Ultra-Thin Glass is Up and Coming

The Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP will be exhibiting its recent achievements in vacuum coating of ultra-thin glass at SVC TechCon 2016, Indianapolis, IN from May 9-13.

Fraunhofer FEP researchers are dedicating their efforts to investigations of ultra-thin glass. The focus of recent activities is sheet-to-sheet coatings on large-area ultra-thin glass.

Those activities can be divided into several phases. In the first phase, the researchers work out and adapt standard vacuum processes with regard to a demanding material – ultra-thin glass. The handling requirements and the machine set-up are developed in the next phase, as the glass should be treated through the in-line vacuum process without any damage or breakage.

The machine design is also adjusted in order to safely coat large-area ultra-thin glass. The pre-treatment of glass also plays an important role in this process. An optimized pre-treatment enables a reliable processing of ultra-thin glass with superior coating properties.

“We have been collaborating with Corning Incorporated since 2012,” explained Manuela Junghähnel, coordinator of ultra-thin glass development at Fraunhofer FEP. “The results of these activities will be presented in a joint talk at the conference and through exhibits at the SVC TECHCON booth.”

Ultra-thin glass can be used as a substrate as well as for encapsulation in many smart products such as smartphones, curved displays, OLED light sources and photovoltaics. Especially appealing is to use ultra-thin glass in wearable electronics as well as in intelligent micro-optics and touch-sensors.

Ultra-thin glass offers outstanding possibilities for deposition of transparent, electrically conductive films that are indispensable for numerous applications in high-tech electronics.