Veeco Instruments Inc of Plainview, NY, USA has received an R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine for its SPECTOR-HT ion beam deposition (IBD) System. The SPECTOR-HT is used to create precision thin-film coatings for the optical market for applications such as laser machining, telecoms, manufacturing of laser diodes, heads-up displays and laser guidance systems.
"Veeco is honored to receive this R&D 100 Award that recognizes excellence and innovation in technology, and celebrates achievement,” says William J. Miller Ph.D, Veeco’s executive VP. "The SPECTOR-HT provides manufacturers the advantages of ion beam sputtering technology – stable deposition rates, high-purity, high-density and low-roughness films; combining for stable low-optical-loss films – in a robust package that significantly boosts throughput and lowers cost of ownership.”
Launched in 2012, the SPECTOR-HT ion beam deposition system provides up to 400% increase in throughput, 300% increase in target utilization and 50% improvement in material uniformity compared to previous generations of ion beam sputtering equipment, says the firm. It is the industry's first fully automated ion beam deposition system to achieve accelerated deposition rates at speeds comparable to competing optical deposition technologies, such as physical vapor deposition (PVD), evaporative coatings or ion assisted deposition, while maintaining high-quality, optimal films.
