The Cressington 308R is a combined DC magnetron sputter and thermal evaporator system.
Sputtering is used to deposit thin films of materials onto a substrate. Argon atoms are ionized, bombarded onto the target which leads to the ejection of atoms from the surface. These ejected atoms will in turn hit the substrate and coat the surface with a thin film of target material. Thermal evaporation in the Cressington 308R is done by resistive heating of a target until it evaporates onto a substrat