A vacuum deposition system has been designed to produce thin film based
demultiplexers with high throughput and production yields of greater than
25% for use in Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexer (DWDM) systems. The
system employs a dense array of high yield fixtures and an ion assisted
movable dual electron beam evaporation system. The fixture array
increases acceptable yields of narrow band pass filters to 25 75%
compared to less than 5% in conventional coating systems used for DWDM.
The movable e-beam system allows critical symmetry to be maintained while
eliminating significant delays resulting from deposition of two materials
from a single electron gun. The vacuum deposition system will enable
production of more than 15,000 50 200 GHZ filters which meet
specifications for DWDM demultiplexers every 48 hours.