Methods for controlling physical vapor deposition metal film adhesion to substrates and surfaces

A method of making a plurality of devices, comprising:

• fabricating, on a substrate, a film comprising a plurality of devices including a metal layer in direct contact with the substrate, wherein the fabricating comprises:
• placing the substrate in a physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber;
• setting a pressure of a gas in the chamber, wherein the pressure is in a range of 2-250 mTorr;
• depositing metal on the substrate using PVD at the pressure so as to form the metal layer;
• wherein the PVD comprises:
• ionizing the gas so as to form ionized gas particles in the chamber;
• and
• accelerating the ionized gas particles onto a target comprising the metal in the metal layer using an electric and/or magnetic field having a power in a range of 10 Watts to 100 kilowatts;
• and
• depositing device layers on the metal layer so as to form the film comprising the plurality of the devices comprising the metal layer;
• patterning and cutting the plurality of devices in the film;
• and
• removing each of the devices from the substrate, so that the metal layer in each of the devices is removed from the substrate and each of the devices include a portion of the metal layer, wherein:
• the devices each comprise an analyte sensor and the portion of the metal layer comprises an electrode used for sensing a concentration of an analyte in an in-vivo environment in contact with the electrode.