Goodfellow and Acquandas team up on thin film miniaturised components

Goodfellow and Acquandas' partnership is offering medical device manufacturers micro-patterned, 2D and 2.5D integrated multi-function miniaturised components and coatings

The thin film technology is produced by Acquandas in Nitinol (NiTi) and other superelastic or shape memory alloys, bioresorbable alloys, magnetic materials, electrical alloys and insulators.

Leading manufacturing companies in healthcare and other industries will be able to obtain this thin film materials technology via Goodfellow, to develop smart devices and instrumentation.  

Acquandas said its miniaturised components are custom designed and manufactured to order from CAD drawings using the proven thin film microsystem processes. 

According to Acquandas, its NiTi metallic components have been successfully produced at sub 80µm miniaturisation levels down to as thin as 5µm with feature resolution of 1-10µm (compared with 15µm ± 5µm for a conventional NiTi film)  and with a very high level of purity.

The high purity of the Acquandas NiTi film results in significantly enhanced ‘ultralow’ fatigue endurance capabilities of its shape memory alloy thin films, proven under controlled test conditions, to be able to perform at least 10 million transformation cycles without any changes in functional behavior, according to the company

The proprietary Acquandas microsystem technology and techniques incorporate three process interfaces: UV-lithography, magnetron sputtering and wet chemical etching, with final stages of the production process being heat treatment and shape setting.

Two thin film fabrication modes are available to cover both initial new product development (for prototype and small volume development) and full scale manufacturing (for high volume production), according to Acquandas.