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Applications
Starter sources are designed to fit directly into an e-beam hearth or liner, filling up the conical area with evaporation material. This provides consistent parameters, ensuring repeatable depositions across runs.
Material Compatibility
Unlike pellet materials, starter slugs do not require pre-melting and additionally works well with materials that do not melt well. These starter slugs lower spitting by provide uniform heating, while also increasing efficiency by making material handling and operation easier.
The Evaporator
1. New Ultra-Black Coating Could Enable the Search for Life on Exoplanets
2. Technical Tip – How to Deposit Nickel
3. Silver-coated cicado wing nanostructures boost molecular detection signals
(Image: NASA Exo-S Study Team)
| NASA Exo-S |
In 2020, NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California chartered a Starshade Science and Industry Partnership (SIP) to maximize the technology readiness level of starshades to enable potential future exoplanet science missions.
Building on the success of the edge coating demonstration and supported by a 2021 NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract, ZeCoat developed a novel thin film deposition process to coat large sheets of polyimide film with a similar ultra-black finish.
The process uses multiple electron beam evaporators to apply thin, uniform films to a moving membrane substrate in a roll-to-roll coating process.
How to Deposit NickelNickel is a common naturally occurring silvery-white metal, known for a wide range of properties. In thin film applications, high purity nickel exhibits and is utilized for its good electrical conductivity and ferromagnetic characteristics.
Thin films of nickel can be deposited using thermal evaporation or e-beam evaporation. Material selection is important for this, as nickel can be difficult to work with. Because it alloys with refractory metals, thermal evaporation of nickel uses alumina coated baskets (WBAOs) or alumina coated boats.
Resistance temperature detectors (RTDs) use nickel films on a ceramic substrate, using the changes in electrical resistance to determine temperature. Magnetic data storage uses nickel layers, notably being able to quickly switch magnetization.
Other uses of nickel include use as a diffusion barrier, metallic contact layers, and as an alloying element for many other applications.
(Image: Hong et al.)
| China Medical University and National Taiwan University |
In AIP Advances, researchers from China Medical University and National Taiwan University show that these natural nanostructures can be tuned to amplify signals in molecular detection techniques. The scientists were interested in using the cicada wing structure to improve surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).
The team coated cicada wing spires in silver nanoparticles using two methods: sputtering deposition and e-gun evaporation. Sputtering turned the nano-spires into cylindrical pillar-like structures. In contrast, e-gun coating made spires more conical.
Pittsburgh, PA | Nov 8-13, 2026
David L. Lawrence Convention Center
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The right evaporation source can make your thin film coating process a success. Since 1963, we have been fabricating and recommending evaporation sources for our customers in various cutting-edge industries.
