An electroconductive film (101) comprises a metal thin-film (10) on a first main surface of a flexible substrate (40) that includes a resin film (5). The thickness of the flexible substrate is 1 mm or less. The absolute value |H.sub.2H.sub.1| of the difference between the heating dimensional change rate H.sub.1 of the electroconductive film and the heating dimensional change rate H.sub.2 of a film obtained by removing the metal thin-film from the electroconductive film is preferably 0.10% or less. There is a tendency that undulation of a temperature sensor film after patterning of the metal thin-film is further suppressed as the value of |H.sub.2H.sub.1| decreases.

A nuclear fuel cladding tube for a liquid-metal or molten-salt cooled reactor includes a tubular body of metal material and a protective coating applied on an outer surface of the tubular body, to contact the coolant. The coating includes at least one layer of coating material selected from the group consisting of ceramic materials, refractory metals, and FeCrAlY alloys, and includes a matrix composed of the coating material in amorphous phase, inside which nanodomains composed of the coating material in crystalline phase are dispersed.

The invention relates to a multilayer multi-element composite hard PVD coating with low friction coefficient on the surface of a piston ring, a piston ring and a preparation process. The present invention employs vacuum multi-arc ion plating vapor deposition process, which uses multiple multi-arc ion sources, in the combination of equipping with different single metal target material and multi-element target material to deposit multilayer multi-element composite hard PVD coating with low friction coefficient on the surface of a steel or cast iron piston ring. The coating consists of five layers with the total thickness of up to 60 m. The coating has high adhesion with the surface of piston ring, high hardness, low friction coefficient and good abrasion resistance. By controlling the adding amount of additive elements Al, Mo, W, B, Si and Ti, the friction coefficient of the coating can be further reduced 5 to 20% compared with that of a single TiN or CrN deposited layer.

Methods for forming silicon nitride films are disclosed that comprise the steps of: providing a substrate in a reactor; introducing into the reactor an at least one organoaminosilane having a least one SiH.sub.3 group described herein wherein the at least one organoaminosilane reacts on at least a portion of the surface of the substrate to provide a chemisorbed layer; purging the reactor with a purge gas; introducing a plasma comprising nitrogen and an inert gas into the reactor to react with at least a portion of the chemisorbed layer and provide at least one reactive site wherein the plasma is generated at a power density ranging from about 0.01 to about 1.5 W/cm.sup.2.

Coated tool comprising a coated surface, the coated surface comprising a substrate having a surface on which a coating is deposited, wherein the substrate is made of a material comprising cobalt, and wherein the coating comprises at least one boron-comprising layer, wherein the at least one boron-comprising layer comprises Al and the boron comprised in this layer is present as boride, thereby the boron-comprising layer is able to form further layers for providing a diffusion barrier layer effect, in particular for stopping diffusion of cobalt from the substrate surface to the coating, when the coated tool or the coated surface is exposed to temperatures in a range between approximately 600 and 1200 C.

A method for fabricating a holographic blazed grating is provided. The method includes: coating a photoresist layer on a substrate; performing lithography on the photoresist layer to form a photoresist grating; performing vertical ion beam etching on the substrate by using the photoresist grating as a mask, to form a homogeneous grating by transferring a pattern of the photoresist grating onto the substrate; cleaning the substrate to remove remaining photoresist; performing tilted Ar ion beam scanning etching on the substrate by using the homogeneous grating as a mask, and etching different portions of the substrate by utilizing a obscuring effect of the homogeneous grating mask on the ion beam, to form a triangular groove shape of the blazed grating; and cleaning the substrate to obtain the holographic blazed grating.

A nickel-based superalloy part includes a nickel-based superalloy substrate, and a metal sublayer covering the substrate, wherein the metal sublayer includes a first and a second layer, the first layer being located between the substrate and the second layer, the first layer including a first -Ni.sub.3Al phase and a second -Ni phase, the second layer including a first -Ni.sub.3Al phase, a second -Ni phase and a third -NiAl phase, the average atomic fraction of aluminum in the second layer being strictly greater than the average atomic fraction of aluminum in the first layer.

An electrode of an embodiment includes a substrate, an intermediate layer provided on the substrate, and a catalyst layer provided on the intermediate layer. The intermediate layer is a mixture that includes two or more substances among a compound, and single element of noble metal or an alloy including noble metal. In a composition ratio of the mixture, a composition ratio of the intermediate layer in the vicinity of an interface between the substrate and the intermediate layer is different from a composition ratio of the intermediate layer in the vicinity of an interface between the catalyst layer and the intermediate layer.

A PVD layer system for the coating of workpieces encompasses at least one mixed-crystal layer of a multi-oxide having the following composition: (Me1.sub.1-xMe2.sub.x).sub.2O.sub.3, where Me1 and Me2 each represent at least one of the elements Al, Cr, Fe, Li, Mg, Mn, Nb, Ti, Sb or V. The elements of Me1 and Me2 differ from one another. The crystal lattice of the mixed-crystal layer in the PVD layer system has a corundum structure which in an x-ray diffractometrically analyzed spectrum of the mixed-crystal layer is characterized by at least three of the lines associated with the corundum structure. Also disclosed is a vacuum coating method for producing a mixed-crystal layer of a multi-oxide, as well as correspondingly coated tools and components.

Techniques and devices including a biocompatible antibacterial film are provided. An example method for depositing a biocompatible antibacterial film using physical vapor deposition (PVD) includes providing a substrate in a PVD processing chamber, forming a deposited film by co-depositing a first material and a second material onto the substrate from a vapor plume, wherein at least the first material is biocompatible and at least the second material is antibacterial, and nano-texturing the deposited film to produce nano-scale surface asperities that provide at least one of inhibition of bacterial growth, promotion of osseointegration, promotion of epithelial attachment, or promotion of endothelial attachment.