John Chambers¹, Cameron Gottlieb¹, Emile Ruykens², Bruno Dusart², Philippe Bellet^2
1AGC Plasma Technology Solutions US, Sacramento, CA
²AGC Plasma Technology Solutions, Charleroi, Wallonia, Belgium
AGC Plasma Technology Solutions developed a powerful miniaturized version (Mini-Coater) of its industrial vacuum coating equipment used for high-volume mass production of large area thin-film coatings. The Mini-Coater platform is available to thin-film innovators for rapid and cost-efficient pre-commercial technology development.
An example application of porous SiO₂, which can be used to allow for permeability of a thin-film stack, is shown to highlight how this novel material can be easily transferred and upscaled to various coater platforms. The AGC Mini-Coater platform enables an ‘open-source’ approach to new materials synthesis.
AGC Plasma Technology Solutions is the industrial vacuum coating equipment and technology division of AGC Inc., a global materials company and the world’s largest glass producer. AGC found that by leveraging internal resources within this division and across its worldwide manufacturing footprint, the company can make small-scale and pilot-scale advanced coating equipment accessible to universities, research institutes, and technology developers.
Coating technologies like magnetron sputtering, PlasmaMAX^™ PECVD, and ion implantation are offered in AGC’s product suite of industrial process equipment used for coating large-area substrates up to 3.2 meters wide by 6.0 meters long. The technologies can be straightforwardly downscaled for development on small-scale substrates using the Mini-Coater platform. Broad process versatility of the equipment enables development of a wide range of coating materials and functionalities. The platform is designed for easy process transfer to different or larger coaters designs for industrial upscaling.