surface. Standard methods for chemical deposition include: Atmospheric pressure CVD Low-pressure CVD Ultra-high vacuum CVD Atomic layer deposition Plasma-enhanced CVD