The Surface Engineering Institute (IOT) is a part of the faculty of mechanical engineering of RWTH Aachen University. Research and development activities have been conducted in the areas of PVD/CVD technology, thermal spraying, hard and high-temperature brazing as well as modelling and simulation of these processes.For each of these individual technologies fundamental knowledge is acquired in the field of materials science and applied in the area of materials engineering from the project idea to complete system solutions to pilot production. This work is always conducted in close cooperation with industrial corporations. In addition to materials development, process optimization, procedural and quality assurance, our services include, above all, the development and application of coating and brazing systems. The spectrum of materials processed includes everything from pure metals to oxide and special ceramics, cermets, hard materials, hard alloys and even polymers.