Sputtered atoms have higher kinetic energy than evaporated atoms.

When the depositing atoms reach the substrate, they can diffuse along the surface  to longer distance from the site of first impact, thus  resulting in layer-by-layer (2D)  growth and conformal coverage.

In thermal evaporation island- growth mode is favored, producing rougher and more porous films.

Sputtering typically occurs at higher pressures which cause greater scattering of the depositing atoms improving step coverage.

Hi Li-Yuang Yu,

Good information on this can be found in thin film processing books (Chapman, Thornton, etc). Sputtering takes place from a flat, big surface and the angular distribution from a sputtering target is much wider than from thermal evaporation. The latter is usually confined to a crucible/pocket and the stream of material coming out is more like a point source with much smaller angular distribution. If you have wide angular distribution as in sputtering you get better coverage of side walls, trenches and underneath lift-off profiles.

kind regards,

Peter

Because of its higher kinetic energy and optimized mean free path conditions.

The sputtering pressure is higher than that of thermal evaporation, there are many particle collisions, and the sputtering has a magnetic field, so the particle trajectories are different. In addition, the incident energy of sputtered particles is tens to hundreds of times greater than that of thermal evaporation. The sputtering has diffraction phenomenon, the shadow effect at the step is not obvious, while the thermally evaporated particles move almost in a straight line and can not reach the step. The film quality is poor. In addition, it is also related to the incident energy of particles