Thin Film Deposition System: Is Checklist A Perfect Way To Find The Right System?

thin film deposition systems

When it comes to choosing a thin film deposition system, what approach would be right for you? As a nanodiamond, CVD diamonds, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or graphene manufacturer, is it more beneficial for you to draw a checklist of necessary tools and hardware for hitting the desired performance specifications? Or, should you focus on the bigger picture i.e. identifying the specifications and requirements according to your applications and field of work and then work with the thin film deposition service provider in order to achieve desired results?

According to various sources, a majority of engineers and laboratory researchers prioritize their system performance and vendor cooperation and collaboration to identify a number of specific things, at least in theory, and then search for vendors who meet maximum criteria present on that checklist. However, in practice, it doesn’t seem so. The professionals follow a different trend when they need thin film coating systems and services for their products. 

Most of the engineers and researchers tend to focus on tool attributes when selecting thin film deposition systems rather than just jumping to overall performance and solutions. With the method of checklist, you might be able to secure the most basic requirements for the system and end up with functional hardware that will serve for R&D or applications. But, you will also be at the risk of your system just doing that - working at minimum efficiency which results in a system that doesn’t follow or have support for key process steps or for scaling the production. 

If you need an optimized thin film deposition system, it would require a shift in the mindset. You should start by specifying the film requirements. This will let you benefit from the experience and knowledge of the vendor or service provider. Instead of treating them just as vendors, nanodiamond manufacturers and engineers must view thin film deposition service provider as a collaboration partner. This would help them know more about the vendor, about the systems and they can easily communicate and figure out if their requirements can be fulfilled by the existing infrastructure, facilities and systems of the service provider.  

So, there is no need to represent a bucket of the list to your solution provider. Rather, identify the problems that need to be solved, requirements that need to be fulfilled and specifications that need to be hit at the forefront. Partner with your service provider on how to optimize your specific application. This way you will truly find the application-specific configuration. This time you need solutions related to thin film deposition system, try to follow this approach instead of the standard –checklist way in order to get what you want. 

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