Vacuum plating is a surface treatment process where a coating is formed on a metal substrate. Coating can be metal (such as titanium or gold) or non-metallic material (graphite or crystal) and is applied by sputtering, evaporation or ion-plating in a vacuum. Vacuum plating offers many advantages compared with traditional chemical plating. It is environmentally friendly, non-polluting, and not hazardous to operators. Vacuum plated films are sable, dense, uniform, and corrosion resistant.

There are two vacuum plating methods. One is CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition). The other is PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition). PVD includes evaporation plating (arc, electronic gun and resistance wire) and sputtering plating (DC magnetron Mid-frequency and RF). Gas ions and metal ions play an important role in coating formation. In order to emphasize the ion function, PVD is generally referred to as IP (Ion Plating).