Visit Advanced Energy's Customer Solutions Lab

At Advanced Energy, we partner with you to develop advanced thin-film deposition processes and improve performance. One of the major resources we offer is the Advanced Energy Customer Solutions Lab. It is a hub for plasma or vacuum-based equipment and thin-film deposition research and development, and materials characterization, with a focus on training and product demonstrations. You can work with researchers, engineers, and technicians to troubleshoot issues in several thin-film deposition applications.

Located in Karlstein am Main near Frankfurt, Germany, the lab is geographically convenient for international customers. The primary focus of the lab is plasma-based thin film coatings for commercial electronics applications, optical coatings, flat panel display development, and more.

Equipment Overview

The facility contains an industrial/optical drum coater, a Gen 2.0 in-line coater, an analytical lab, as well as a training space. A range of sputter targets (rotary and planar up to 60 cm), gases, and substrates (glass, sapphire, silicon) are available in the lab.

The industrial and optical vacuum coaters enable several capabilities for thin-film deposition:

• Single and dual magnetron sputtering (SMS and DMS)
  • DC and pulsed DC up to 150/350 kHz
  • Bipolar pulsing up to 150 kHz
  • Dynamic Reverse Pulsing (DRP), which offers a significantly enhanced dynamic deposition rate
• RF sputter deposition and etch
• Anode applications
• Optical emission spectroscopy to study time-resolved changes in plasma composition with changing process conditions
• Pyrometers for recording temperature changes (e.g. at the cathodes) during deposition
• Oscilloscope with current and voltage probes to study the power supply characteristics

The thin-film analytical lab is equipped with numerous tools to analyze coatings and to further research on new thin-film methods and techniques.

In addition, the lab runs our analytics system, PowerInsight by Advanced Energy^TM  which showcases real-time process data from power delivery systems that can be recorded and analyzed. Our experts build and maintain the analytics system by leveraging machine learning, modern data science, and advanced analytics to refine processes.

The training space allows individual sessions for customers to target their specific needs and work on accelerating their planned outcome. By working closely with our team to find solutions to their problems and to see the latest research, customers find this unique lab as an advantage to working with Advanced Energy.

This research lab—and the excellent team of research engineers and scientists behind it—is a key component in our development of advanced plasma technologies that provide stable, reliable, precision process power with the repeatability essential for today’s thin-film production.

To utilize the lab and consult with our research engineers, contact your local AE representative.