Thin film deposition on a substrate that cannot tolerate high temperatures demanded a special deposition method. Among the different thin film deposition methods which one could be the best?
Magnetron sputtering is also a good option, you should not exceed 80°C if you use moderated power. As mentioned by Thomas Breuer, it depends of the desired thickness.
Depending on the material deposited, thermal evaporation can heat up the substrate upto 150°C. Titanium evaporation for instance would be heating very much. Sputtering would be a good option. Water cooled substrate may also be considered. However, a very High vacuum level is needed for evaporating on cooled surfaces.
To achieve extremely uniform, crystalline metal thin film, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at low temperature is an appropriate method. Using any MBE set up under ultra high vacuum condition, you can grow desired thin film with the help of e-beam evaporator. In particular, growth by e beam evaporator only consequences local heating of your source material.
Simultaneously, flow of liquid nitrogen or chilled water (with high flow rate) would help you to stop enhancement of temperature of the UHV components (associated with metal source) and substrate.
E-beam evaporation with a substrate to source distance of 75 cm or more + water cooled substrate holder....we were able to deposite thick metal films even on temperature sensitive plastics....
The following reference, http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/1481967/ might be of interest where a rotating substrate table was employed behind a baffled magnetron source. This arrangement enabled high-quality film deposition without excessive substrate heating that could compromise the Nb/Al interface and device performance.
Depending on the thickness desired, thermal evaporation, sputtering could be used. If you desire well modified film thickness, you could use ultrasonic spray pyrolysis.
If metals, i would say sputtering also...cheap and scalable ... Thickness could be also controlled ... next, many people have sputters ..you use even used that one for coating before SEM-ing...
Additionally you can try for Hydrothermal method at constant low temperature (below 120 degree Celsius) and pressure or electrodeposition technique deposits film at room temperature. Except size of the sample is important in both the cases.
There are several options to deposit metallic thin films. Common methods include thermal evaporation, electroplating, atomic layer deposition, and sputtering. If your substrate cannot tolerate high temperatures, substrate cooling down to -20°C can be achievable when the facility is equipped with cooling mechanism and rotation capabilities. As such, thermal evaporation and sputtering can be considered.
One note is that after your success in deposition of the thin films on the substrate, your thin films may require certain thermal processing such as post-annealing to achieve disorder-order transition or stress relief.
Both the in situ deposition temperature and possibly the post annealing may pose certain challenges on your choice of substrates.
Ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) is best. You can use the low energy ion beam of Argon gas during sputtering. This should produce a more uniform film even at room temperature. This requires a filamentless ion beam source to avoid heating. Generally films do not have to be annealed after deposition.
OR
You can use ion beam deposition directly. This requires high energy ions, hence high energy ion source.
Depending upon the scaling or thickness of layer needed and temperature control parameter, you can opt any deposition techniques. But as the thermal deposition is temperature controlled technique and less costly, anyone can use it as moderate option.