Applied Films Sells First of its Newly Developed Roll-to-roll Sputtering Systems
September 23, 2005
Applied Films announced the first sale of one of its newly developed roll-to-roll coating systems for sputter application. With this system, PET and Polyimide films can be sputter-coated with single layers or with multi layer stacks in one pass. The customer is a leading provider of high-value biotechnology products and services whose production requires extremely high process reliability. They will use the Applied Films roll-to-roll system to coat plastic rolls which afterwards are further processed for a final product.
Prior to the decision for Applied Films system, called SMARTWEB? intensive customer trials of specific materials took place on the in-house Applied Films SMARTWEB? They were focused on process (reliability) requirements such as the peeling-strength of the deposited metal layers as well as on a pinhole-free coating; all parameters were met by the system. Complementary to the fulfilment of the process requirements, the compactness, ease of use and control of the system were added values for the customer. With its small footprint, a height of less than 2.5 meters and its clean room compatible design, it reduces the need for expensive production infrastructure. If need be, the whole system can be shipped via air thereby reducing the lead-time until final acceptance test of this configuration at the customer's site to eight months. Shipment of the system is planned to be completed in Q1 of 2006, production start is scheduled for 2006.
The SMARTWEB?system has been adjusted to the particular needs of the customer. It is equipped with two process modules which contain a total of six sputter compartments. Sputtered layers can be deposited onto film from 100 to 250 µm in a dry, environment-friendly process, for other purposes the SMARTWEB?can handle a wide range of film thicknesses. It can also allow double-side metallization in a two-pass production. The sputtered layers show a good adhesion (peeling strength) due to the high energy of the sputtered metal atoms and are virtually pinhole-free. Applied Films SMARTWEB?system reflects the successful transfer of the company's long term experience in vacuum coating processes to the production of flexible coated plastic or metal substrates. For customer trials of materials or processes, Applied Films has a SMARTWEB?installed at its production facilities in Alzenau, Germany. Interested parties can run trials on the system to confirm that their individual production needs are met or check production qualification.
