2025 R.F. Bunshah Award & ICMCTF Lecture Recipient

Purpose

F. Bunshah Award and Honorary ICMCTF lectureship is intended to recognize outstanding research or technological innovation in the areas of interest to the Advanced Surface Engineering Division (ASED) of the AVS, with emphasis in the fields of surface engineering, thin films, and related topics.

Biography

Ludvik Martinu is Professor at Polytechnique Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the Department of Engineering Physics, Polytechnique Chair in Multifunctional Coatings and Surface Engineering, Director of the Thin Film Science and Technology Research Center on the Campus of the University of Montreal, and Founder and Chair of the Saint-Lawrence AVS International Chapter.

He obtained his Master’s and PhD degrees from Charles University in Prague. After joining Polytechnique Montreal, Canada in 1988, he became Professor in 1994, and in 2004-2010 served as Head of the Department of Engineering Physics. He has been strongly involved in scientific societies, in particular as President and Vice-President of the Society of Vacuum Coaters (2010-2016), Symposium C Chair and Session Chair of the ICMCTF, and as Program Committee member of the Optical Interference Coating topical conferences of Optica (former OSA). In 1999, in collaboration with J.E. Klemberg-Sapieha, he started the Functional Coatings and Surface Engineering (FCSE) tri-annual symposia series in Montreal, Canada. In 2016 he was General Chair of the historic joint ICMCTF-SVC Workshop on “Stress Evolution in Thin Films and Coatings: From Fundamental Understanding to Control”, Chicago, Illinois.

His main research interests are optical coatings, surface engineering, tribological and multifunctional thin films and coatings, plasma processing of materials, and the development of university-industry partnerships. His activities resulted in more than 450 publications in refereed journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings, in 24 patents and patent applications, and more than 70 invited, keynote and plenary lectures at international conferences. He is the recipient of special recognitions including the SVC Sugerman Award, SVC Mentor-Fellow, AVS Fellow, NSERC Synergy Award, and the Polytechnique’s Award for Excellence in Research and Innovation.

Abstract

“Life with Optical Coatings and ICMCTF: from Design to Manufacture, and the Multifunctional, Multisectoral and Holistic Approaches”

Wednesday, May 14, 2025 – 5:45 PM (PT)
Room: Town & Country A

Optical coatings (OC) represent a fascinating area of study and applications that focuses on the interaction of light with matter: One can rigorously design the optical performance of optical filters and optical devices based on the knowledge of the optical constants to obtain appropriate optical transmission, reflection, color, and related effects. In practice, however, successful fabrication and performance of the optical filters depend on the control of the coatings’ microstructure, which closely depends on the fabrication conditions and the detailed effect of specific processes on the film growth.

In my presentation, I will discuss the progress in the field of OC while highlighting both encouraging successes but also ongoing challenges. The latter ones include issues related to manufacturability, as well as tribo-mechanical and environmental durability in frequently harsh environments. Additionally, I will review developments in OC, such as energetic plasma- and ion-surface interactions and their effect on the interfaces, prospects of inhomogeneous (graded) OC, process monitoring based on time-, space- and specie-resolved diagnostics, nanostructured OC including plasmonic effects and porous media, dynamic OC (e.g., electrochromic and thermochromic), and the increasingly important multifunctional characteristics.

Throughout this presentation, I will highlight the significance of collaboration between academic and industrial laboratories, as well as the broader multisectoral implications that arise from such partnerships. In addition, I will emphasize the importance of adopting a global (holistic) approach when developing appropriate surface engineering solutions. These points will be further illustrated through several stories from my involvement in the ICMCTF over the past few decades.