Coat.exe is a very small, simple utility that can be useful for calculating the length of wire necessary for evaporating a specific thickness on your specimen.
A screen shot with the default parameters is shown here:
![](https://probesoftware.com/smf/oldpics/i61.tinypic.com/rkvs7n.jpg)
The other feature in this app is a simple model for calculating the interference colors that produce birefringence as seen here, might be useful for teaching?
![](https://probesoftware.com/smf/oldpics/i60.tinypic.com/2z52dxy.jpg)