Beschichten transparenter Kunststoffe mit Kratzschutz und AR in einer kombinierten InLine‐Anlage

For the last decades, both the ophthalmic and the precision optics industries have been relying on vacuum evaporation on the production floor. This particular thin film process is not very suitable for mass production. A major problem in mass production of high quality consumer products is the lack of automatic operation in single chamber evaporation coaters. This article describes a new coating process for lenses which uses both PECVD and sputtering technologies. A new InLine machine equipped with these technologies is presented. This machine meets all requirements with respect to process stability and automation for the respective industry. With its modular design concept, this coating machine can be totally integrated into an InLine factory floor. It can also easily be scaled up or down for a wide range of applications. Given the excellent quality that has been achieved for hardcoat and antireflective coating of plastic eyeglass lenses, similar results can be expected in other thin film applications for a wide range of temperature sensitive substrates in precision optics.