The source for all your thin Film needs since 1988.
sputtered coatings
Our Core BUsiness
Sputtered coatings in thin-film technology involve depositing thin layers of material onto a substrate through a process called sputtering. This precise physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique utilizes ions to eject atoms from source material, forming uniform coatings on various surfaces. Widely recognized for its versatility, sputtered coatings find applications across industries such as Micro-electronics, Hybrid microwave, Optical, Medical, Semiconductor, Tool, and Aerospace. Known for their dense structure, good adhesion and ability to coat intricate shapes, these coatings play a crucial role in various new technologies and continue to find newer applications.
STANDARD SPUTTERED COATINGS
We have eighteen sputtering systems, many always set up with commonly used metal coating schemes. This enables us to provide consistent coatings with quick turnaround (since no target changes are required).
Conductive Coatings
Multiple layers of metals are applied to substrates such as Alumina, Aluminum Nitride, Beryllium Oxide, Diamond, Glass, Polymers, PZT, Silicon, compound Semiconductors and others. Conductive layers are typically Copper, Gold, Palladium, Platinum, Ruthenium, Aluminum, or Silver. Standard multilayers include TiW/Au (wirebondable), NiCr/Au, Mo, Ru, NiCr/Ni/Au, NiCr/Cu, Ti/Au.
COATINGS FOR SOLDERING AND BRAZING: These include Ti/ Ni/ Au, Ti/Pt/Au, Ti/Pd/Au TiW/Ni/Ag, Cr/Ni/Au, Ni Cr/Cu/Au and thick Ti, Mo, Nb and W.
LOW TEMPERATURE CONDUCTIVE COATINGS ON PZT and other POLYMERS: Processes have been developed for depositing coatings on substrates that cannot take temperatures over 75 C (or even lower).
The conductive layers are typically undercoated with an adhesion layer and often times with a barrier layer to minimize diffusion at higher temperatures.
Standard adhesion metals are Cr, NiCr, Ti, and TiW.
Barrier metals include but are not limited to Mo, W, Ni, NiV, Pt and TiN.
RESISTOR Coatings
Resistor coatings from 10 ohms/square to 200 ohms/square are routinely deposited with either TaN or NiCr. Furnace stabilization of these materials from 350°C to 450°C are utilized to prevent drift at standard operating temperatures. For applications up to 1000 ohms/square, SiCr and SiCrOx are sputtered. Films up to 1 mega-ohm/sq. are deposited utilizing doped poly-Si.
DIELECTRIC Coatings
Dielectric coatings can be deposited by the following methods; RF sputtering, RF reactive sputtering and pulsed DC reactive sputtering. Methods utilized depend on the application, stress requirements, thickness, density, and index. The most frequent materials deposited are Aluminum Oxide, Silicon Nitride and SiO2. Other dielectric films that can be sputtered include MoO2, PtO2, Ta2O5, TiO2, WO2, Y2O3, and ZrO2.
Transparent Conductive Coatings
Low resistance/high transmission films of ITO are deposited by a proprietary method on Glass, Silicon and Polymer Substrates. Additional transparent conductive coatings include SnO2, Al doped ZnO2, and thin Ag and Au films protected with a dielectric film.
Hard Coatings
Hollow Cathode Magnetron Sputtering (with substrate ion bombardment) is used for coating three dimensional parts as they rotate during deposition. The coatings may also be applied to flat (two dimensional) substrates.
TiN can be reactively sputtered which produces a hard, gold colored coating.
TiOxNy can be sputtered for a dark colored and highly abrasion resistant coating.
TiB2 coatings can be sputtered on planar substrates that produce ultra hard and smooth coatings approaching the hardness of diamond.
HEAT SINK Coatings
Indium (sputtered and evaporated) and Au Sn
OTHER Coatings
We have the following sputtering targets in stock, so that we can respond quickly to various customer requests. Over the past 30+ years we have also developed processes to clean and coat customer parts with the materials listed.
Ag—Al—Al 1%Si—Al 2%Cu—AlCu4%—Al 0.5%Cu—Al2O3—AlN—AlZnO—AlNTi—Au—BN—C—Cr—CrSi—CrSiOx—Co—Cu—CuPd—CuSn—CuCr—Fe—Ge—ITO—In—Ir—Mo—MoCu—Monel—MoO2—MoSi2—Nb—NbO2—Ni—-NiCr 50/50—NiCr 70/30—NiCr 80/20—NiFe (permalloy)—NiV—Pd—Pt—PtOx—Pyrex—Rh—Ru—Si—SiC—SiO2—Si3N4—Sn—Ta—TaN—Ta2O5—Ti—TIC–TiB2—TiO2—TiSi—TiW—Rh—Ru—V—W—WS2—Y—Y2O3—Zn—Zr—ZnO2—ZrO2—ZrN