The scia Inline 400 was a custom designed tool for shaping the edges of high-quality blades using ion beam etching and magnetron sputtering.
The first section of the inline tool deburrs and pre-cleans the blade with an ion beam source. The second portion of the process chamber has magnetron sputter sources installed on each side of the substrate to simultaneously coat both sides.
This high-throughout inline tool has a load lock on each side that allows for fast loading and unloading.
Its modular design also allows for future process chamber upgrades, additions, or integration into other production lines.
Principle:
- Inline process chambers with linear substrate movement (left to right)
- Chamber #1: ion beam sources on each side for blade deburring and surface pre-cleaning
- Chamber #2: magnetron source on each side for double-sided coating of the substrates
Features and Benefits:
- Deburring results in ultra-sharp blade edges
- Carrier-based handling to address various substrate dimensions
- High throughput in volume production:
- Vertical layout enables double-sided processing
- Two load-locks for fast loading and unloading procedure
- Inline arrangement with multiple process chambers and roller track transport system
Applications:
- Tip shaping of razor blades, microtome blades or sharp medical tools (syringes) for a durable coating adhesion
- Coating of adhesive and/or functional layers on razor blades and microtome blades
Deburring of blades by ion beam etching to create smoothed surface for better coating adhesion (left/pre – right/post)
Technical Specifications:
| SPECIFICATION | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Substrate size | Individual sizes loaded on carrier Carrier size up to 450 mm x 400 mm |
| Ion beam source | Two 380 mm linear microwave ECR sources (LIN380-e) |
| Sputter source | Two rotatable magnetrons with 680 mm lengt |
| Typical deposition rate | SiO2: 85 nm x mm/s (dynamic rate) |
| Uniformity variation | ≤ 4 % (σ/mean) |
| Throughput | 12 Carrier/h ≈ 500,000 blades/h |
| Base pressure | < 1 x 10-6 mbar |
| System dimension (W x D x H) | 6.10m x 1.60m x 1.95m for 2 process chambers (without electrical rack) |
| Configurations | Inline system with several etching and coating chambers Roller track transport system 2 load locks and 2 atmospheric stations for loading and unloading |
| Software interfaces | SECS II / GEM, OPC |