Agilent Installs Leybold Coating System

Agilent Technologies Inc. said it will use a newly installed reactive magnetron thin-film optical coating system manufactured by Leybold Optics GmbH for coating components that require extremely precise spectral and polarization control. The Helios system -- the first to be installed in North America -- complements Agilent's capabilities in low-stress, high-performance coatings, said Vince Barich, Agilent Precision Optics operations manager. Agilent said it began shipping the first production parts in May 2007 and is now ramping the system to volume production.