Written by: Denton Vacuum, LLC

Summary: UHV Sputtering is a form of manufacturing that touches every modern sector of consumer products.

The manufacturing techniques to build the engine and transmission in your car are a form of sputter deposition. This technique uses chemicals, broken down into gaseous form, to change the properties of something else.

At a microscopic level, the practice of sputtering is a lot like coating a chair in spray paint. The object is placed on a platform that is evenly rotated, while a nozzle sprays a substance directly onto it. The rotation gives the substrate an even coating across its entire surface.

Thin film deposition systems apply coatings using solutions like silicon nitride. This particular solution is used to coat engine parts. Exhaust gas control valves, spark-ignition engines and parts built for turbo chargers all utilize this film, applied in layers that typically do not exceed more than a few microns.

UHV sputter deposition is used in optics, to create a wafer thin coating of anti-glare and anti-scratch materials. The lens is cut to the specifications of the patient’s prescription, and then the lens is coated with chemicals. These chemicals will only adhere if certain temperatures are met, after they have been superheated.

Sputtering is now commonplace, but some of the techniques involved in this process are also the same used in sterilization and pasteurization. Vacuums play a significant role in most of this modern manufacturing, as it is easier to control temperatures with precision in these kinds of environments. Vacuums also provide a sealed space where chemicals can bond with a substrate.

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