Diamond-like protective optical lens coatings (DLC) can be applied to germanium and silicon substrates. DLC coatings not only increase the mechanical strength of the products, but also significantly improve the transmission coefficient. Vacuum sputtering equipment manufactured by I-Photonics is used to apply diamond-like coatings. Currently, diamond-like coatings are applied by order on germanium and silicon substrates of maximum size 360 mm × 340 mm with guaranteed coating uniformity of ±3%. Coated germanium optics parts with diamond-like coatings passed all climatic and optical-mechanical tests required for this class of coatings. A special list of tests of germanium optics parts was also carried out at Thomson (France) using a Catherine infrared camera. According to the test results, the diamond-like coatings applied by our company met all international requirements, including climatic tests in accordance with MIL standards.
Application: DLC coatings are used in entrance windows for thermal imaging and night vision systems.
The main characteristics of diamond-like coatings are:
- Hardness;
- Wear resistance;
- Chemical resistance;
- Climate resistance;
- Stability;
- High adhesion to germanium, silicon and glass surfaces;
- Wide-band transmission of germanium and silicon.