Ion Beam Technology – Enabling an Ever-Evolving Sensor Landscape

From automotive electronics to industrial equipment, medical devices, and data storage: high-performance sensors are the core of today’s most advanced technologies. These devices often have a complex multilayer architecture ranging in thickness from a few hundred micrometers to just a few nanometers.

These layers consist of many different materials with significantly different attributes

Optical layers (Si, SiO₂, Si₃N₄, VO_x, LN, LT, BTO, TiO₂)
Magnetic layers (CoFe, CoPt, NiFe)
Metals (Pt, Au, NiCr, Ta, Ru, Ir)
Piezoelectric materials (AlN, AlScN, PZT, ZrO₂)
Other (ITO, ZnO, TiN,)

As sensor designs become smaller, more compact, and more integrated, traditional manufacturing methods are hitting their limits due to a lack of precision, contamination risks, and material compatibility issues. To overcome these challenges, industries increasingly rely on ion beam and plasma processing technologies.

Schematic illustration of an ion beam etching process inside a scia Mill 200 — Structuring of TMR Sensors with scia Mill 200.

About the Webinar:

In this on-demand webinar, scia Systems’ Sales Director Marcel Demmler explains the principles and advantages of ion beam etching, ion beam deposition, and plasma processing, and how these technologies enable the reliable production of next-generation sensors.

Highlighted Applications in the Presentation:

TMR Sensor Manufacturing by Ion Beam Milling
Infrared (IR) Sensor Manufacturing by Ion Beam Milling
Piezoelectric Sensor Manufacturing by Ion Beam Milling
Bio Sensor Manufacturing by Magnetron Sputtering
Magnetic Thin-Film Head Manufacturing by Ion Beam Trimming
Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) Manufacturing by Ion Beam Trimming
Microbolometer Manufacturing by Ion Beam Sputter Deposition

Key Benefits of Ion Beam Processing for Sensors:

Enables precise structuring of complex multilayer materials.
Reduces contamination risk compared to conventional methods.
Supports integration of multi-sensor elements in compact devices.
Provides reproducible thin film deposition for high-quality bio- and optical sensors.

Photo of Marcel Demmler, Sales Director at scia Systems — Marcel Demmler, Sales Director at scia Systems

Watch the Recording

This webinar is a must-watch for professionals in semiconductor manufacturing, photonics, sensor development, and advanced materials engineering.
Learn how ion beam technology ensures accuracy, scalability, and reliability in the production of modern sensors.