The jury of the Swiss Economic Award praised the spin-off’s combination of scientific excellence, industrial expertise, and entrepreneurial execution. Swiss Cluster was founded at Empa in Thun in late 2020 by materials researcher Carlos Guerra and electronics engineer Kevin Lücke in the “Mechanics of Materials and Nanostructures” laboratory headed by Johann Michler. According to Empa, the two co-founders were conducting research aimed at making thin films more robust and durable.
Combining Processes Offers Advantages
Swiss Cluster’s systems combine PVD and ALD technologies. Unlike PVD, the ALD process introduces gaseous precursor materials into the vacuum chamber in alternating cycles. “ALD enables extremely thin, uniform coatings that provide excellent protection against corrosion and oxidation. PVD, on the other hand, produces very hard coatings,” says Swiss Cluster CEO Carlos Guerra. “By combining the two processes, we can create thin films that are exceptionally durable: hard and ductile at the same time, thermally robust, and resistant to corrosion.”
Combining the two thin-film technologies is complex. “For laboratory experiments at Empa, an early system consisted of one vacuum chamber for ALD and another for PVD. For each individual layer, a doctoral researcher had to manually transfer the substrate between the chambers without breaking the vacuum,” Guerra recalls. To improve this process, the first Swiss Cluster machine was developed. It combines the ALD and PVD systems within a single vacuum chamber. Nanolayered structures that previously took a researcher a week to produce in the laboratory can now be created in just a few hours. “When we built the prototype in the lab, we realized it had the potential to become a product,” says Guerra. Swiss Cluster was born.
Swiss Cluster is not the first company to combine PVD and ALD. The technology has already gained a foothold in the semiconductor industry. “Semiconductor manufacturers use the combined process in a very specific way that is difficult to transfer to other industries,” says Guerra. “Instead, we want to focus on the rest of the market.”
Proprietary Equipment Developed for Batch ALD
For customers interested solely in ALD technology, Swiss Cluster offers an additional system. It enables batch ALD, a variant that operates more quickly and allows multiple components or large and complex parts to be coated simultaneously.
Unlike the equipment commonly used in the semiconductor industry, Swiss Cluster’s machines are compact and comparatively easy to install and operate. “We are making these high-tech processes more accessible,” the founder explains. The start-up also offers coating services through its own laboratory in Spiez. “We work together with our customers to identify suitable coatings for their applications. This helps us improve our equipment, while customers can evaluate the process without having to invest in a new machine right away,” Guerra says.