In the spotlight
A look back at the 2025 General Assembly
On June 26, CITRA held its Annual General Meeting, bringing together members, partners, and stakeholders from our network to review the year 2024 and discuss our outlook for 2025.
Among the highlights discussed:
- More than 50 new projects initiated in 2024.
- Renewal of our ISO 9001 certification for an additional three years, confirming the quality of our organization.
- Strengthening of our communication to better promote our expertise and support our development.
- Presentation of our 2025 objectives, focused on innovation, opening up new markets, and consolidating our offering.
Thank you to everyone who attended for their participation.
➡️ Do you have a surface treatment or coating project? Contact our team using our contact form.
A look back at the Ceramic Network trade show
✨ CITRA at the heart of innovation at the Ceramic Network 2025 trade show
On July 2 and 3, 2025, CITRA participated in the Ceramic Network trade show in Limoges. This event, organized by the Pôle Européen de la Céramique, brings together major players in the ceramics and materials industries.
This event was an opportunity for us to showcase our expertise in surface treatment, coatings, and material characterization, while forging new links with manufacturers, researchers, and institutions.
Three days rich in encounters and content:
- Technical conferences on major industrial challenges: material reliability, sustainable processes, innovations in ceramics, etc.
- A convivial dinner at the Four des Casseaux, providing an ideal opportunity for networking.
- Great prospects for collaboration, thanks to fruitful discussions throughout the event.
We would like to thank the European Ceramics Cluster for organizing this successful event and for their commitment.
CITRA at the MATTRIS 2025 conference: a strong commitment to industrial innovation
CITRA was delighted to participate in the MATTRIS 2025 conference, held on July 2 and 3 in Dijon. Organized by A3TS, this event is a must-attend for those involved in heat treatment and industrial innovation.
On this occasion, Alexandre Castro, thermal spraying project manager, and Jean-Baptiste Cournil, thermal spraying technician, represented CITRA at a conference dedicated to a major challenge for the industry in the coming years: the substitution of PFAS.
This presentation highlighted the work carried out by CITRA on this topic, combining applied research, regulatory issues, and concrete solutions to support companies in their transition to more sustainable processes that comply with future regulations.
Indeed, this participation in the MATTRIS conference illustrates CITRA’s commitment to anticipating future industrial needs and to technological innovation in the service of the materials sector.
👉 Do you have needs in terms of material characterization, dry or wet treatments? 📩 Contact us: citra-limousin.com
CITRA closes for summer vacation ☀️
CITRA will be closed for the summer break from Friday, August 1 in the evening until Sunday, August 24 inclusive 📅
We would like to thank all our partners, customers, and employees for their trust throughout the year. The entire team wishes you a restful summer filled with sunshine and new projects on the horizon.
We will be back on Monday, August 25, ready to assist you with your surface treatment and coating engineering projects!
Focus on vacuum deposition (PVD/PECVD) and its scale of magnitude—the micron.
In surface treatment, mastery of thin films is essential to meet the growing demands of cutting-edge sectors such as aeronautics, space, defense, and medicine.
At the heart of these needs, CITRA’s PVD/PECVD vacuum deposition tools enable the production of thin coatings with customized surface properties.
A question of scale
The micrometer is a unit of measurement widely used in the field of vacuum deposition. It is used to define the thickness of deposited layers. To visualize:
- 1 micron (µm) = 1 thousandth of a millimeter.
- A human hair measures approximately 150 microns in diameter.
- A cell in the human body measures between 10 and 100 microns in diameter, depending on the type.
Vacuum deposition technologies operate within this range of sizes. With highly precise control of the deposition conditions, they allow material to be added atom by atom, thereby obtaining specific properties.
What is the role of vacuum deposition?
CITRA has mastered PVD/PECVD processes on surfaces to improve the surface performance of parts.
At CITRA, we are able to produce controlled layer thicknesses of at least 0.15µm, which is essential for many industrial applications.
Unlike other types of surface treatment technologies, the PVD process allows us to control the thickness of the coating as well as its composition, with remarkable homogeneity and adhesion.
The vacuum deposition team, composed of Guillaume Desbordes, project manager, and Thomas Crouzet, technician, is capable of performing various types of deposition, including:
- Metals (titanium, copper, chromium, aluminum, tungsten, molybdenum, etc.) from a few microns to a hundred microns.
- Ceramics (TiN, TiC, CrN, DLC, etc.) ranging from 1 to 5 µm.
- And since early 2025, ceramics from RF (Radio Frequency) deposits from 0.1 µm to 1 µm thick.
In a context where surface performance is becoming a strategic lever for innovation, CITRA is committed to a process of skills development and technological investment. This dynamic aims to expand our ability to offer vacuum coating solutions that are increasingly precise, reliable, and adapted to the specific constraints of the most demanding industrial sectors.
CITRA has equipped itself with a radio frequency (RF) power supply for its PVD/PECVD deposition systems.
To further improve its coating capabilities, CITRA has supplemented its vacuum deposition (PVD/PECVD) equipment with the acquisition of a radio frequency (RF) power supply.
This technological advancement will enable the production of high-quality metal oxide coatings—such as alumina (Al₂O₃), zirconia (ZrO₂), titanium dioxide (TiO₂), and silica (SiO₂) – directly from a sputtering target made of the desired material and without the use of reactive oxygen. CITRA will be able to continue offering you new solutions for your coating needs.
Why is RFMS (Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering) deposition an asset for your projects?
There are many fields of application, opening up access to a wide range of non-conductive functional materials used in optics, electronics, and biomedicine. These include:
- The sputtering of insulating ceramics, such as Al₂O₃, SiO₂, TiO₂, etc.
- The possibility of depositing these ceramics at low temperatures, which is compatible with heat-sensitive substrates (polymers or already structured components) without risk of damage.
- The possibility of combining RF + DC technologies to create multilayer structures (e.g., ceramic-metal).
- An expert team in PVD/PECVD vacuum deposition at your side
Thanks to this new facility, the CITRA team is strengthening its skills and its ability to support you in your R&D needs. We are at your disposal to design tailor-made technical solutions adapted to your industrial challenges.
👉 Want to find out more or talk to our specialists? 📩 Contact us: www.citra-limousin.com/contact