Chemical Metallurgy in the Vapor Phase

Abstract

Most of this century, chemical metallurgy has been associated with extractive and refining processes involving primarily metal and slag (oxide, fluoride, etc. ) phases in the liquid state. In the past 20 years, a new dimension to chemical metallurgy has come up involving the vapor phase, via processes such as chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition and their derivatives

This paper deals with the vapor phase chemical metallurgy processes and the various materials that can be derived. For example, carbide, nitride, oxide and other refractory compound coatings with controlled stoichiometry can be produced. This has resulted in many new applications in tribology, optics, microelectronics and related disciplines. The latest developments involve coating of metastable materials like cubic boron nitride, diamond, i-carbon, etc.