Hellma has acquired Schott Lithotec’s calcium fluoride production

Hellma has acquired Schott Lithotec’s calcium fluoride production in Jena. This takeover strengthens the company’s position in the market with the extension of the product portfolio to optical components made of CaF₂. This new entity operates as Hellma Materials and has been incorporated into the Hellma Group since April 2010.

With the largest worldwide market share in UV applications and a facility of more than 9000 m², Hellma Materials’ expertise allows fabrication of CaF₂ blanks in diameters up to 350 mm and thickness exceeding 100 mm. This allows the CaF₂ to be supplied in different crystal orientation ([111], [100] etc) and surface qualities (raw, cut, ground or polished).

Synthetic CaF₂ is very sought after as it can be used as optical materials with good transmission from 130 nm to 9 µm wavelength. It is used to achieve good optical performance in astronomy, photography, HDTV zoom lenses as well as microscopy. In lithography, calcium fluoride is used as a lens material due to its high optical quality and high resistance to radiation when exposed to laser. It is preferred in the manufacture of semiconductor stepper objectives for integrated circuit lithography.

Optical lithography generates millions of microscopic elements on the surface of tiny chips. These are important parts of computer processors, microprocessors, memory chips etc. In non-lithography area (laser and imaging optics), calcium fluoride is a highly sought-after alternative after quartz in scientific analysis due to its 99% internal transmittance down to 157 nm wavelength.