PROCEEDINGS ARTICLE | October 4, 2011
Proc. SPIE. 8168, Advances in Optical Thin Films IV
KEYWORDS: Oxides, Optical components, Mirrors, Sputter deposition, Dielectrics, Silver, Coating, Oxygen, Optics manufacturing, Plasma
In this paper, we present in detail the new deposition magnetron sputtering machine so-called PACA2M, that CILAS has
implemented for coating large optics up to 2 meters, within a dedicated consortium, with the financial support of the
French Department of Industry and of the local administrations, and with the help and the expertise of the French
OPTITEC optical cluster.
Our innovative large size deposition machine is equipped with 2.5 meters-long planar magnetrons (seven cathodes), to
ensure uniform coating on large optical components, up to 2 meters by 2 meters, 40 centimetres thick and to 1.5 ton
weight. Some magnetrons are adapted to a DC, Mid Frequency (MF) or Radio Frequency (RF) operation, which allows
the deposition of metals and also dielectric oxides under reactive atmosphere.
Moreover, PACA2M is equipped with a powerful broadband optical monitoring system that permits to reach
sophisticated spectral specifications and a good agreement with theory, which will be presented in detail in another paper
of the conference.
As the magnetron sputtering technique leads to very dense layers close to bulk material, it is particularly well suited for
applications that require environmental resistance, as for example the LMJ (Laser MegaJoule) French laser fusion
program in which CILAS is in charge of the metallic mirrors on large complex-shaped reflectors for laser chains
amplifiers.
Numerous experimental results are presented here such as protected and enhanced metallic mirrors, metal-dielectric
absorbing coatings or multi-dielectric coatings, deposited on different kinds of substrates, for which qualification tests
have been done.
