Technical Specification

Continuous efforts of our R & D- and engineering team have enabled us to keep the leading position in optical disc sputter technology. The proven cathode design guarantees the highest reliability. The design allows an easy target change within a few minutes.

The Focus Cathode
The Focus Cathode serves for high deposition efficiency of sputtered material onto the disc. Therefore, the target utilization and the power efficiency are remarkably high: a 15 kW power supply is sufficient for 1.5 second machine cycle time. The Focus Cathode allows a yet unmatched targetlife of 200,000 discs at 55 nm layer thickness. The 2.7 second version is equipped with an 8 kW power supply.

The SMART CATHODE®
The metallizers for DVD, CD-R and DVD-R are equipped with the unique and patented SMART CATHODE and a process control system for the deposition of various target materials, such as aluminum, silver, gold or silicon, with high uniformity. In addition to the permanent magnetic field a variable magnetic field created by electromagnets is superimposed. Electrically powered coils are located at the rear of the target.

Options

TMD 02
Inline Layer Thickness Measuring and Closed Loop Sputter-Control for DVD Layers
The TMD 02 is an upgraded version of the TMD 01. It is specially designed to measure the layer thickness and layer uniformity of each sputter coated DVD halves, directly after the sputtering chamber.

The TMD 02 system is installed ontothe machine body. The disc is driven through the measuring device by the integrated wireless connected handling arm. The layer thickness distribution of each disc is displayed at the Touch Screen Operation Panel, and different thickness profiles as well as the tolerances can be pre-set.
A closed loop control system uses the measured thickness distribution to control the sputter characteristics of the SMART CATHODE®.

Wireless Transmission Device
The SINGULUS V is equipped with a newly designed servo-driven handling arm. A new wireless electronic signal transmission device that is attached to the handling drive is available as an option. This wireless transmission principle allows reliable and wear-free control of the handling grippers and sensors.

This system is particularly advantageous when combined with the above-referenced TMD 02. Since the handling arm continuously rotates in a single direction, every disc can be measured by the TMD.


Main Characteristics of the SMART CATHODE®

• Planar targets are used
• Optimization for target utilization or layer thickness uniformity
• 2 step metallization from OD to ID, the deposition of each step is monitored and controlled by an "energy mode"
• Automatic optimization of layer distribution for different target material, on-line during production, without hardware change other than the target itself
• Static masks (no particles created by mask handling) for trouble free production
• capable to sputter all suitable material without hardware change (Au/Si/Ag/Ag alloy/Al)
• layers designed to your process needs
• maximized target utilization for the requested layer