Materion Barr Precision Optics & Thin Film Coatings announced Monday that it has begun construction on a multimillion-dollar work cell that will enhance its capability in manufacturing low-defect, infrared, wafer-level coatings in high volume for the defense and consumer electronics markets. The wafer-level coating cell, a 3000-sq-ft Class 1000 cleanroom outfitted with the latest infrared coating chambers, a 3-D photolithography deposition tool, semiconductor wet-etch and alignment processing tools and semiautomated inspection tools, is located at Materion's facility in Westford. It will have several custom-designed high-volume coating deposition chambers to handle 200-mm wafers, and is designed to serve current market requirements as well as future needs. The company said the investment will help decrease the cost of uncooled microbolometer detectors and ultimately facilitate major growth throughout the commercial infrared camera industry. The work cell is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2013. The initial work will include multiple volume production lines for the defense, commercial infrared and consumer electronics markets, while the company's long-range plan calls for a total of 20,000 to 40,000 wafers per year when fully built out. The company said it will continue to refine processes and operations during the year after completion to maximize yields before ramping up to full capacity. It is also continuing to invest in coating technology for next-generation microbolometer devices (less than 12 µm), which it plans to unveil in 2014. Materion Barr Precision Optics & Thin Film Coatings provides optical filters and filter arrays, lens coatings and optical thin-film assemblies, among other products, to the commercial, defense, life sciences, thermal imaging, automotive, space and astronomy industries. It is a unit of Mayfield Heights, Ohio-based Materion Corp. For more information, visit: www.materion.com/barroptics