World's first automated cold ablation PLD production system

18th October 2013

Nat Bowers

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Picodeon has today announced the world’s first production equipment for the use of pulsed laser deposition in volume manufacturing. Developed in cooperation with PVD Products, the Picodeon ColdAb Series 4 thin film deposition system delivers industrial-scale PLD coating production of 4-inch wafer sizes, including the fully-automated delivery of substrates to the pre-clean chamber and to the main Coldab coating chamber.

Using the patented ColdAb process, the deposition chamber includes many of the unique features that have been developed by Picodeon to enable large-area thin-film coating deposition using a high frequency picosecond laser. Since conventional PLD has lower growth rate compared to Picodeon's ColdAb process, this was not previously possible at such scale. The cold ablation process offers a smooth and particle-free surface, and the target material’s stoichiometry may be fully transferred to the thin-film on the substrate, an important issue for instance with oxides and composites.

Dr. Jari Liimatainen, the CEO of Picodeon, commented: “Instead of having many costly laser sources, ColdAb Series4 is equipped with one 200W @ 40MHz laser source. This makes the system less expensive and easier to use."

Enabling temperature-sensitive polymers to be coated, the ColdAb Series4 system provides multi-layer deposition capability for a wide variety of materials including oxides, metals, and several composites.

Picodeon will utilise the system to commercialise new applications based on a wide range of coating materials including its patented Nicanite graphitic carbon nitride.

Precious metals such as gold and oxides for the semiconductor and sensor industries are in the development roadmap, and the company is looking for industrial partners to join these projects.