Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV
Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV

Vacuum coating – Physical vapor deposition PVD

Exterior view of a belt steaming system

Our PVD plant enables us to vaporize metals (e.g. Al, Cr, Ti) and oxides (e.g. Al2O3, MgO, SiOX) and deposit these on web-shaped substrates. These thin functional layers have a thickness in the nano-range (less than 100 nm) and are applied to films ad paper.

Utilize our vacuum coating plants to improve the properties of your flexible materials such as their barrier properties, conductivity, optical appearance, and mechanical stability. The small film width of 280 mm minimizes the use of materials.

For optimizing the layer design of multilayer films we possess state-of-the-art plants for not only vacuum coating but also for lacquering, lamination, and extrusion. We can optimize the process steps individually and also in combination.

Utilize our vacuum coating plants to optimize your films!

Our offer

 

  • Application of various coating materials: metals (e.g. Al, Cr, Ti), semiconductors (e.g. Si), and oxides (e.g. Al2O3, MgO, SiOx)

  • Diverse substrates: Paper, plastics such as polypropylene (BOPP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and biopolymer films such as polylactic acid (PLA)

  • Trials for vacuum coating and also lacquering, lamination, and extrusion

  • Plasma pretreatment (e.g. with O2, N2, NH3 as reactive gases)

  • Analysis and characterization of the pretreatment and coating processes

 

 

Improvement of the barrier properties

 

Enhancement of the conductivity

 

Optical effects via metalization

 

Functionalization of surfaces

 

Design optimization for multilayer systems

Your benefits

 

  • Small pilot plant scale trials with minimum material requirements

  • Availability of all key processing equipment for manufacturing multilayer materials for packaging applications

  • Nanocoatings with high functionality via vacuum coating

  • Cost savings, weight savings, and reduced environmental impact via material optimization
     

Small pilot plants for vacuum coating

Belt steaming system
© Fraunhofer IVV
Vacuum coating plant with electron beam evaporator

Vacuum coating plant with electron beam evaporator

  • Electron beam evaporator
  • Plasma generator with microwave excitation
  • Quartz layer thickness monitor
  • Web speeds up to 10 m/min
  • Film width 280 mm
  • Roll-to roll process

Where is vacuum coating / PVD used?

Vacuum coating using electron beam vaporization enables us to coat web-shaped substrates with nanolayers of various metals and oxides. With oxides (e.g. silicon oxide) transparent barriers are obtained. In combination with special lacquers for barrier applications this allows the customization of property profiles, for example for flexible photovoltaic systems, LED applications, paper-based printable electronics, and (translucent) vacuum panels. The suitability and quality of the lacquers can be tested using our lacquering and laimanting plants.