Health and Medicine
Gold Coating
Reflect on this. Many satellites carry gold-coated mylar sheets to protect
them from solar heat. A thin layer of gold on an astronaut's helmet visor
fends off dangerous effects of solar radiation. Satellite microelectronics
that instantaneously relay data around the globe depend on gold components
to ensure reliable, corrosion-resistant and static-free performance.
The growing use of gold in advanced technologies such as microelectronics,
telecommunications, optics, aviation and space has increasingly made gold
a vital strategic resource in U.S. technological and economic competitiveness.
In 1996, the Mars Global Surveyor blasted off toting a gold-plated telescope
mirror, part of a laser device that is to chart the topography of the entire
Martian surface over a two year period.
| Epner Technology Inc.'s Laser Gold process
is used to coat products, including lasing cavities, used in various surgical
instruments. Epner improved its coating process based on modifications
it made for a mirror on the Mars Global Surveyor. |
Epner Technology Inc. of Brooklyn, New York rose to the challenge of
a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center requirement for the ultimate in electroplated
reflectivity needed for the Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter
(MOLA). The MOLA mirror, an unusually large one-half meter in diameter,
was ground by OCA Applied Optics in Garden Grove, California. Made of beryllium,
the MOLA mirror was coated by Epner Technology's Laser Gold® process,
specially improved for the project. The resultant mirror coating proved
exquisite.
Laser Gold is a proprietary process for electrochemically-deposited
gold. In the near infrared wavelengths, Laser Gold's reflectance is an
astounding 99.4 percent.
"We are not paranoid about our processes since the real secret
in this business is in the controlling of those processes," says Epner
Technology owner and CEO, David Epner. "Our strength comes from a
lot of years of breaking the back of some really off-beat plating challenges,"
he says.
The gold coating on the MOLA mirror is a case in point. To give the
telescope mirror the needed sensitivity, the Laser Gold coating was essential
to mapping operations around Mars. Gold's extremely high-quality reflectivity
is critical in the capturing of laser infrared radiation that is bounced
back from Mars to the mirror's surface.
"What makes Laser Gold incomparable for the most sophisticated
optical and laser applications like the Mars laser altimeter, where the
margin for error is absolutely nil, is its extraordinary reflectivity,
in combination with its cleanability and virtually perfect reliability
and corrosion resistance," Epner says.
| Using the Laser Gold coating, Braun's
temperature sensor provides rapid, accurate results. |
Thanks to the NASA push, adds Epner, improved Laser Gold-coated reflectors
have found use in an epitaxial reactor built for a large semiconductor
manufacturer. The reactor heats the silicon wafers inside a quartz bell
jar with infrared energy from some 100 six-kilowatt quartz-halogen lamps.
Behind these lamps are an array of Laser Gold -coated water-cooled aluminum
extruded reflectors.
The improved reflectivity of these reflectors has dramatically increased
lamp life, says Epner, due to the lower power requirements that the reflectors
permit. The huge power consumption of these machines was also reduced with
this increased efficiency. These reflectors will be sold worldwide to firms
like Motorola, Epner says.
Once again, due to NASA's demanding quality needs, Epner's Laser Gold
coating has also found use as a waveguide in Braun-Thermoscan's tympanic
thermometer.
Epner Technology customers are the foremost fabricators
in aerospace, defense, microwave and electronics, optics and semiconductors.
® Laser Gold is a registered trademark of Epner Technologies, Inc.
| Each Laser Gold-coated tube used for the
tympanic thermometer is inspected for reflectivity and dimensions by hand. |
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