Aegis Diamond-Like Carbon Deposition
The Intlvac Aegis deposits diamond-like carbon (DLC) by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) from hydrocarbon precursors. It runs at low temperature, so temperature-sensitive substrates can be coated alongside infrared optics. It’s used for protective coatings on IR optics, tribological coatings, and hard masks for lithium niobate etching.
DLC for infrared optics
On high-index IR materials, a single DLC layer acts as an anti-reflection coating and protects the optic against wear and chemical attack in harsh environments. The Aegis coats silicon, germanium and chalcogenides, as well as II-VI compounds, optical glasses, sapphire, metals and plastics. The refractive index can be tuned to the application.
Film quality
Intlvac’s datasheet gives uniformity better than ±1% Tavg over 508 mm, run to run, without substrate rotation. Films are dense and pinhole-free, up to several microns thick, and as a hard mask the DLC has a roughness of 2.5 Å.
Qualified durability
Intlvac’s DLC is qualified to:
- MIL-C-48497A and MIL-C-675C: adhesion, humidity, moderate abrasion, salt and water solubility
- TS1888: sand slurry wiper test
- ISO 9211-4: severe abrasion, snap adhesion and solubility
- ISO 9022: cyclic damp heat, slow temperature change, temperature shock, salt mist, solar radiation, mould growth, contamination and ice
Hard masks for lithium niobate
On thin film lithium niobate (TFLN) and LNOI wafers, Aegis DLC is used as the etch mask. Etched on the Nanoquest II, it gives 4:1 or better selectivity of DLC to lithium niobate.
Control
Intlvac’s AUTOSYS touchscreen runs the system, with recipes that can be viewed, edited, saved and uploaded without limit. Every run is logged, ready to export to a spreadsheet.
Working with SiSTEM
SiSTEM is Intlvac’s partner for the UK, Ireland and most of Europe. We scope your system with you and Intlvac’s engineers, and stay your local contact through quotation, installation and after-sales. Tell us your substrates, part sizes and the test standard your coating has to meet, and we’ll take it to Intlvac.
