Thin-Film Sensors for Aerospace

Vacuum Coating Equipment & Technologies

Aerospace sens­or tech­no­logy is central to nav­ig­a­tion, flight control, condition mon­i­tor­ing, and mission success. Sensors must perform reliably under extreme con­di­tions — wide tem­per­a­ture ranges, severe vi­bra­tion, high ra­di­a­tion, and cor­ro­sive atmospheres — so appropriate ma­te­ri­als and sur­face treat­ments are critical.

Thin‑film sensors are par­tic­u­larly well suited because they are light­weight, com­pact, and can be applied di­rectly to com­po­nent sur­faces. By function they are broadly clas­si­fied as tem­per­a­ture mon­i­tor­ing (in­clud­ing cryo­genic con­di­tions), pres­sure mon­i­tor­ing (pneumatics, hydraulics, cabin pres­sure), struc­tural mon­i­tor­ing (struc­tural‑health mon­i­tor­ing, de­for­ma­tion, stress, and ma­te­r­i­al fa­tigue), flow and me­dium mon­i­tor­ing, and gas and en­vi­ron­men­tal mon­i­tor­ing.

Typical ap­pli­ca­tions in­clude direct coat­ing of carbon‑fiber‑re­in­forced polymer (CFRP) or metal struc­tures for real‑time struc­tural mon­i­tor­ing, high‑tem­per­a­ture‑stable thin‑film thermo­couples and pres­sure sensors in en­gines, spe­cial­ized sensors for cryo­genic fuel tanks, and a wide range of avi­onics sen­sors. Key char­ac­ter­is­tics are strong mini­a­tur­iza­tion (typ­i­cal film thick­nesses 1–6 µm), high pre­ci­sion, and low weight to reduce mass.

Thin‑film solu­tions are of­ten cus­tom‑adap­ted to ma­te­ri­als, loads, and en­vi­ron­men­tal con­di­tions to max­i­mize re­li­a­bil­ity and per­for­mance. In­te­grat­ing PVD (phys­i­cal va­por de­po­si­tion) coat­ings into man­u­fac­tur­ing boosts sensor re­li­a­bil­ity and service life and en­ables func­tional sur­face prop­er­ties — op­ti­cal, elec­tri­cal, and en­vi­ron­men­tal re­sis­tance.

We supply vacuum‑coat­ing sys­tems tailored to these re­quire­ments and provide tech­no­log­i­cal sup­port for sam­pling, pro­to­typ­ing and scale‑up. Contact us to discuss spe­cif­i­ca­tions, test­ing and in­te­gra­tion options.