GEC | A Versatile Evaporation Platform for Glass Optics, Plastic Optics and Touch Panels

One Platform, Three Core Applications | Glass Optical Lenses × Plastic Optical Lenses × Touch Panel Cover Glass

Glass optical lenses, plastic optical lenses and touch panels are the three core optical components of today’s imaging systems and consumer electronics. Glass lenses demand multilayer precision, adhesion, and environmental durability; plastic lenses demand low-temperature processing and low-stress film stacks to avoid thermal deformation; touch panels demand large-area uniformity, anti-smudge and abrasion resistance, and maximum production efficiency. Traditionally, these three sets of requirements called for separate dedicated equipment — fragmenting investment and limiting utilization.

The Dah Young Vacuum GEC (General Evaporation Coater) builds on decades of evaporation expertise. It integrates dual electron-beam guns, Dah Young’s in-house high-performance ion source (IAD), the proprietary Optical Monitoring System (OMS), and a fluoride thermal evaporation source — with a choice of planetary rotation, low-stress polymer-lens, or large-area center-drive fixture configurations, plus a ≦ 80°C low-temperature process mode. A single platform covers camera and smartphone lens modules, plastic and ophthalmic lenses, automotive and industrial optics, and smartphone cover glass and touch panels — enabling customers to serve multiple product lines with one model while improving utilization and return on investment.

Triple Fixture Architecture | Precise Uniformity on Glass Lenses, Polymer Lenses and Large Panels

Glass lenses are typically spherical or aspherical, plastic lenses are sensitive to both heat and clamping force, and touch panels are large flat substrates — each presenting a very different uniformity and handling challenge. The GEC offers three fixture configurations by application:

● Glass lens configuration: Planetary rotation fixture, customizable to lens curvature and dimensions, with thickness uniformity within ±1%.
● Plastic lens configuration: Low-stress planetary rotation fixture paired with the ≦ 80°C low-temperature process, preventing thermal deformation of PC, PMMA, CR-39 and other polymer substrates while holding thickness uniformity within ±1.5%.
● Panel configuration: Large-area, high-precision center-drive rotation system that moves substrates through the evaporation source along an optimized trajectory — maintaining thickness uniformity ≦ ±2% even in 1800 mm / 2050 mm ultra-large chambers.

Both configurations are paired with Dah Young’s proprietary FAST (Film-thickness Accurate Simulation Tool) coating uniformity simulator, which completes uniformity simulation before production and significantly shortens correction-mask tuning time.

Dual E-beam Guns + Fluoride Thermal Evaporation | Optical Multilayers and AF in One Machine

The GEC’s dual electron-beam guns reliably deposit multilayer optical stacks including AR, HR, BBAR, beamsplitter, dichroic, and cut-off filter coatings. An integrated fluoride thermal evaporation source completes AF / AS anti-smudge, anti-fingerprint surface treatment within the same high-vacuum chamber.

Conventional workflows require two separate machines for optical multilayers and anti-smudge treatment. Transferring substrates between them increases contamination risk, reduces yield, and slows production. With the GEC, substrates complete the full “optical multilayer + AF anti-smudge” process under uninterrupted vacuum — shortening total process time, eliminating handling risk, and improving yield. The same design also serves AR + AF finishing on the outermost surface of optical lenses.

Dah Young In-house IAD Ion Source | Dense, Durable, Super Abrasion-Resistant

Conventional evaporated films in multilayer stacks are prone to spectral drift and adhesion degradation caused by film stress and environmental temperature/humidity variations. The GEC comes standard-equipped with Dah Young’s in-house 18 cm / 24 cm / 27 cm high-performance ion source (configured per chamber size), enabling simultaneous Ion-Assisted Deposition (IAD) throughout the evaporation process.

Energetic ion bombardment gives evaporated atoms higher surface mobility, producing denser film structure and significantly enhanced adhesion. Even under low-temperature process conditions, the GEC produces optical films with excellent environmental stability and mechanical strength, capable of passing automotive-grade reliability tests including high temperature/humidity, salt spray, and abrasion. For touch panel applications, combined with an optimized AS coating process, the standard configuration achieves 10,000 steel wool super abrasion-resistance test cycles, with contact angle decrease controlled within 5°.

Low-Temperature Mode | Polymer Substrates Ready for High-Volume Production

The glass transition temperature (Tg) of optical polymers typically falls between 100 and 150°C. Conventional high-temperature evaporation readily causes thermal deformation, accumulated surface stress, and even degradation of optical properties. The GEC includes a built-in low-temperature process mode that holds chamber process temperature below 80°C; paired with the low-temperature, low-stress parameters of Dah Young’s in-house ion source, it still delivers dense, strongly adherent films without relying on high-temperature heating.

The low-temperature mode also shortens ramp-up and cool-down substantially, keeping Tact Time for PC, PMMA, CR-39 and Tritan substrates close to that of glass processing. Combined with the optional plasma pre-treatment module, which raises the surface energy of plastics, the resulting films pass cross-hatch adhesion, eraser abrasion, and high temperature/humidity reliability testing — meeting production requirements for plastic smartphone lenses, ophthalmic lenses, and automotive lamp optics.

Dah Young Proprietary OMS | Every Layer Hits Its Design Target

High-end film stacks such as broadband anti-reflection (BBAR) coatings and multi-band cut-off filters often contain dozens of layers; any thickness error in a single layer is amplified through the stack, directly affecting final spectral performance. The GEC is equipped with Dah Young’s proprietary Optical Monitoring System (OMS), which uses real-time spectral detection to precisely track the deposition state of every layer.

The OMS integrates seamlessly with the equipment control system, providing millisecond-level correction that effectively eliminates thickness drift over long process runs — delivering multilayer spectra that closely match design targets and significantly improving yield and batch-to-batch consistency.

Designed for High-Efficiency Production | From R&D Prototyping to Ultra-Large Volume

The GEC’s enhanced pumping and heating systems substantially shorten pump-down cycles and substrate ramp-up time, making overall Tact Time significantly shorter than conventional models — with 24/7 continuous production as the design baseline.

Chamber sizes span five tiers — 1100 / 1350 / 1550 / 1800 / 2050 mm — from lens R&D prototyping and medium-volume production to ultra-large-volume production of automotive large-format panels. Customers can select the optimal model and fixture configuration based on product dimensions, production scale, and investment budget.