Electron beam evaporation is the use of accelerated electron bombardment coating materials, the kinetic energy of electrons into heat energy to make the coating materials heat evaporation, and film-forming. There are three types of electron gun: direct, ring and E. The characteristics of electron beam heating evaporation are that it can obtain high energy density, up to 109w / cm2, heating temperature up to 3000-6000 ℃, which can evaporate refractory metals or compounds; the evaporated materials are placed in a water-cooled crucible, which can avoid the pollution of crucible materials and prepare high-purity thin films; in addition, due to the small heating area of the evaporated materials, the loss of thermal radiation is reduced and the thermal efficiency is high. However, it is not suitable for the evaporation of many compounds because of the possibility of electron bombardment decomposition;.

Electron beam evaporation is often used to prepare Al, Co, Ni, Fe alloy or oxide films, SiO2, ZrO2 films, corrosion-resistant and high temperature resistant oxide films.