CoatingImproving Your Productivity with Our Performance Coatings

To address the increased complexity and associated operational costs of advanced nodes, chipmakers prioritize increasing yield and tool availability. Chamber particle performance and surface condition are critical to a stable process, and advanced coatings are proven to extend preventive maintenance (PM) cycles and increase mean time between cleans (MTBC)—reducing downtime and cost of ownership (COO) while maintaining process performance.

Increase Reactor Uptime & Reduce Defects With Our Advanced Coatings

Ultra-Clean Parts

Increase Reactor Uptime and Reduce Defects with Application-Specific Coatings.

UCT designs and applies coatings tailored to customer requirements, balancing performance and cost through a broad portfolio of advanced materials, deposition methods, and process expertise.

Key application areas include:

  • PVD adhesion and barrier coatings - PVD chambers depend on controlled adhesion of excess sputtered material to exposed surfaces. Optimized coatings enable thicker film accumulation before flaking, reducing PM frequency. Arc-spray coatings (e.g., aluminum and metal/alloy systems) provide a barrier layer, and engineered surface roughness supports adhesion across different deposited materials (e.g., Ti, TiN, W). 
  • Environmentally Clean Process (EnCP) - removes deposition and existing coatings in an environmentally safer way while maintaining part dimensions, accelerating the recycling loop and extending part life.
  • Etch plasma-resistant coatings: Halogen-containing plasmas used in pattern transfer also attack chamber components. UCT coatings improve barrier performance, reduce corrosion/erosion-driven particle generation, and extend part lifetime—improving uptime and wafer output. Beyond traditional yttria (Y₂O₃), newer coating systems can further improve durability and reduce post-PM seasoning and qualification time.

Execution and quality control:

  • Coatings are applied using computer-controlled robotic systems and monitored via SPC (statistical process control) to ensure repeatability and consistent specification performance.
  • Our engineering team continues to develop new materials and processes to deliver customized coating solutions as requirements evolve.

C-Coat™ delivers ~2x greater MTBC in PVD kits.

Meeting the demands of advanced semiconductor manufacturing requires reliable protection against particle contamination. Many PVD kits struggle with poor particle performance and short mean time between cleans (MTBC), which can disrupt production schedules and increase costs.

Our solution is the C-Coat double-layer twin wire arc spray (TWAS) coating. This advanced process creates a robust barrier on PVD kits, specifically engineered to minimize defect excursions and extend kit life. By doubling the MTBC on Ta kits, we help fabs achieve longer operational cycles and greater reliability.

UCT Plasma Spray Coatings are best-in-class for advanced-node etch chambers.

The shift toward more 3D, high-aspect-ratio geometries in leading-edge nodes is driving tighter patterning, higher aspect ratios and zero-defect requirements. Etch chambers must accurately transfer features through complex, multi-material stacks with narrow selectivity windows—often requiring more reactive chemistries and tighter chamber-condition control. These harsher plasma environments accelerate wear of plasma-facing chamber components, driving rapid degradation, particle generation, and higher cost of ownership as nodes advance.

UCT addresses these challenges with a portfolio of plasma spray coatings. Coating options include Atmospheric Plasma Spray (APS) YAG, Yttrium Oxyfluoride (YOF), Yttrium Oxide (Y₂O₃), and Suspension Plasma Spray (SPS) Y₂O₃ coatings. Each is designed to withstand aggressive environments and maintain kit integrity.

Our coated kits are proven in high-volume manufacturing, operating at more than one million wafer passes per month. This durability translates to fewer replacements and lower overall costs.

ALD coatings extend weldment longevity for improved yield.

ALD process modules use stainless-steel weldments to connect chambers and route reactive gases and byproducts under elevated temperature and vacuum. These components are continuously exposed to corrosive precursors, byproduct species, and repeated thermal cycling, which can accelerate surface attack, generate particles, and force premature replacement—often turning a costly weldment into a consumable.

UCT applies conformal ALD Aluminum Oxide (Al₂O₃) coatings to stainless-steel weldments to provide a barrier layer that improves corrosion resistance and surface durability compared to uncoated parts. 

Customers benefit from longer intervals between preventive maintenance and improved defect performance. The result is higher yield, reduced downtime and lower replacement costs.