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DIAMOND-LIKE COATINGS FOR OPTICS

Diamond-like carbon coating is a class of amorphous carbon material that displays some of the typical properties of diamond. The coatings have unique properties such as low friction, high hardness, high corrosion resistance and good transmission in the infrared.  DLC applied as a coating on windows and lenses improves their resilience.

DLC  coatings are used throughout the infrared optics industry to create an extremely hard, durable surface on exposed optical elements to withstand the harshest environments such as:

  • abrasive action from airborne particles
  • sea/saltwater
  • engine oil/fuel or high humidity

Our DLC coatings are applied using Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) technology which is a chemical vapor deposition process used to deposit thin films from a gas state or vapor to a solid state on a substrate. This capability compliments our full in-house suite of capabilities and can be applied to a variety of substrates.

PECVD System Performance

  • Uniformity of DLC (Thickness, glass slides)
  • 13-point along 2 horizontal axes: ±3.3%, thickness 0.7% run-to-run over 5 consecutive runs
  • 5-point along the radius:  %Tav (8-12µm) < ± 0.2% 
  • %Tav 8-12µm: < ±0.5% run-to-run over 5 runs
  • 3-5µm: %Tpeak±0.7% run-to-run over 5 runs

DLC CoatingsAdvantages

  • High hardness
  • Low friction
  • Superior dicing capability
  • High corrosion resistance
  • Resistant to adhesive wear
  • Excellent surface quality
  • Coatings up to 18 in
  • Anti-reflective properties

Substrates We Can Coat 

  • Germanium
  • Silicon
  • Zinc Sulfide
  • Zinc Selenide
  • Fused Silica
  • Chalcogenides

Applications

  • Defense/Space
  • Thermal Imaging
  • Medical
  • Automotive
  • Flame Detection
  • Pyroelectric/Thermopile 

Contact us to discuss how we can tailor our filter arrays and assemblies to meet your specific needs.