Thin Film Technology Applications in Industry

CSIRO Materials and Engineering Division at Lindfield hosted on Wednesday 22nd October 2008, the Thin Film Technology Applications in Industry event. The outstanding event was attended by more than 50 representatives from local Sydney industry, who enjoyed several key presentations on the topic and a site tour of the exceptional & world leading facilities at CSIRO.

The Greater Western Sydney Economic Development Board (GWSEDB) and the Department of State and Regional Development (DSRD) were proud to present Thin Film Technology Applications in Industry as a part of the ongoing Innovation in Manufacturing Series.

CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering is one of CSIRO's largest Divisions. The division provides a coordinated approach to materials design, creation, characterisation and application to a wide range of industries. Their focus is to work in partnership with Australian industries to deliver exciting new technology outcomes.

Thin Film technology is revolutionizing materials and their properties in many key industries. These industries include computers, semiconductors, microelectronics, food, and nanotechnology, metallurgical materials in aerospace and advanced engineering, mining, fabrics and clothing and in coatings for biomed and medical devices.

Dr Avi Bendavid, Research Scientist, CSIRO Materials Science & Engineering Division, spoke on the various uses of Thin Films, which play a key role in many technological and sophisticated industries including microelectronics, optoelectronics, biomedical and sensors. In addition thin films perform a critical function in data storage devices. Such devices include magnetic memory such as hard and floppy disks, and in optical CD memories. Rapid progress and advancement has been achieved in thin film technology over the last two decades in the synthesis of new materials, advanced deposition methods, characterisation and applications.

Benjamin Johnston of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) also presented on the day; ANFF was established in 2007 under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). ANFF links 7 university-based nodes around Australia to provide researchers and industry with state-of-the-art fabrication facilities. The capability provided by ANFF enables users to process hard materials (metals, semiconductors, composites and ceramics) and soft materials (polymers, and polymer-biological moieties) and transform these into new structures that have application in sensors, medical devices, nanophotonics and nanoelectronics. For more information see www.anff.org.au

Professor Mark Hoffman, Head of School of Materials Science, University of NSW (UNSW) and Dr Nagarajan Valanoor, Senior Lecturer, School of Material Science, UNSW, presented the university’s latest thin film technologies. The School of Materials Science & Engineering at UNSW has research efforts ranging from the development of function thin films to abrasion and wear resistant coatings. The School houses a Pulsed Laser Deposition Facility used to synthesise thin film coatings of functional oxides (such as ferroelectrics and dielectrics), superhard nanolayered metallic films and other systems such as a metallic Ti, TiN and transition metal oxides. A large effort takes place in the development of new coating systems for a broad range of applications utilising advanced microscopy and functional property characterisation and finite element modelling.

The Board’s General Manager, Mr Bob Germaine, said
“Today we have seen how Australian research expertise in Thin Film technologies is now delivering a capability in super hard and wear resistant coatings.

We saw how dies for the coins at the Australian Mint are now lasting 5-10 times longer by utilising these new non toxic, super hard, coatings.”

• Nombre: Juan J. Núñez C.
• Asignatura: CRF.
• Fuente: http://www.gws.org.au/page.asp?id=64