Fraunhofer Institute for Electron Beam
and Plasma Technology FEP
Fraunhofer Institute for Electron Beam
and Plasma Technology FEP

Precision Coating

Expand all Close all

We develop processes and technologies to precisely and homogenously apply electrical, optical, acoustic, and magnetic layers and layer systems on large areas. This provides the basis for new products in the area of optics, electronics, sensor technology, photovoltaic systems, storage media, and biomedical technology.

For our customers we develop favorable-cost technologies for manufacturing innovative products, where combinations of different layer properties essentially determine the product properties. The long-term stable sputtering processes are ideally suited for manufacturing precise layer systems.

Our services include customized development of key components, processes and layer systems, the deposition of layers and layer systems in our laboratory and pilot facilities as well as the upscaling and transfer of integrated packages of hardware and technology into production.

The business unit Precision Coating combines four working groups from the areas of sheet-to-sheet technologies and precision coating with the following main topics:

 

Sheet-to-Sheet
Sputtering and PECVD coatings

Dynamic
Precision Coating

Stationary
Precision Coating

Sputterepitaxy Technologies

Our offer

Fraunhofer FEP offers comprehensive competencies regarding process and technology development for coating technologies and layer systems according to your application along the entire value chain:

  • Market and feasibility studies, consulting, training
  • Design of an R&D project with work packages, milestones, costs
  • Development and optimization of coating technologies and coating systems
  • Development of key assemblies(magnetron sputter sources, plasma etching equipment) adapted to the requirements of the coating task
  • Coating of samples and pilot production
  • Demonstrator development and production
  • Transfer of integrated packages (consisting of key components, fully automated control systems and technology) into production plants
  • Support in cost determination and plant engineering implementation
  • Licensing

This development work is complemented and supported by:

  • Acquisition and coordination of state, federal and European Union funded projects
  • Economic feasibility studies

Application examples

Applications

 

Optics, sensor technology, and electronics

Coating technologies for the growth areas of optics, sensor technology, and electronics are gaining importance for an increasing number of established products and as a prerequisite for new products.

More Info
 

Displays and
Wearables

Displays in consumer and professional applications are getting more and more sophisticated. Smart phones, wearables or TVs are equipped with numerous functions to interactively reflect and capture the world.

More Info
 

Transport

Today’s cars reflect our individual preferences. A variety of functions can be implemented through thin-films technologies in optics, lighting and interior as well as through novel systems for connected mobility.
More Info
 

Mechanical
engineering

Optimized surfaces are the basis for a lot of innovation in the machine building sector. Layers that make products and components resistant to corrosion, wear, and scratching have enormous commercial importance.

More Info
 

Smart building and
architecture

In architecture the coating of flat glass with energy-efficient layers for low-energy homes or for renovation of historical buildings is growing in importance. Developments at the Fraunhofer FEP on transparent heat-reflection, sun protection, and diffusion barrier layers on flat glas and flexible polymer substrates ...

More Info
 

Preservation

With our services in thin-film technologies we would like not only to enable new products, but also to preserve objects of the past. Plasma processes and electron beam are the tools that we use to sustain historical heritage.
More Info
 

Medical and Biotechnological Applications

The growth in the medical technology sector is being accompanied by a great variety of innovations. The development of new products and medical equipment is often based on sophisticated starting materials.

More Info
 

Flexible Glass

Ultra-thin glass, also known as flexible glass, is a relatively new material with excellent surface properties and low substrate roughness.

More Info

Sputterepitaxy Technologies

  • Layer systems and gradient layers for precision optical components (filters, mirrors)
  • Antireflective- and antireflective-antistatic coatings of optical components with high demands on stress reduction and climatic resistance (spectacle lenses, optics)
  • Acoustically effective layers on surface acoustic wave components
  • Layers and layer systems for magnetic and optical storage media (hard disks, CD, DVD)
  • Mechanical protective layers for magnetic heads and sensors
  • Contact layer systems and diffusion barriers in electronic components for use at elevated temperatures
  • Electrical insulator, barrier and other functional layers for sensors (e.g. gas sensors)
  • Photocatalytic layers, insulator and barrier layers for components in biotechnology and medical technology
  • Piezoelectric layers for ultrasonic microscopy and for the generation of micro-energy (Energy Harvesting)

Optical interference coatings

Piezo-electric layers

Electrical insulation layers
  • optical filters for laser optics, spectroscopy applications
  • anti-reflex layers on lenses for glasses
  • Fluoride layers and fluorine-containing layers for UV applications
  • Hydrogen-containing layers for IR applications
  • for micro-systems (MEMS), BAW, SAW
  • for ultrasound microscopy
  • for energy harvesting
  • for sensors (also component-integrated)
  • for microelectronics
  • for photovoltaics
  • SiO2, Si3N4, Ta2O5, TiO2, Al2O3, HfO2, Nb2O5
  • low thermal load on the substrate
  • good adhesion and durability even on plastic substrates
  • very low absorption and scattering losses
  • deposition rates 1 ... 4 nm/s
  • crystalline AlN and AlScN layers with high c-axis orientation
  • deposition rates: 2 … 4 nm/s
  • piezoelectric coefficients up to
    d33 = 30 pm/V  
  • Al2O3, SiO2, Si3N4 as thin-film insulation with very good insulating properties
  • high deposition rate: 2 ... 4 nm/s
    (10 times higher than by RF sputtering)
  • effective deposition of thick insulation layers with electric strength of up to 1500 V
  • on flat and 3-dimensional substrates

SEM image of a SiXTaYOZ gradient-
coating system (rugate design)
SEM image of an AlN layer with strong c-axis orientation
Pressure sensors with electrical insulation layers
Passivation, protection and barrier layers Titanium-dioxide layers Functional layers
  • for sensors
  • for electronic components
  • photocatalytic, antibacterial
  • photo-induced superhydrophilic
  • for gas and moisture sensors
  • for surface-wave components
  • for electronic and MEMS components
  • Al2O3, SiO2, Si3N4
  • as diffusion barriers for sensor elements, for photovoltaics and for organic electronics
  • as an etching-stop layer
  • as a passivation layer

 
  • hardness may be adjusted from 7 ... 14 GPa
  • refractive index (VIS):
    n = 2.4 ... 2.7 adjustable
  • structure: amorphous, crystalline
    (anatase, rutile)
  • superhydrophilic after 30 minutes of UV-A irradiation (1 mW / cm2)
  • SiO2 layers for improved temperature stability in SAW components
  • TaN layers for thin-film resistors
SiO2 as a passivation layer for thin-film resistors Superhydrophilic titanium-dioxide layer (right) Surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) components
Layer type Examples Deposition rate [nm/s]
metals
 Al, Cr, Cu, … 15 … 25
alloys
 Ni / Al, NiV7, CoNiCr… 10 … 15
binary compounds
 Al2O3, AlN, AlF3, SiO2, Si3N4, TiO2, Ta2O5, Nb2O5, TaN, HfO2, …. 2 … 4
ternary compounds
 SiXOYNZ, AlXOYNZ, SiXTaYOZ, AlXScYNZ 2 … 4
gradient-coating systems
 SiO2 → SiXOYNZ → Si3N4
Al2O3 → AlXOYNZ → AlN
SiO2 → SiXTaYOZ → Ta2O5		 2 … 4
hybrid compounds
 SiXCPOQHR, SiXCPOQNR, SiXTiYCPOQHR 5 … 15

Technologies

We use the following technologies to implement precisely tailored coatings and applications for our customers:

  • long-term stable high-rate magnetron sputtering (DC, MF, RF) for a variety of coatings such as metals, alloys, compounds, layer systems and gradient coatings
  • reactive pulse magnetron sputtering for multi-component compound and gradient coating systems
  • coating processes for stationary and moving substrates
  • high-rate PECVD

Advantages of our technologies are:

  • High layer thickness homogeneity on large areas
  • High reproducibility
  • Low-damage coatings
  • The possibility of 3D coating

For this purpose we offer in-situ spectrophotometry and ellipsometry.

Click on the following links to learn more about our technology portfolio.

 

Plasma-activated large-area and precision
coating

We develop plasma-activated coating processes for industrial-scale manufacturing as well as economical and high-quality large-area coating based on PVD and PECVD processes. We offer suitable cleaning processes and plasma pre-treatment

More info
 

Sputtering

Magnetron Sputtering:

  • reactive and non-reactive
  • DC
  • pulsed
  • MF
  • RF
More info

Sheet-to-sheet coating

Sheet-to-sheet coating of flexible and rigid materials

  • glass
  • polymers
  • ceramics
  • (metals)
 

High-rate PECVD

  • magPECVD
  • arcPECVD
More info
 

Flash Lamp Annealing

Flash lamp annealing

Thermal processing of thin layers in the millisecond range:

  • Static or dynamic
  • Large-area
  • Vacuum, air, reactive or inert atmosphere
More info

More technologies

In addition to these coating technologies we are using and developing further technologies, such as:

  • methods for process monitoring
  • in-line plasma treatment
 

Technological key
components

We develop, manufacture, and integrate industrial electron-beam, coating, and plasma sources as well as specific supply, control, and regulation technology. We offer sample coatings and substrate treatments, technology transfer, commissioning, and customer support.

More info

Several pilot and laboratory facilities are available at Fraunhofer FEP for our development work. During development projects, our pilot plants also enable us to investigate questions from technical scale-up to pilot production. Depending on the substrate, coating technique, and material deposited, we are able to employ the following facilities to optimize your coating solution:

 

 

 

 

Stationary
coating

 

Dynamic
coating

Projects

ProjeCt name Description
DANAE Research on thin film and alignment technologies for nanoscale acoustic electronics
TopBePro Research on location-dependent coating profiles
Sub-topic: Coating technology for the deposition of location-dependent coating profiles and for particle-free precision coating on 2D and 3D-components
BiSWind Component-integrated sensor technology for power transmission elements in wind turbines
FoulingResist Efficiency improvement by reduction of fouling in heat pipes
Sub-topic: Internal coatings of pipes with fouling-resistant thin film coatings
HiPERFORM High performant Wide Band Gap Power Electronics for Reliable, energy efficient drivetrains and Optimization through Multi-physics simulation
InnoFlash Innovative pulse modulation for the operation of high-power flash lamps
RadarGlass Design and fabrication of functional glass surfaces for the manipulation of radar waves - RadarGlass; Subproject: Deposition of transparent conductive coatings for frequency selective surfaces
GLASS4FLEX New process technologies pave the way for flexible glass applications in optical systems
HotSense  
TASG Portable, self-sufficient and compact power generators
GaNESIS AIN/GaN epitaxy on silicon using reactive pulse magnetron sputtering
Pin3S Pilot Integration 3nm Semiconductor technology
3D-FF Sophisticated free-form coating of flat and 3-dimensional substrates using inline sputtering technology
PAR-ALD Reduction of corrosion and fouling through complete internal coating of heat exchangers with functional surfaces
PHABULOUS
 Pilot line with state-of-the-art and robust manufacturing technology for free-form optical microstructures
GLASS4FLEX New process technologies pave the way for flexible glass applications in optical systems
CUSTOM Investigation of the material behavior of ultrathin flexible glass in layered composites
WOQ-COMP Key Components for Wireless, Optical and Quantum Communication

Press





More information





Contact persons

Collaboration with our clients typically begins with a telephone call or email from the client in order to briefly describe the R&D requirement or technological problem, or to set up a meeting.

From that point onward, we work very closely with the client to develop a plan for the work, which leads to a proposal and bid, and finally to an R&D project. Confidentiality can be ensured from the beginning through a confidentiality agreement.

Please feel free to contact us. If we should not be available when you phone, then please send us a brief email and we will happily phone you back.

Jörg Neidhardt

Contact Press / Media

Dr. Jörg Neidhardt

Head of Business Unit and Head of Department S2S Technologies and Precision Coating

Fraunhofer FEP
Winterbergstraße 28
01277 Dresden 

Phone +49 351 2586-280

Hagen Bartzsch

Contact Press / Media

Dr. Hagen Bartzsch

Group Manager Static Precision Coating

Fraunhofer FEP
Winterbergstr. 28
01277 Dresden, Germany 

Phone +49 351 2586-390

Daniel Glöß

Contact Press / Media

Dr. Daniel Glöß

Group Manager Dynamic Precision Coating

Fraunhofer FEP
Winterbergstr. 28
01277 Dresden, Germany 

Phone +49 351 2586-374

Kerstin Täschner

Contact Press / Media

Dr. Kerstin Täschner

Group Manager S2S Sputtering and PECVD

Fraunhofer FEP
Winterbergstr. 28
01277 Dresden, Germany

Phone +49 351 2586-376

Nicolas Schiller

Contact Press / Media

Dr. Nicolas Schiller

Division Director Plasma Technology

Fraunhofer FEP
Winterbergstr. 28
01277 Dresden, Germany

Phone +49 351 2586-131

Fax +49 351 258655-131

Precision coating