Novel microwave plasma sputter deposition process, enhanced durability coatings NMPLAS

The NMPLAS project is focused on an innovation in the Materials and Manufacturing high growth sector and will apply a cutting edge and innovative, high throughput coating process - Microwave Plasma Assisted Sputtering (MPAS), to produce infrared (IR) transparent and hard, wear/erosion resistant coatings, which are themselves an innovation in materials development. The coatings will be applied on an expanded range of thermally sensitive and strategic substrates, which will initially be exploited in the optical and automotive high value manufacturing sectors, thereby opening up new sustainable business for the partners and increasing the UK's competitiveness, in addition to the transfer of techology to the industrial partners in the project (enabling a step-change in capability for an SME) and opportunities for future growth in capital equipment sales. This business-led project brings together three industrial partners from these sectors, Teer Coatings Limited (TCL), Qioptiq Limited (QUK) and the SME Helia Photonics Ltd (HPL), with the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), who have pioneered the MPAS process.