Space and satellite hardware uses hermetic feedthroughs to pass electrical power, signals, RF, and fiber optic lines through pressure boundaries – between pressurized electronics enclosures and vacuum, or through thermal-vacuum test chamber walls. Space-grade feedthroughs must survive launch vibration, radiation exposure, thermal cycling from cryogenic to high temperatures, and indefinite
Synchrotrons and particle accelerators require UHV conditions throughout their beam paths so that charged particles or photon beams travel with minimal gas scattering, charge buildup, and beam-gas interaction. CF flanges with copper gaskets, hermetic instrumentation feedthroughs, UHV viewports, and ceramic vacuum chambers are the primary vacuum components used in these
Transmission electron microscopes (TEMs) and high-performance scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) use UHV or near-UHV conditions to protect the electron source, column optics, and sample environment. Hermetic electrical feedthroughs carry high-voltage bias, heater power, and signal lines into the column without leak paths. In situ TEM holders incorporate miniature hermetic feedthroughs
Defense and military electronics rely on ceramic-to-metal hermetic seals to protect sensitive electronic components from moisture, pressure, vibration, and thermal extremes over service lives that can exceed 20 years. Ceramic-to-metal brazed feedthroughs and hermetically sealed packages are used in radar systems, missile guidance electronics, undersea sonar equipment, aircraft avionics, and
Ceramic-to-metal seals are manufactured through a multi-step process: the ceramic is formed, fired, and then metalized on the bonding surfaces using the molybdenum-manganese (Mo-Mn) process or active metal brazing (AMB). The metalized ceramic is then brazed to the metal component in a controlled-atmosphere furnace using a filler metal – most