Zhifang Li, Xiaohu He, Guangdong Huicheng Vacuum Technology Co., Ltd, Dongguan, Guangdong, China
As optical components for display, imaging, and precision optics continue to scale toward large-area formats with increasingly stringent requirements on performance consistency, vacuum coating systems are challenged to deliver not only high film quality but also long-term process stability and repeatability in volume production. This paper presents an integrated vacuum coating equipment and process platform developed to address these challenges for large-area optical coating applications.
The system incorporates a coordinated configuration of multiple evaporation and magnetron sputtering sources, together with optimized process gas flow control and shielding design. By coupling these features with controlled substrate motion kinematics, highly uniform film deposition is achieved on meter-scale substrates. In-situ monitoring of film thickness and deposition rate is combined with millisecond-level closed-loop control of critical process parameters, including discharge current, process gas flow, and deposition rate, enabling effective suppression of process drift and batch-to-batch spectral variation.
Engineering validation using representative optical coating stacks, such as anti-reflection (AR) coatings and low-pass filters (LPF), demonstrates stable thickness control and consistent optical performance across large-area substrates. The results indicate that the proposed platform provides a robust and scalable pathway for transitioning optical coating processes from laboratory development to repeatable mass production, supporting advanced manufacturing of large-area optical components.