PVD Products shipped a dual chamber IBAD system to a major Coated Conductor provider this week. The system includes two evaporation chambers and is based on the work developed by Stanford and LANL. The system includes complete tape transport, RF ion beam precleaninig, a large IBAD deposition zone with multi-track capability, scanning RHEED in-situ film evaluation, and a Homo-Epi deposition chamber with a multi zone substrate heater. The system is fully computer controlled. This system adds to the list of various thin film coated-conductor deposition tools provided by PVD Products.

PVD Products has received an order for a PLD reel-to-reel coated conductor tool from the prestigious Kurchatov Institute in Moscow Russia. This system will use PVD's multilane and multi plume process for high rate growth of REBCO materials and buffer layers along with its unique XYΘ target manipulator. The system is designed to handle tapes up to 200 meters in length. PVD has sold multiple units of these reel-to-reel PLD systems around the world. PVD Products is a manufacturer of thin film deposition tools for coated-conductor applications as well as standard substrates.

November 29 - December 1, 2011. PVD will be displaying one of its PLD/MBE 2300 systems at the show.

PVD Products announces it has signed a lease for 17,000 square feet of prime manufacturing space located at 35 Upton Drive in Wilmington MA. This location will increase PVD's current space by a factor of 2.5, greatly improving our ability to keep up with our increased sales volume. PVD Products will move to its new location in June 2012 after build-out of the space is completed.

A video of the PLD/MBE Systems workflow has been posted on YouTube.

PVD Products announces that it has received yet another large purchase order for the deposition of thin MgO buffer layer material on 1 cm wide metallic tapes for the subsequent growth of HTS materials. This IBAD coated conductor system is based on ion beam sputtering from a large MgO target with an ion beam assist source. The system will use multiple lanes of 1-cm wide tape and provide in-situ RHEED analysis of the growing material with tape lengths up to 1 km long. This is the third system purchased by this customer over the past few years indicating strong confidence in PVD Products capabilities to provide complex coated conductor deposition technology.

PVD Products has selected PicoTech as its new representative in Israel. Dr. James Greer says that PicoTech brings both strong sales, service, and technical support to its customers and should be a perfect fit for the type of equipment that PVD Products sells.

PVD Products, Inc. delivers its first Vis/NIR Resonant MAPLE System to University of Western Ontario. This system includes a frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser with OPO that covers the range of ~680 - 2400 nm. Included in the automated system is a MAPLE target. Solid targets can be used as well. This is the first commercial Resonant MAPLE system on the market.

PVD Products has received a large purchase order to build a unique reel-to-reel tool dedicated to IBAD MgO deposition for High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) coated-conductor applications. The system will include the ability to map out the ion beam profile from linear RF ion sources to provide optimized uniformity on the substrate surface. The system will also include in-situ diagnostics such as scanning RHEED to monitor the film quality within the deposition zone along the length of the tape. This system expands PVD Products coated conductor product line which currently includes reel-to-reel Pulsed Laser Deposition and magnetron sputtering systems used for deposition of HTS materials as well as a wide variety of buffer layers including ceria and protective over-layers such as silver. This new IBAD system is scheduled to be delivered in 2011.

PVD Products delivers its third reel-to-reel coated conductor machine to a major Japanese superconducting research lab. This new PLD system includes an extended length heater providing for much faster tape speeds during the film growth process. This third system is earmarked for the deposition of buffer layers such as cerium oxide at rates of 100 m/hour. The system includes PVD's multi-track capability with a multi-zone heater. It also includes PVD's unique XYΘ target manipulator that handles three six-inch diameter targets. The XYΘ manipulator provides for a constant plume direction for extremely long periods of time. Also the system uses PVD's large coated-conductor Intelligent Window (link to IW here), and full multi plume capability. Both PVD's Intelligent Window and XYΘ target manipulator make it possible to grow 1 km lengths of tape without having to stop deposition and break vacuum to clean optics or resurface targets. The system is mated Coherent STEEL excimer laser to provide high growth rates. The system, once integrated will provide buffer layers on 1-cm wide tapes with a length of 1 km in five hours time. This third sale to Japan indicates the customer's strong confidence in PVD's capabilities to provide a unique high quality product that meets the customer's ever increasing needs.