In 1989 PSL designed and built a plasma source ion implantation (PSII) chamber based on the technology developed by John Conrad, UW-Madison professor of nuclear engineering and engineering physics. The PSII chamber is used to greatly extend the life span of a wide variety of products, from ball bearings and machine parts to artificial joints. All forms of ion implantation increase the durability of materials by creating a hard surface layer. However, in PSII the material is immersed in plasma rather than being subjected to a bombardment of ions. Because the material is immersed, ions are uniformly integrated with the surface layer, creating a single, hard protective layer rather than a non-uniform coating.

Visit the PSII website.