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Poised for Production New process for applying thin film coatings
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In Andrew Hunt's world, being thin-skinned is no handicap. In fact, it gives his company a competitive edge.
photo by Stanley Leary
While studying for his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering
at Georgia Tech, Dr. Andrew Hunt developed a new process for applying
thin film coatings. His technology allows thin films to be applied in
the open air, which dramatically reduces costs and pushes the envelope
on product applications. Here, copper foil is coated with material for
electronic usage.
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While studying for his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering at Georgia
Tech, Hunt developed a new process for applying thin film coatings. His technology
allows thin films to be applied in the open air, which dramatically reduces costs and
pushes the envelope on product applications.
Obtaining an exclusive worldwide license from the Georgia Tech Research
Corporation to commercialize this process, Hunt launched MicroCoating
Technologies (MCT) in 1993 and joined the Advanced Technology Development
Center (ATDC), Georgia Tech's business incubator for high-tech start-ups.
Graduating from ATDC in June 1997, MCT is on a fast track and ranks among the
incubator's brightest stars.
Great Expectations
In 1998, MCT increased its staff from 12 to 40 employees. On the fiscal front,
MCT's revenues have doubled every year since 1994, and Hunt anticipates this will
continue during the next five years. Perhaps even more remarkable than its
consistent black ink is that MCT's growth has been achieved without venture capital
— rare for a high-tech start up.
The primary source of MCT revenues has been public sector funding from Small
Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants — until 1997 when about half of
revenues came from the private sector. "The shift reflects the fact that we're getting
closer to product," Hunt says.
Lighter, Faster, Cheaper
"I like to think of coatings as alchemy," Hunt says. "You can take a plastic object
and add a metal coating so that it looks like a chunk of gold." A steel object can be
coated so it behaves like stainless steel, but costs less. Glass can be treated so it blocks
light and reduces heat coming into a building.
Thin films result from vapor deposition — taking a material and heating it until
gases are emitted. The physical properties of the material change, and the gas turns
into a solid, forming the coating. Typically, such coatings are put down inside
reaction furnaces or vacuum chambers, which is costly and limited to smaller
objects. Yet with Hunt's patented technology, combustion chemical vapor
deposition (CCVD), coatings are applied in the open atmosphere, using a flame as
the energy source. This flexible technology opens up thin film coatings to a whole
new arena of applications.
"Size is no object," Hunt says. With the CCVD process, protective coatings can be
deposited on something as large as a ship or an aircraft.
The technology also allows a wider spectrum of materials to be used as coatings,
which also lowers costs. "We can deposit very complex mixtures of materials
because we use a single liquid solution rather than having to flow different vapors,"
Hunt says. To date, some 60 different materials can be used for coatings, providing a
variety of applications: electronics, corrosion-resistant surfaces, fuel cells, glass and
plastic coatings, catalytic systems and thermal barriers.
Preparing for Production
The expansion is being used to create a prototype deposition station in
preparation for mass production. MCT's current deposition station uses four flames,
but in the new space, a station with up to 40 flames will be constructed. More flames
enables larger areas to be coated more quickly, Hunt explains.
MCT is producing products on a small scale, but plans to enter mass production
this year, beginning with products for the electronics and glass industries.
"We'll be covering millions of square feet," Hunt says. "We hope to have the
largest scale production of thin film coating of any process."
Hunt credits much of MCT's rapid growth to ATDC. Being an ATDC member
allowed MCT direct access to Georgia Tech, including equipment, faculty and library
— "all of which are integral for high-tech development," Hunt says. "I probably
wouldn't have started the company without ATDC. Even if I had, it wouldn't have
been nearly as easy to grow."
Growth has accelerated in recent months as MCT evolves from the research and
development stage and approaches mass production.
The idea behind thin film coatings is a simple one — cover the surface of an
object to give it special properties, such as electrical conductivity, without making
the entire object from the coating material.
After leaving ATDC in June 1997, MCT set up shop in 7,000 square feet of space
in an industrial park in Chamblee, Ga. The company quickly outgrew the space and
added another 6,500 square feet last spring.
For more information,
you may call Andrew Hunt, MicroCoating Technologies, 3901 Green
Industrial Way, Chamblee, GA, 30341. (Telephone: 770/457-8400)
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