The effect of substrate bias voltage on the bonding of evaporated silver coatings

Abstract

Tensile strengths of bonds between evaporated silver coatings have been found to be related to the bias voltage on the substrate during deposition. Silver coatings between 12 and 50 μ thick were deposited by using a hollow cathode evaporator on 304 stainless steel substrates at bias voltages from 0 to −80 V. Tensile strengths up to 3.85×109 dyn cm−2 (56 ksi) have been achieved at relatively low bonding pressures and temperatures.