Angstrom aiding advances toward next-generation tech
Kitchener firm makes advanced equipment used by top quantum researchers
KITCHENER — Some of the world’s top quantum researchers are using equipment developed in Kitchener as they pursue the next-generation technology.
Angstrom Engineering specializes in systems that deposit thin films of various materials onto another material known as a substrate. The equipment can be used in the development of a range of products, from solar cells and solid-state batteries, to display technologies such as microLED and OLED.
In the quantum field, the Angstrom systems are used to produce microscopic, thin-film devices called Josephson junctions, which consist of two superconductors separated by an on superconducting layer. They’re an integral part of the superconducting quantum circuits that are seen as a forerunner among the different ways a quantum computer may be built.
If all seems entirely too complex, you’re not alone. Even the people who work within the quantum realm admit it can be a baffling place.
“We don’t know the whole story with quantum,” said Chris Haapamaki, a project manager at Angstrom. “It goes against what we were taught classically.”
As the prospects for quantum technologies emerged in recent years — among them, the promise of far-faster computers that can solve problems traditional computers never could — Angstrom recognized that deposition systems it was producing for other fields could prove valu
able in the quantum world.
“We kind of got wind that there was growing demand for it in about 2016,” said marketing manager Andrew Goodwin. “We’ve been able to take it to the wider market, and we’ve had good success across the board.”
Researchers at schools including the University of Waterloo, the University of Southern California and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem are among those using Angstrom systems.
Angstrom is part of the Quantum Alliance, launched in December by a UW-led research initiative called Transformative Quantum Technologies. The program aims to bring together researchers and industry partners.
The firm’s quantum systems have also been acquired by commercial clients; Angstrom prefers to call its customers partners, a nod to the extent to which the systems are customized.
“We’re working together with the customer to the point it’s a collaboration,” Goodwin said.
“We don’t have a catalogue,” added Haapamaki. Angstrom was founded in 1992 by Andrew Bass, who retired in 2012. It’s now co-owned by Andrew Campbell and Dave Pitts, and is based out of a Trillium Drive facility that employs about 75 people.
The thin film deposition process requires the utmost purity and cleanliness, meaning that vacuum chambers play a key role in the systems. One commercial offshoot of its deposition systems is the use of Angstrom’s vacuum vessels to simulate outer space conditions.
There are different ways in which films can be deposited. One, called sputtering, is a plasma-based process in which a target is bombarded with atoms; atoms that are subsequently ejected from the target then land on the substrate.
Another process used in Angstrom’s quantum series uses a focused electron beam to evaporate a material that then deposits on a substrate.
When they say thin, they mean it. The thickness of deposited films is often measured in angstroms (hence the company name). One angstrom is one-tenth of a nanometre; a human hair is 60,000 to 100,000 nanometres in diameter.
It’s a far different tale when it comes to Angstrom’s ambitions. “The trajectory is growth,” Goodwin said. “We’ll keep our eyes open to see what’s coming down the road next.”