About Us - Conformal Coating USA - Thin Film Partners

The Thin Film Advantage

Thin Film Partners presents a radical new business model in the world of conformal coatings.  The company is changing the traditional methods and services as relates to all types of coatings – now offering everything from coating service to materials, delivery platforms and training/instruction.

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ALL of your coatings requirements – One Place, Right Here

• Complete coating services
• Coating platforms and hardware (including automated systems)
• Coating feedstock- some custom formulations
• Technical instruction

Thin Film Partners, as the name implies, constitutes a collection of carefully screened and highly selective firms and individuals who meet the highest standards of service and professionalism in the conformal industry.  This unique business that is rapidly changing the landscape in the world of conformal coatings can be best described as a professional Co-Op, where we assist you in every imaginable facet of the coating domain.

• Service Model – Thin Film Partners assesses your specific coating requirements and can provide everything needed, whether coating service or equipment, for Conformal Coatings, CVD, ALD, MVD, PVD, Powder Coatings, Fluoropolymers, UV-Cure, Nano-coatings, RFI, Medical Coatings/Sealants, amongst many others.

• In-House Model – If you prefer to conduct all coating operations in your own facility without disruption to your manufacturing and supply chain, Thin Film Partners is prepared to assist you. We can provide all necessary equipment, raw materials, instruction and continuing support services. Thin Film offers this in 2 flavors:

1)    We provide all of the equipment and material and teach you to coat in house – on your own.

2)    We provide equipment, materials, Process Engineers, and we run the coating service for you – in your facility.

Today, virtually all conformal coating providers specialize in the Service Model, where you send your critical products or components to be coated at a remote location. Turnaround can be anywhere from 5-15 workdays. Thin Film Partners show you how to drastically alter this arrangement and get speedy delivery.

• Price Review – Any type of coating is not cheap…often times it is very far from it. Understanding the entire process and the factors that most-directly affect the cost-price model is one area where Thin Film Partners can offer valuable guidance. We are often able to substantially reduce your monthly budget for coating.

Of course, the easiest way to save is to conduct you own coating operation, in either of the 2 models above. However, if you opt to continue with the Outsourcing Service Model, let Thin Film save you money.

Send us a sample part, sometimes a drawing will suffice, and Thin Film Partners will re-evaluate all the cost elements. Our Film Partners affiliates are highly skilled and often much more competitive in the world of coatings and hardware platforms.

We understand the costing models typically employed in establishing the price for virtually all types of conformal coating projects. We have experts with years of experience; several are renowned Engineers and Scientists in their respective field.  We can duplicate your current coating process or suggest a new one. The result is – we save you money, often $’s per month.

• Coating Equipment Sales – We are equipped to offer services and coating devices that are a precise “fit” for your product and/or your manufacturing requirements. Whatever the application, stents to circuit cards or LED panels; we can provide a custom solution to meet your requirements.

We are not limited to a single type of chemistry or device. Thin Film Partners,  and affiliates, are prepared to offer everything!

• Raw Materials – Thin Film Partners can fulfill orders for a variety of feedstock materials required to engage in in-house coating. Our main products:

1)    Spray/Dip formulations – Some of the most respected manufacturers of coating chemistries are members of Thin Film Partners.

2)    Thermo-Plastics – This is a specialty category and many materials here are custom formulated. Call and advise us of your specific requirements. In some cases we can sell the raw material, in others you may be limited to outsourcing the coating job.

• Coating Instruction – With few exceptions, conformal coating firms are engaged in the out-sourcing model, the traditional business where parts are shipped, coated, and returned via mail after 10 days. As a coating customer, it’s difficult to alter this model if you are unfamiliar with the coating process.

Thin Film Partner members have the familiarity and expertise to instruct or assist with Engineering Process, the most challenging part of any coating projects.

The many applications of vacuum deposition processes span industries. Manufacturers use vapour deposition in solar cells, medical implants, LED displays, and other products.

Manufacturers and researchers use one of two types of thin film deposition: physical vapour deposition (PVD) and chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Between PVD and CVD, your ideal system will depend on your substrates and application needs, including performance at a high temperature.

Below, we explore PVD vs CVD by explaining both techniques and presenting the advantages of each to help you choose your ideal system.

What Is Physical Vapour Deposition?

Physical vapour deposition takes a solid precursor material and turns it into a gas in a reacting chamber, where the atoms deposit a thin film onto a substrate through condensation. Most PVD coating applications use the following techniques:

Evaporation

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Custom Thin-film Coatings. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

Thermal evaporation vaporises a coating material, turning it into a gas. The released atoms enter a reaction chamber and coat the surface of a substrate material in a very thin layer.

Sputtering

The sputtering process uses plasma ions moving at high speeds to release atoms from the source material. The atoms in the reaction chamber stick to the target substrate. Korvus Technology’s HEX Series thin film deposition system supports several techniques, including sputtering.

What is Chemical Vapour Deposition?

What Is the Difference Between PVD and CVD?

While both processes create thin films over substrate materials, PVD and CVD coating techniques differ in several ways:

Process

The coating process is the main difference between PVD and CVD. Physical vapour deposition uses physical reactions to change a liquid source material to a gas. The material then returns to its solid state as a thin layer on the surface of the substrate.

Chemical vapour deposition creates thin films using chemical reactions. The polymerisation and coating phases occur at the same time, which creates copolymers of different monomers for a broad range of applications.

PVD and CVD coating processes also differ in how well they coat the substrate. PVD does not perform as well on the sides and back of the coating substrate, whereas CVD techniques produce a uniform thin coat on uneven surfaces.

Temperature

PVD deposition occurs at a relatively low temperature, up to 450 degrees Celsius. CVD deposition requires higher temperatures above 900 degrees Celsius [2]. Due to the high temperatures, the CVD process often includes heat treatment of the coated surface.

Application

PVD can improve a substrate’s tolerance to high temperatures and ablation, ideal for glass and decorative coatings, diffusion barriers, and aerospace technology.

The high-temperature CVD process creates thin films with superior purity and uniformity. Applications include protective layers, semiconductors, and more.

What Are the Advantages of CVD Over PVD?

Chemical vapour deposition provides a versatile process for coating the surface of a substrate. When considering PVD vs CVD, keep in mind these advantages of the CVD method:

• High purity: Many manufacturers prefer CVD for coating materials that require specialised thin films at an exact desired thickness. CVD uses gas coating materials, avoiding the impurities of liquid coating processes.
• Uniform coating: CVD is a conformal deposition process, which means it uniformly coats a substrate regardless of the shape to produce an even coating. This method builds the desired layer from the substrate up, a significant advantage in creating conductive films.
• Application variety: Manufacturers use CVD to create thin layers on many materials regardless of rigidity, flexibility, or density. You’ll find CVD systems across industries, from electronics manufacturing to producing crisp bags. CVD can produce large graphene sheets, carbon nanotube arrays, and other essential coated manufacturing materials.
• Cost: CVD systems cost less than PVD systems.

The possibilities of the CVD method continue to expand into new applications.

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