Vertical Inline Vacuum systems for large scale mass production.
AURORA-V is an inline vacuum coating system based on magnetron sputtering with strictly vertical substrates loading.
The main distinguishing feature is the substrate loading design in vertical position.
The substrates are loaded on the transport carrier that moves along all the coater passing through all steps of the vacuum load-locks and process corridors with the possibility to turn back or shift to another chamber or go back to atmosphere for the unloading of the coated substrates.
This solution has the following advantages:
space saving regarding footprint;
possibility to organize in-vacuum return track and use it for technology devices;
possibility to make double side coating;
low particles sputtering system configuration;
longer MTBM (mean time between maintenance);
process stability due to constant vacuum, working gas conditions.
The main process realized on AURORA coaters:
ITO and other TCO structures;
Index Match ITO for touch industry;
Antireflection coating on cover glass (AR);
AR plus anti fingerprint coatings (AR+AF);
NCVM color coating on glass and plastic substrates (PET);
metalization coating.
Process stability
One of the main advantages of our INLINE coaters is the outstanding process stability. Along with standardized parameters as well defined and controlled cylindrical magnetron sputtering stations Izovac reached its outstanding process stability by designing the transport system which moves the carriers with a ZERO GAP between each carrier when they reach the sputtering stations. This solution helped to consistently stabilize the conditions of the plasma and make the reactive sputtering process reliable and repeatable for high quality anti reflection coating.
Know-how
Resulting from several years of R&D in inline AR+AF processes made us develop an inline coater with outstanding wear resistance coating parameters in the market.
Coater description
Coating systems is made in two parts:
The vacuum chambers and the loading/unloading tables (configured to run with the automation system) that are installed in the clean room. Standard AURORA design is one-end, that means loading and unloading is made from one side going to the process corridor and has a turnback or shiftback chamber. Optionally the coater can be modified for two-end design whereas loading and unloading is made from opposite sides. Substrates are fixed on the transport carriers that goes through vacuum load lock chamber to process chamber (sputtering area) where they move with constant speed and without gap between each other. The process chambers are equipped with all equipment for substrate cleaning, thin film coating and a post treatment (if required). The coater control is made from HMI + PLC system in fully automated mode.
The control system can be integrated with Manufacturing execution system (MES).
Available generation
By coating area size AURORA-V is available in the next versions:
GEN 5 with coating area 1100×1300 mm;
GEN 6 with coating area 1500×1850 mm;
GEN 8 with coating area 2200×2500 mm.
Other variation (not standard) can be discussed.
Productivity
Together with the coating area size the main parameter that defines productivity is cycle time (or tact time like in conveyor production). It is the time between two carriers going to unloading of coated substrates.
For Aurora-V platform the shortest cycle time is from 45 sec.
Available coating processes
Having modular design AURORA coater structure can be scaled and optimized for different production task.
The following technological devises can be used:
Ion Beam Cleaning system;
RF plasma cleaning system;
planar magnetron sputtering station (DC or AC);
cylindrical rotary magnetron sputtering station (DC or AC);
RF magnetrons;
AF evaporation system (anti fingeprint coating system);
optical monitoring.
Substrate type: