Early Stage Taiwan became an important OEM fabrication sites to every cell phone brand after 1995. The optical filter is necessary for cell phone optical components. The decorative coating also needed for cell phone name plate, window, and cover case. ETAFILM was built up in September 1999 at Jhongli city of Taiwan. Form the beginning of Decorative coating, it induced thermal evaporation coaters to deposite decorative metallic thin film for cell phone display panel, case, plasitc cover.... In 2003, by the demand of customers, ETAFILM developed the silk printing process to extend processing range for vertical integration.

This vertical integration can hugely simplify the customer OEM link complex. After coating AR or decorative thin films, It can also print required pattern or text on the product in same facrication site. It saved time and transportation cost. This will make a better service to customers.

Transform to optical filter producer ...After 2003, The digital camera industry was in a high growth speed. Taiwan also became to a very important production base to digital camera sensor and assembly. Taiwan has a strong semiconductor industry. Many companies produced camera sensors (CCD, CMOS). By this relations, the camera assembly companies are fast developed in Taiwan. However, a critical optical filter of IR (Infra Red filters) which could improve the image effect of COMS sensor was supplied only by Japan coating producers then. Their capacity is hugely insufficient for Taiwan. However, the cell phone production need fast respondent vendors. The supply chain need to locate in nearby of assembly factory. The distance is too far for shipping this IR optical filter from Japan. The import and export cross boader also make the supply chain complex. Taiwan local coating supplier neither have such technology nor enough capacity for this requirement.

In middle of 2005, ETAFILM induced new high technology coaters to produce high class optical filters (multilayers thin film deposition). The company also induced a new technical team and to transform as a high level flat panel (optical glass, optical filter) optical coating producer. New team is leaded by Dr Mingshing Wu who worked in optical coating for over 15 years. Team members is mainly from Electronic and Optoelectronic Laboratories of ITIS and Optics and Photonics of National Central Univerity.

This new technical team are well educated and dedicated in optical coating for optical communication filter (DWDM, CWDM, Edge filters) and optical engine (color wheel, optical projection TV) before entering ETAFILM. They also worked with Texas Instrument (TI) to produce optical window. They are very familiar with to work with complicated customer requirement.

...In Oct 2005, ETAFILM upgrade his clean room from class 10000 to 1000. And began to install new Japan thermal evaporation coater (Electron beam gun evaporation, assisted with IAD system). This type coater can do the product maximum to 100 multilayer dielectric thin films. With high precision monitor mechanism, It can precisely control the thickness when depositing thin films. Except some ultra high class optical filter in communicaion (DWDM, CWDM) or military usage, it almost can do any optical filter in 200~1100 wavelength filter. part of filters in 1100~1800nm range.

Product types today

In early of 2006, ETAFILM started service to customer with high class optical filters. Our products from Infra Red filters graduatelly extend to OLPF (Optical low pass filter). UV (ultra violet) or UVIR (Ultra violet Infra Red cut) filers came form some medical instrument customers. They original required this products from Japan or USA. As time goes by and more customer links estabilished, the requested product types are more. As said in previous section, Taiwan is an important cell phone fabrication sites.We are very good at in produce the IR UVIR OLPF optical filters. With good quality, reliabilty, and competitive price, most of Taiwan digital camera assembly company aquired the optical filter form ETAFILM.

Today, the common product like AR (Anti Reflection), IR (Infra Red Filters), Night vision filter, Band pass filter, High Pass filter, Low Pass filter, Mirror, Beam Splitter, Density filter, Dichroic filter, Stage Light filter , Optical Communication filter(Edge filters). Most all optical filter types can be supplied by ETAFILM. ETAFILM also supports some special customer request like Polarizaion Beam Splitter, AR in active laser diode, AR in wafer, Low Resistance Transparent Conductive Film (touch panel) Coating.... . From customer requirement and self effort to extend the function and scope of IR filter and OLPF filter, ETAFILM is developed various type of Day and Night IR filters and OLPF. They covered important optical characteristic in 700~1100nm wavelength. ETAFILM can precisely control the production yield rate and surface quality. It is very unique to other optical coating producers in the world.

Custom optical coating partner

As more product types requirement came to ETAFILM, we realized we need to be a professional OEM optical coating (specially on flat optical filter) producer. And became a long term partner to our customers. The optics is a high knowledge intensive discipline. Most purchasing customers do not exactly understand optics or optical filter he need. Worse than that, there is no standard optical filer to customer products. Every optical filter has its own characteristic required by different customers. Even two different customers make the same function product, the optical filters they required are still different. One coating producer will also make his optical filter different to another coating producer. This is because they use different coater and adapt different layer designs. There are too many characteristic can't be regulated in specification. Such as thin film addsive force, surface quality, visual color (not necessary related or can be requlated in spectrum specification) are all different to different coating producer. The customer cannot distinguish which coater is best for his products. Only coating producer can do.

Optical filter Strategy Alliance buildup

Base on these reasons, if we hope to satisfy most customer need. We realized two coater types are not enough to suit every production characteristic. The coaters of ETAFILM can do most product types in dielectric thin films. But it may not be best efficiency and cost to different customers. As Stage Light filter requires big size, our coater chamber size is not best for this. Some medium-low level filters (like density filters, temperature conversion filters, dichroic filters) may not need high precision coater like ETAFILM's. It may need only low cost coater. The depreciation cost can be hughly reduced which will be transfered to product price finally.

We need the ability to reponse most customer requirement about optical filter products. But we can't establish every type of coaters in our clean room. In middle of 2006, ETAFILM started to search strategy partners who owned other coater type and also with good optical filter production ability. With support to each other, ETAFILM support our partner to produce high precision optical filters. Out partner support ETAFILM with medium-low level or metallic thin film optical filters. We graduatelly established the ability to provide coating service from level I to level IV coaters(we classified 4 levels of coaters, see here). To customer, one station service and appropriate advisory are needed. Taiwan has good industrial environment. The up and down stream of optical filter or applied products were well developed. Form material (optical glass and target (source) material) to processing, all providers located near ETAFILM within 1-2 hours journey. The low cost of transportation, electric power, water and high quality human resource of Taiwan make ETAFILM very competitive to foreign coating producers.

All optical filter products are highly related to customer need in both spectrum or shape and size. As a professional coating (or optical filter) producer, ETAFILM is good at in join design with customer and with the good capability to production. We have a good ability to design the coating layers to achieve the spectrum of customer need. High level Japanese coater advanced enhance the coating ability of ETAFILM. After coating process, our strategy partner will form the filter to desired shape and dimension. ETAFILM has allied several specialization partners capable to do any processing for polishing, cutting, dicing,and scribing. All of them located within 2 hours journey from ETAFILM, we can fast and flexible to response customer needs. Form thin film layer design, coating, shape and size the filter, ETAFILM can complete this job in our strategy network in a short time.

After two years development, ETAFILM strategy alliance also built up the stock selling ability. We prepare most popular UV, VIS, NIR (near infrared), mid and far IR, laser, CO2 laser, biomedical, fluorescence microscopy filter in stock, and provide stock selling. For stock selling service, we can accept one piece or small quantity order. For many customers, one or two piece filters are needed to test or replace damged one sometimes. Stock selling is the privilege of very little international scale optics companies, such as Asahi Spectra, Andover, Omega. The price of these companies is very high (200-500 USD for one piece filter of Diameter 25mm) and almost can't be accepted. ETAFILM can provide same level filter with 1/3~1/2 price. Hope can satisfy most customer requirement.

Welcome you to contact us.