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Blogmaster: Dr. Charles A. Bishop

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08

Some challenges to coating quality

Posted by Charles Bishop on April 8, 2012
There are several different areas where a good technical solution could make it easier to produce quality films and then test the product afterwards. It is often commented that measuring the number of pinholes during metallization would be worth doing but I am not sure about this. If there are many...

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Posted in: Measurements
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22

Apologies – reduced postings onto the blog of late

Posted by Charles Bishop on March 22, 2012
My apologies for the reduced number of entries into the blog.  There are many reasons, I have been involved in revising the AIMCAL Metallizing Technical Reference that it is hoped will be published later this year as the 5th Edition.  I have also been involved in helping to collect paper...

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Posted in: Conferences & Meetings
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12

Leaks and leak testing

Posted by Charles Bishop on March 12, 2012
I am a great believer in the old saying ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ especially when it comes to vacuum systems. I am also a believer in routine maintenance and the continuous monitoring of the vacuum system and process. So my ideal vacuum system has a mass spectromete...

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Posted in: Process
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06

Holistic recycling

Posted by Charles Bishop on February 6, 2012
Recycling is ever present particularly for those who metallise large areas of polymer film.  Either the film is good for the planet because it reduces the energy used in the packaging as it replaces something more energy intensive, such as a metal foil laminate, or it is regarded as damaging to...

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Posted in: Materials
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09

Handling rolls of film

Posted by Charles Bishop on January 9, 2012
How the film is handled can affect how it will run in your vacuum coating system, this may seem an obvious statement but can often be overlooked as the film is shipped or transferred from store. The aim is to not damage the core or roll in any way as it is moved around.  I have seen rolls of f...

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Posted in: Web/Tech
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19

Pinholes - seek and ye shall find!

Posted by Charles Bishop on December 19, 2011
The subject of pinholes can be contentious as it can depend on where you look and under what conditions you look as to how many and how big they appear. Pinholes can be produced by a number of different methods; coating debris that was present on the film surface that is later moved away leaving beh...

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Posted in: Measurements
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14

Sputtering gold with high target utilisation

Posted by Charles Bishop on November 14, 2011
There have been a number of presentations that have focused on the magnetron sputtering design as a method of obtaining a high target utilisation. Ideally, we would all like to have high target utilisation, but often we will trade this off against improved coating uniformity or higher deposition rat...

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Posted in: Process
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03

AIMCAL conference Reno 23-26 Oct

Posted by Charles Bishop on October 3, 2011
Hi, this is just my reminder that there is the AIMCAL annual technical conference coming up toward the end of the month at 23rd - 26th October at the Peppermill Resort Hotel in Reno. I shall be attending and giving a Short Course on the "Basics of Roll-to-Roll Vacuum Deposition." This will f...

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Posted in: Conferences & Meetings
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23

Process stability – is any vacuum process stable?

Posted by Charles Bishop on September 23, 2011
  Firstly pumping the system down is often a variable.  The pumping is balanced against the various system leaks, real and virtual, as well as the gas load from the outgassing of the substrate and system.  This outgassing is not a constant.  The rate of water outgassing from the...

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Posted in: System issues
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25

Sputter-deposition rates

Posted by Charles Bishop on August 25, 2011
I needed to find the sputter-deposition rate for a few materials.  This sounded a simple task but it was not as easy as I thought. First, there are many different ‘rates’ quoted.  Some are a just a thickness per unit time others include the power applied and expressed as a dyna...

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Posted in: Process
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Blogmaster

Charles Bishop photo

Dr. Charles A. Bishop

Charles is a toolmaker by trade after completing a mechanical engineering apprenticeship. He then entered University and obtained a Bachelors degree in materials engineering with a Diploma in Industrial Studies. During his final year he first started work on vacuum based research, helping develop a process for manufacturing titanium based bone implants for tendon location. He went on to obtain a Masters degree and Doctorate following further research into vacuum deposition processes. During this time and as a postgraduate he also worked as a consultant.

Charles next spent time in industry working for various divisions of ICI including polyesters, nylon, Imagedata, Flex Products Inc., and explosives as well as contributing to other projects. In 1998 he took the opportunity to return to consultancy work and set up his own company.

Charles has more than 30 years experience in vacuum deposition mainly onto flexible webs. He has regularly contributed papers to conferences and recently has edited this blog on behalf of AIMCAL as well as being one of their presenters for various webinars and the more formal Converting School courses.

Charles has also published 2 books, Vacuum deposition onto webs, films and foils and Roll-to-roll vacuum deposition of barrier coatings.