Thin Film Center

What Thin Film Center does

Thin Film Center Inc. is a privately held, Tucson, Arizona-based software company that develops and sells Essential Macleod, a desktop Windows application for the design, analysis, manufacture, and reverse engineering of optical thin-film coatings. The product addresses a niche professional market spanning single-layer antireflection coatings, rugates, ultrafast coatings, color separation beamsplitters, and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) telecommunications filters, and is modularly architected with a Core engine plus optional Enhancements for production runsheet generation, Monte Carlo tolerance simulation, BASIC scripting, non-parallel coating optimization, deposition-controller integration, and automated DWDM filter synthesis. The software integrates via import/export with major optical design tools including ZEMAX, Code V, FRED, and VirtualLab, and is distributed both directly from Tucson and through a network of eight registered agents in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Scotland, and Singapore. Revenue is generated through perpetual software licenses with a progressive enhancement activation model, senior-staff-led technical support, expert consulting engagements, video training courses, and a $100 PDF reference book. The company was built around the personal expertise of its late founder and President, Dr. Angus Macleod (1933-2021), Professor Emeritus of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona and recipient of the SPIE Gold Medal (1987), OSA Esther Hoffman Beller Medal (1997), and SVC Nathaniel Sugerman Memorial Award (2002), and remains bootstrapped with no disclosed institutional investment.

Name

Thin Film Center

Legal name

Thin Film Center Inc.

Website

https://thinfilmcenter.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Thin Film Center Inc. develops and sells Essential Macleod, a Windows-based software suite for designing, analyzing, manufacturing, and reverse engineering optical thin-film coatings, serving optical coating manufacturers, engineers, and researchers globally via direct sales and a network of regional agents.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Optical Thin-Film Design Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210)

SIC

Optical Instruments & Lenses (3827)

akta.pro primary industry

Barrier & Specialty Films (EVOH, PVDC, Metallized, AlOx/SiOx Coated) (IMALABAC)

Keywords

• Optical thin film software
• Coating design software
• Optical coatings consulting
• Thin film analysis
• DWDM filter design

Headquarters

HQ city

Azusa

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Software Licenses (Essential Macleod): The company sells the Essential Macleod software package with a Core module and optional Enhancements (Runsheet, Simulator, Function, vStack, Monitorlink, DWDM Assistant). The progressive licensing system controls activation of various enhancements, allowing configuration and pricing to fit user needs.
2. Consulting Services: Expert consulting services for the optical coating industry, ranging from ad hoc script design to customized enhancements of Essential Macleod software.
3. Training Course Materials: Video-based training courses including 'Thin Film Design using the Essential Macleod', 'Topics in Optical Coatings', and 'Fundamentals of Optical Coating Design & Analysis'. Also includes PDF book 'Optical Coating Design with the Essential Macleod' priced at US$100.
4. Software Support: Technical support that extends beyond simple software operation, involving senior staff. The company philosophy states they are selling support. Support is never cut off.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Thin Film Center develops and sells Essential Macleod, a comprehensive Windows-based software package for the design, analysis, manufacture, and troubleshooting of optical thin-film coatings. The company supplements the software with expert consulting services and structured video training courses for the optical coating industry, distributed globally through its own sales channel and a network of regional agents.

Product overview

Thin Film Center offers Essential Macleod as a comprehensive software platform for optical thin film design, analysis, and manufacture. The platform follows a modular architecture with Essential Macleod as the core product, supplemented by optional enhancements including Runsheet, Monitorlink, Simulator, vStack, Function, and DWDM Assistant modules. These enhancements extend the Core's capabilities in specific directions such as production planning, deposition control configuration, Monte Carlo production simulation, non-parallel coating optimization, scripting and macro capabilities, and DWDM filter design. The software operates under a progressive licensing system that activates various enhancements based on user configuration. Beyond software, the company provides training courses (Thin Film Design using Essential Macleod, Topics in Optical Coatings, Fundamentals of Optical Coating Design), a companion PDF book, and expert consulting services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Essential Macleod: A comprehensive software package for the design, analysis, manufacture and troubleshooting of thin film optical coatings.

Products and services

• Essential Macleod Comprehensive software package for the design, analysis, manufacture, and troubleshooting of thin-film optical coatings, used by optical coating manufacturers and engineers across the industry.
• Essential Macleod Core Minimum configuration of Essential Macleod containing all standard design and analysis tools, including performance calculations, color calculations, refinement and synthesis tools, plots, tables, and import/export capabilities.
• Runsheet Enhancement Machine configuration editor and run sheet editor that calculates and exports monitoring signals appropriate to the user's coating machine, supporting optical and crystal monitoring, dynamic tooling factors, and wideband monitoring.
• Monitorlink Software that configures Runsheet export output to match the format and constraints of a given deposition monitoring controller.
• Simulator Enhancement Monte Carlo model of the deposition process that introduces signal noise, monitoring errors, tooling factor variations, packing density errors, and temperature effects to support tolerance studies and production assessment.
• vStack Enhancement Tool for optimizing systems of non-parallel coatings (including prism and color separation assemblies) for overall requirements, with co-optimization across multiple paths.
• Function Enhancement Macro language and BASIC scripting extension that accesses Essential Macleod entities as objects, enabling custom merit functions, manipulation of tables, and creation of black body sources.
• DWDM Assistant Enhancement Automatically designs multiple-cavity filters for Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) telecommunications specifications using symmetrical period techniques and ripple optimization algorithms.
• Consulting Services Confidential expert consulting for the optical coating industry, ranging from ad hoc script design to customized enhancements of the Essential Macleod software.
• Thin Film Design using the Essential Macleod (Training Course) Video-based training course of 10 step-by-step modules introducing optical coating design using Essential Macleod tools, with worked examples.
• Topics in Optical Coatings (Training Course) Collection of six stand-alone video presentations covering coating design fundamentals, ultrafast effects, rugates, n&k extraction, and color in coatings.
• Fundamentals of Optical Coating Design & Analysis (Training Course) Seven-section video course covering the fundamental mathematical and physical tools for calculating properties of thin-film multilayer coatings.
• Optical Coating Design with the Essential Macleod (Book) 500-page PDF tutorial book authored by Angus Macleod and Christopher Clark covering techniques, examples, tips and tricks with the Essential Macleod program; priced at US$100 per copy.

Quantifiable outcome

• The DWDM Assistant automatically generates multiple candidate designs sorted by total layer thickness, deposition time, and ripple performance, reducing filter design time significantly.
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Shincron Co LtdcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional agent in Japan, represented by Naoji Amano. Licensed to sell all Thin Film Center software products and accept registration requests for Macleod Masterclass. Located at 3-5 Minatomirai, 4 Chome, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan.
• Sigma Koki Co LtdcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional agent in Japan, represented by Tsutomu Tsuchiya. Licensed to sell all Thin Film Center software products and accept registration requests for Macleod Masterclass. Located at 1-19-9 Sumida-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
• Collimage International Co LtdcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional agent in Taiwan, represented by Alan Tuan. Licensed to sell all Thin Film Center software products and accept registration requests for Macleod Masterclass. Located at 4F No. 232 Sec. 3 Hoping East Road, Taipei, Taiwan.
• DigiClassic LimitedcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional agent in South Korea, represented by Mr. T. W. Kim. Licensed to sell all Thin Film Center software products and accept registration requests for Macleod Masterclass. Located at Room 1308, Hanseo Building, 11-11 Yeido-dong, Seoul, South Korea.
• InfoTek Information Science & Technology Co., Inc.coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional agent in China (Shanghai region), represented by Ms. Angie Zhu. Licensed to sell all Thin Film Center software products and accept registration requests for Macleod Masterclass. Located at Room 1805, Zhongji Building, No.819, Yinxiang Road, Nanxiang Town, Jiading District, Shanghai, China.
• P&T Consulting LtdcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional agent in Scotland, represented by Len Traub. Licensed to sell all Thin Film Center software products and accept registration requests for Macleod Masterclass. Also provides on-site training to end-users of Essential Macleod. Located at 22, The Spinneys, Dalgety Bay, Fife, Scotland.
• APP Systems Services Pte LtdcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional agent in Singapore, represented by Bryan Khor. Licensed to sell all Thin Film Center software products and accept registration requests for Macleod Masterclass. Located at 11 Toh Guan Road East #03-01, APP Enterprise Bldg, Singapore.
• Leyfond ShenzhencoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional agent in China (Shenzhen region), represented by Dr.-Ing. Feng Qian. Licensed to sell all Thin Film Center software products and accept registration requests for Macleod Masterclass. Located at 1st Floor, Building A, Yunanong Sci. Park, Pingshang Ave. 6340, Shenzhen, China.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Photon Design: Photon Design provides photonic and optical simulation tools (FIMMWAVE, PICWave) that serve adjacent photonics design markets. While not a direct thin-film design competitor, it competes for design budget and workflow attention within optical engineering organizations.
• LightTrans (VirtualLab): LightTrans' VirtualLab is a physical-optics simulation platform with import/export interoperability to Essential Macleod. It targets optical designers with a more modern, field-tracing-based approach, representing an emerging alternative to legacy thin-film design tools.

Broad incumbents

• Synopsys (CODE V): Synopsys CODE V is a broad optical design and analysis platform with import/export interoperability to Essential Macleod. It is a larger, more general optical design suite that overlaps in optical engineering workflows while not specializing in thin-film design.
• Zemax (Ansys): Zemax, now part of Ansys, provides broad optical system design and simulation software with built-in import/export interoperability to Essential Macleod. While it covers wider optical system modeling beyond thin-film coatings, it is a complementary and competing platform within optical engineering toolchains.
• Lambda Research (FRED): Lambda Research's FRED software is a general-purpose optical engineering and stray-light analysis tool that interoperates with Essential Macleod via built-in import/export. It serves similar optical engineering customers but is broader in scope than thin-film design.

Direct peers

• OptiLayer: OptiLayer is a dedicated optical thin-film design and analysis software tool targeting the same customers as Essential Macleod — optical coating designers and manufacturers — with comparable design, refinement, and synthesis capabilities for multilayer coatings.
• Software Spectra (TFCalc): Software Spectra's TFCalc is a thin-film design and analysis software package for optical coatings, directly competing with Essential Macleod in the same product category, serving coating designers with similar design, analysis, and optimization functionality.
• FTG Software Associates (FilmStar): FTG Software Associates develops the FilmStar suite for optical coating design, analysis, and synthesis — directly competing with Essential Macleod for the same optical coating manufacturer and engineering persona, with comparable thin-film design, optimization, and monitoring features.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/thin-film-center-inc.

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Thin Film Center