High power coatings for line beam laser optics of up to 2-meter in length

Laser material processing plays an important role in the fabrication of the crucial parts for state-of-the-art smartphones and tablets. With industrial line beam systems a line shaped beam with a length above one meter and an average power of several thousand watts can be realized. To ensure excellent long axis beam homogeneity, demanding specifications regarding the substrate surface form tolerances and the coating uniformity have to be achieved for each line beam optic. In addition, a high laser damage threshold and a low defect density are required for the coatings. In order to meet these requirements, the MAXIMA ion beam sputtering machine was developed and built by LASEROPTIK. This contribution describes the functional principle of MAXIMA deposition machine, which adapts the ion beam sputtering technology with its highest coating quality to the field of large area deposition. Furthermore, recent developments regarding the process control by optical broadband monitoring are discussed. Finally experimental results on different thin film characteristics as for example the coating uniformity, the microstructure and the laser damage resistance of multilayers are presented.