A completely new set-up with 3D-Coating and a Solar unit: Adjusted LEYBOLD OPTICS portfolio offers highlights
Alzenau, 08/2007
In the fall of 2003 a well-known name returned in web coating. LEYBOLD OPTICS took over the activities of Kontex. The market penetration of Kontex combined with the huge know-how of LEYBOLD OPTICS with regard to the design and manufacturing of web coating systems created a host of new possibilities. In the packaging web coating the coating is made either in order to create a barrier against moisture or oxygen or for visual effects only. The substrates to be coated are paper or plastic films, such as PET, BOPP and CPP. The main coating material is aluminum, but other materials such as zinc sulphite, copper, and even alloys can also be used. LEYBOLD OPTICS has developed the PRO-M series, a multi-purpose platform to fulfill the demands of its customers for different substrates and coatings.
In capacitor web coating, LEYBOLD OPTICS' CAP-M series is the leading technology for coatings on capacitor films. Plastic films, such as OPP, PET, and PC or paper are metallized either with pure aluminum or a combination of aluminum and zinc. The thickness of these films ranges from incredible 0.9 µm to 20 µm! The number of applications is extremely high as is the demand on flexibility for the coating equipment.
LEYBOLD OPTICS' newly formed division '3D-Coating' covers the area of vacuum coating on three-dimensional parts made of plastics, metal, glass, ceramics, or other materials. LEYBOLD OPTICS' systems and processes provide coating solutions even for complex-shaped injection-molded parts, such as reflectors and bezels for the automotive headlamp industry, 3C (Computer, Communication, Consumer Electronics) housings or cosmetic packaging. The portfolio of applications covers magnetron sputtering and thermal evaporation of reflective and decorative metal layers, non-conductive and EMI layers as well as color coatings. A further element of the product portfolio of '3D-Coating' is the PECVD (Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) technology for transparent corrosion protection purposes and surface engineering, e.g. for wipe-resistant layers and easy-to-clean layers.
Creating new customized vacuum coaters and processes to exactly match very special purposes over and over again is definitely the playground of the top-notch scientists and engineers of LEYBOLD OPTICS' Dresden-based Special Systems unit. There has hardly been any customer from universities, research institutes or the industry knocking at the door whose wishes have not been satisfied yet. The possible range of equipment and process solutions on offer stretches from applications such as coatings on reflective optics for extreme UV lithography in highly-customized systems to large machines like In-Line coaters for special mirrors and Roll-to-Roll coaters for steel-strip treatment.
Dresden offers highly-productive magnetron cathode technology integrated in vertical, carrier-based and horizontal In-Line coating systems. Depending on the desired machine tact time, both types of In-Line coating systems are equipped with single or double load-lock stages for substrate transfer into and out of the vacuum environment. Furthermore, there are PVD systems for thin film solar cells on flexible substrates on offer. WEB 750sp for example is a highly-integrated modular coater for the deposition of TCO (transparent conductive oxide) and metal films as electrode and absorber materials for thin film solar cells on steel strips. The unrivalled combination of box or cluster-type vacuum chambers of various sizes and shapes with a wide spectrum of plasma, electron or ion-beam based coating and treatment tools makes almost any wish come true in the field of Lab and Cluster tools. Depending on customers' demands on substrate size, thin film composition, tact time, and budget, stand-alone box-type vacuum vessels of sizes between 500 and 1820 millimeters in width can be chosen.
About LEYBOLD OPTICS
As a prominent manufacturer of vacuum coating systems and developer of processes for the thin film technology, LEYBOLD OPTICS is represented in thirteen countries worldwide. The main focus of our processing technologies is on evaporation, sputtering and plasma-assisted coating processes for display technology, ophthalmics, precision optics, reflective and protective coatings, web coating, R&D, and special applications.
The basis of our success was laid in Germany 150 years ago by Ernst Leybold and Wilhelm Carl Heraeus. They addressed their pioneering spirit to the search for new manufacturing processes and founded our internationally recognized vacuum-technology company, which has set market standards ever since.
