Changing the World One Atomic Layer at a Time

The world we know today would not be possible without ALD – the thin film coating technology crucial for a variety of industries.

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Medical Technology and Pharmaceuticals

ALD enables a whole new level of efficacy and safety. Anything from new types of medical devices to more secure coatings on pharmaceutical vials, we can help you in minimizing risks and adding functionality with ALD.

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Precision Manufacturing

With ALD, you can develop totally new and more ecological coating solutions – whenever your finest objects need the finest protection. Example applications vary from machine parts to luxury products and coins.

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Research

Our mission is to take ALD where it has never been before and to enable a whole new generation of disruptive ALD-based solutions throughout the industrial field.

A vast number of articles and publications have been prepared based on results generated by Applied® Picosun® ALD tools. You can search a selection of them in Applied® Picosun® Article Bank.

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Picosun Video

ALD - The most sophisticated thin film coating technology of today

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) was originally brought into large scale use by the semiconductor industry but has after that been applied to a variety of applications and is finding more and more use cases across industries.

ALD is an advanced thin film coating method which is used to fabricate ultra-thin, highly uniform and conformal material layers for several applications. ALD uses sequential, self-limiting and surface-controlled gas phase chemical reactions to achieve control of film growth in the nanometer or sub-nanometer thickness regime. Due to the film formation mechanism the gases won’t react until in touch with the surface which means the film growth proceeds by consecutive atomic layers “up” from the surface. The ALD film is dense and free of cracks, defects and pinholes. Its thickness along with structural and chemical characteristics can be precisely controlled on atomic scale.

The ALD process is digitally repeatable, and it can be performed at relatively low temperatures. This gives the possibility to construct not only single material layers but also doped, mixed, or graded layers and nanolaminates. Low process temperature on the other hand allows coating of sensitive materials also such as plastics and polymers. The list of ALD materials is wide, ranging from oxides, nitrides, fluorides, carbides, and sulfides to ternary compounds, metals (including noble ones), hybrid materials and polymers.