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PVD coatings enable extremely smooth and stable surfaces in high-precision optics. They improve the performance of telescopes, lasers, and sensors while reducing manufacturing costs.
In this article, you will learn:
Which applications benefit from PVD coatings.
what advantages modern PVD processes such as Superflat Si offer.
Conventional processing methods can hardly keep up with the requirements, both physically and economically:
• Optics must reflect more light.
• They must be manufactured faster.
• They must be available in ever larger formats.
In practice, this presents three key challenges:
Even with maximum polishing effort, the achievable smoothness is limited. The material-specific structure often prevents roughness values of less than 1 nm RMS from being achieved.
Without a functional PVD coating, the physical limit is reached in these applications.
Extremely time-consuming polishing cycles are necessary to achieve the required specifications purely mechanically.
The consequence: production times increase, costs scale up, and time-to-market is delayed. This is often no longer an option for efficient series production.
Even if the surface remains only minimally rough, system performance suffers measurably:
The conclusion: Polishing alone is often no longer sufficient to achieve the next level of optical precision. A new technological approach is needed.
These developments mean that PVD coatings are becoming increasingly important in photonics applications.
The answer to these challenges in optical applications is Superflat Si. This innovative PVD coating made of amorphous silicon decouples the surface quality from the substrate material. Instead of laboriously perfecting the base material, we refine it with a layer that is physically optimized for polishing.
| Challenge | Solution with Superflat Si | Your advantage |
| Physical limit | Amorphous layer structure without grain boundaries | Roughness < 1 nm RMS even on metals & SiC |
| Costs & Time | Coating replaces fine polishing of the substrate | Significantly shorter production times and cost reduction |
| Performance | Extremely smooth, defect-free surface | Minimized stray light and maximum reflectivity |
| lightweight construction | Low-stress layer for SiC, aluminum, beryllium | Enables ultra-light mirrors without compromising quality |
Today, drones and airplanes are the eyes of agriculture, disaster control, and environmental research, while satellites provide valuable data for climate, energy, and security on a daily basis.
The trend: Lightweight, robust telescopes that reliably deliver images of the highest quality are in demand. At the same time, ever larger mirrors are required to provide even higher resolution.
Miba's contribution: Superflat Si enables improved reflection and fast processing times. It is a series-proven PVD coating that makes it possible to use ultra-light mirror materials (such as silicon carbide or aluminum) in applications.
Here, the spectrum ranges from large mirrors to precision instrumentation with the highest quality requirements.
The trend: The focus is on large, segmented mirrors and extreme requirements for surface quality in measuring devices. Another key concern is reducing construction and polishing times.
Miba's contribution: By using Superflat Si, we achieve precisely these reduced processing times while also achieving extremely low roughness.
Extreme performance requires maximum reflectivity.
The trend: The priority is high reflectivity in order to reliably prevent thermal damage to the optics.
Miba’s contribution: Our PVD coatings achieve roughness values well below 1 nm RMS in applications with metal optics, which minimizes absorption and protects the optics.
Our visit to Laser World of Photonics in Munich, the leading international trade fair for photonics, confirmed the relevance of Superflat Si.
Our colleagues Jürgen and Dominik held intensive discussions that clearly showed one thing: PVD coatings for photonics applications strike a chord. The challenges facing the industry are similar everywhere. From drones to high-energy lasers, the requirements are always the same:
The enthusiasm and inspiration we received from our customers and partners reinforce our conviction that Superflat Si is the key technology for realizing the next generation of optical systems.
Are you facing similar challenges in the field of optics?
Let's talk about your next project and how our PVD coating can optimize your applications.
