Manipulating Alloys for Adaptable Getter Solutions.
Selective Adsorption
Getters can adsorb efficiently and selectively one or more gas species, enabling them to sustain high or ultra-high vacuum conditions in a variety of vacuum systems.
Active Coatings
Getters can act as active coatings to shield organic layers from moisture at a single molecule level. With high sorption capacity, tunable kinetics and selectivity, they provide a huge variety of functions.
The origin of the getter alloys.
Almost eighty years ago, SAES began to design complex alloys able to selectively and efficiently sorb one or more gas species from atmosphere, even in vacuum or ultra-high vacuum conditions. It was the origin of the “getter” alloys, which year after year have been continuously refined, developed and modified, generating a wide variety of advanced metal powders, parts and coatings with finely tuned sorption properties for the most demanding high-tech applications.
Precision processing for tailored alloy properties: from Ingots to three-dimensional parts.
Very accurate processing conditions (from vacuum to high pressure, from room temperature up to more than 1000°C, from mild compression to forces of the order of several tons) transform the incoming metal and non-metal pellets into alloys, which form solid ingots of different shapes and dimensions, once cooled down. Mechanical processes in controlled atmosphere, like grinding, reshape the ingots into smaller pieces, down to the level of powders.
While retaining the unique properties of the alloy, these powders can be formed into a variety of three-dimensional parts through compression, sintering, printing from a liquid dispersion. The physical and morphological properties, even at the micron and submicron level, are strongly dependent upon the transformation process adopted. Every single step is fundamental to fine tune the features of the alloy and make it perfectly suitable for the final application.
Enabling advanced applications from micro to macro scale.
Getter alloys can take on various forms based on their intended application. These alloys can be shaped as two-dimensional getter wires, three-dimensional getter elements, sputtered films, loose powders, or getter coatings.
They constitute an enabling part of a wide range of devices, ranging from tiny Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) to massive synchrotron radiation rings that span kilometers in length. Furthermore, getter alloys have extensive applications beyond Earth, with their use in avionics and space systems
In a diverse range of environmental conditions, the getters effectively utilize their function of selectively absorbing gas species. These advanced materials serve to maintain a high or ultra-high vacuum or safeguard microelectronics or photonics packages against detrimental effects of specific gas contaminants, even at extremely low partial pressures.
The integration of getter materials is indispensable for the long-term operation of numerous microelectronics, optoelectronics, photovoltaics, cryogenic, and energy devices. Without these advanced materials, it would be impossible for such devices to remain operational for years or even decades.
