expenditure (often around $1 million) and operating costs associated with running a coating center. In addition, these major companies generally have the capability and discipline to operate the sometimes complex vacuum coating systems and tool-surface precleaning and preparation lines. (The latter is critical to assuring proper coating adhesion and overall quality of the thin-film coating.)
Now, however, even medium and smaller companies can consider bringing coating technology in-house because of the recent availability of smaller PVD-coating equipment. Systems that produce quality coatings in a rapid cycle are on the market at prices from $350,000 to $800,000.
Whether a company deems these lower levels of investment practical depends, of course, on numerous business and economic factors. Volume of tools manufactured or consumed, the nature of the customer base, the availability of

Two sputtering rings of plasma (bright circles near the outside of the overall circular image) in the chanber of a tool-coating system. The cylindrical symmetry is said to reflect how the coating completely surrounds a tool.

a quality outside coating service and a financial analysis of the payback are key considerations when assessing the viability of operating an in-house coating center.
Toolmakers need not worry about their ability to correctly carry out the
Isoflux's ICM 10 is a rapid-cycle, small batch PVD coater. A supttering target (inset) is shown being loaded into the unit's changer. The targets are simple to change-out, helping to facilitate a processing rate of 128 6mm drills in less than 2 hours.
coating process. Continual improvement in equipment capability and reliability--particularly as a result of the incorporation of computer controls--have made coating systems, both large and small, much more operator-friendly. In fact, in-house coating lets the tool manufacturer produce custom-tailored "designer" coating compositions for specific applications, providing unique branding opportunities
To ensure it has this designer capability, the tool manufacturer mus descuss this matter with the equipment supplier before acquiring a coating system. The system specified must be flexible enough to change from one coating composition to another and to handle the range of coating chemistries available today. This is true for single-layer coatings and multilayer compositions.
Isoflux, Inc. Rochester, NY is an equipment manufacturer that recently lowered the bar for capital investment for in-house tool coating. The company's ICM 10, which incorporates cylinderical magnetron technology, costs about $350,000, depending on fixturing and other requirements. It can coat up to 3 microns of TiN in 1 hours, with the entire cycle taking as little as 90 minutes.
In addition, the Isoflux coating equipment is designed for rapid target changes. This includes a wide range of TiAlN coatings. Changes in the ration of aluminum to titanium, by changing sputtering targets, can provide unique properties for a variety of applications. This technology also permits thin-

The following companies contributed to this article:

Advanced Coating Services LLC
(585) 247-3970
www.acscoating.com

Creative Coating Solutions
(615) 478-0039

Isoflux Inc.
(585) 334-3230 www.isofluxinc.com