precision optical coating quality

Thin Film Quality Control

Process Control

Thin film optical coating design has evolved from back of the envelope calculations for simple designs to complete synthesis of complex multilayer stacks. Design of the coating is the first step of many before the design is actually reduced to practice. Coating engineering requires careful selection of materials, and understanding deposition parameters and factors that affect coating performance and survivability. Opti-Forms process engineers are trained and certified in Six Sigma and DOE. Process control is maintained by measuring the output of the process (reflectance, CCT, chromaticity coordinates, survivability, etc.) and operating within statistically established process control limits.

Quality Inspection

Immediately following the electroforming process, each part is carefully inspected to assure conformance to all applicable specifications. After application of any thin film depositions or electrical discharge machining, all mirrors are again inspected and tested to assure quality and accuracy consistent with all customer requirements.

Advanced Quality Control of Thin Film Services at Opti-Forms

Strict quality control insures performance meets customer requirements. Upon request, transmittance or reflectance scans are provided with each coating run. Optical performance is measured using a Perkin Elmer Lambda 900 UV/VIS/NIR spectrophotomer with a range of 190 nm to 3200nm. Depolarized, relative reflectance and absolute transmittance may be measured from 0-90 deg AOI. Near normal, absolute reflectance of planar surfaces may be obtained using the instrument's VN accessory. Advanced spectroscopy software permits complete Characterization of the coating.

Upon request, reflectance measurements are also performed on collection optics or surface of revolution optics at OFI’s IRAD test stations. The IRAD test output is relative reflectance, absolute transmittance, chromaticity coordinates, and correlated color temperature. Digital projection optics are IRAD tested under full lamp load.

Coating Applications at Opti-Forms

Opti-forms offers a wide variety of thin film optical coatings. A few applications include:

• coatings for theater and digital projection optics
• energy related coatings
• solar thermal control coatings
• coatings for display applications
• optical coatings for collection optics
• broad band high reflectance coatings
• narrow band high reflectance coatings
• antireflection coatings
• enhanced metal coatings

In most cases a customer’s performance requirement can be met by choosing from Opti-Forms' large selection of standard optical coatings. If a performance requirement isn’t met with a standard optical coating, OFI will design and deposit a custom solution.

Please contact our sales department with your needs.