The Founding Story

LAYERTEC (optische Beschichtungen) GmbH is the first spin-off from the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena after the political changes in East Germany. The founder of the company, Hartmut Heyer, studied physics in Jena between 1976 and 1981. Until 1989 he worked as a scientific assistant on the technology of sputtering for the production of oxide coatings for optical applications. The basis for these developments were the novel PPS5 magnetron sputter sources of the Manfred von Ardenne Institute in Dresden.

Hartmut Heyer succeeded in several groundbreaking developments:

• Semi-reactive process control for the production of oxidic layers from the metal target
• RF-excited plasmas for sputtering from oxidic targets
• Optical monitoring of the layer thickness through the magnetron source and the plasma

This enabled Hartmut Heyer to produce the first complex, low-loss interference coating systems for laser applications starting around 1986. VEB Carl Zeiss Jena first introduced HeNe lasers in orange and green around that time. The resonator mirrors were manufactured by Hartmut Heyer using the new technology.

In 1986, Hartmut Heyer had purchased an old homestead in Mellingen, a village between Jena and Weimar. In 1990-91, the first laboratory rooms were set up in two garages in the adjoining property (a former butcher’s shop). In January 1992, the production of custom products for research and development started, initially for customers in Germany. In 1994, LAYERTEC was awarded the Innovation Prize of German Medium-Sized Businesses. Starting as a one-man operation, LAYERTEC has developed into a globally active company with more than 400 employees today.