what is IBD?

IBD (ion-beam sputtering deposition);

A thin film deposition process that uses an ion source to deposit or sputter a target (metal or dielectric) onto a substrate to form a metal or dielectric film.

Because the ion beam is iso-energy (ions have equal energy) and is highly collimated, it can precisely control thickness and deposit very dense, high-quality films compared to other PVD (physical vapor deposition) techniques.

It is a physical vapor deposition method which utilizes a remote broad ion/plasma beam source to bombard a grounded (floating) sputter target. Since the sputter target is not powered as would occur with a magnetron cathode, IBSD minimizes particles due to high energy arcs. The IBSD process occurs at a lower decade pressure than magnetron sputtering, resulting in a long mean path of the atoms/molecules coming off the target. Without thermalization, these atoms retain their native energy as they condense on a substrate, contributing to dense (void-free) film growth.