A film forming apparatus has a process chamber and a processing unit provided in the process chamber and forming adhesive film. The surface of the inner walls of the process chamber is formed of a material having a large getter effect on gas or water (H.sub.2O) remaining in the process chamber.

A transducer includes a first piezoelectric layer; and a second piezoelectric layer that is above the first piezoelectric layer; wherein the second piezoelectric layer is a more compressive layer with an average stress that is less than or more compressive than an average stress of the first piezoelectric layer.

A coated cutting tool includes a substrate with a coating including a (Ti,Al)N layer having an overall composition (Ti.sub.xAl.sub.1-x)N, 0.34≤x≤0.65. The (Ti,Al)N layer contains columnar (Ti,Al)N grains with an average grain size of from 10 to 100 nm. The (Ti,Al)N layer also includes lattice planes of a cubic crystal structure. The (Ti,Al)N layer shows a pattern in electron diffraction analysis, wherein there is a diffraction signal existing, which is shown as a peak (P) in an averaged radial intensity distribution profile having its maximum within a scattering vector range of from 3.2 to 4.0 nm.sup.−1, the full width half maximum (FWHM) of the peak (P) being from 0.8 to 2.0 nm.sup.−1.

Provided is a coated cutting tool in which a surface of a substrate is coated with a hard coating film. The hard coating film includes: a layer (A) disposed on the surface of the substrate, and having a face-centered cubic lattice structure, in which the total content ratio of W and Ti is at least 85 atomic %, and which contains W as the most abundant element and Ti as the next most abundant element among metal (including metalloid) elements; and a layer (B) disposed on the layer (A) and having a face-centered cubic lattice structure, which is composed of nitrides or carbonitrides containing Al, Cr, and Si, and in which, among metal (including metalloid) elements, the Al content ratio is at least 50 atomic %, the total content ratio of Al and Cr is at least 85 atomic %, and the Si content ratio is 4 to 15 atomic %.

It is an object to provide a ferroelectric thin film having much higher ferroelectric properties than conventional Sc-doped ferroelectric thin film constituted by aluminum nitride and also having stability when applied to practical use, and also to provide an electronic device using the same.

There are provided a ferroelectric thin film represented by a chemical formula M1.sub.1-XM2.sub.XN, wherein M1 is at least one element selected from Al and Ga, M2 is at least one element selected from Mg, Sc, Yb, and Nb, and X is within a range of 0 or more and 1 or less, and also an electronic device using the same.

A coated cutting tool includes a substrate and a coating layer formed on the substrate, wherein the coating layer comprises a compound layer containing a compound having a composition represented by (Al.sub.xCr.sub.yTi.sub.1−x−y)N (in the formula (1), x represents an atomic ratio of an Al element to a total of the Al element, a Cr element and a Ti element and satisfies 0.70≤x≤0.95, and y represents an atomic ratio of a Cr element to a total of an Al element, the Cr element and a Ti element and satisfies 0.04≤y≤0.21, and 1−x−y>0); a ratio (Cr/Ti) of the Cr element and the Ti element in the compound layer is 1.0 or more and 2.5 or less; and an average thickness of the compound layer is 2.0 μm or more and 10.0 μm or less.

Electrochromic devices and methods may employ the addition of a defect-mitigating insulating layer which prevents electronically conducting layers and/or electrochromically active layers from contacting layers of the opposite polarity and creating a short circuit in regions where defects form. In some embodiments, an encapsulating layer is provided to encapsulate particles and prevent them from ejecting from the device stack and risking a short circuit when subsequent layers are deposited. The insulating layer may have an electronic resistivity of between about 1 and 10.sup.8 Ohm-cm. In some embodiments, the insulating layer contains one or more of the following metal oxides: aluminum oxide, zinc oxide, tin oxide, silicon aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, tungsten oxide, nickel tungsten oxide, and oxidized indium tin oxide. Carbides, nitrides, oxynitrides, and oxycarbides may also be used.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a multilayer film comprising aluminum, chromium, oxygen and nitrogen, in a vacuum coating chamber, the multilayer film comprising layers of type A and layers of type B deposited alternate one of each other, wherein during deposition of the multilayer film at least one target comprising aluminum and chromium is operated as cathode by means of a PVD technique and used in this manner as material source for supplying aluminum and chromium, and an oxygen gas flow and a nitrogen gas flow are introduced as reactive gases in the vacuum chamber for reacting with aluminum and chromium, thereby supplying oxygen and nitrogen for forming the multilayer film, characterized in that: —The A layers are deposited as oxynitride layers of Al—Cr—O—N by using nitrogen and oxygen as reactive gas at the same time, —The B layers are deposited as nitride layers of Al—Cr—N by reducing the oxygen gas flow and by increasing the nitrogen gas flow in order to use only nitrogen as reactive gas for the formation of the Al—Cr—N layer, and wherein the relation between oxygen content and nitrogen content in the multilayer film correspond to a ratio in atomic percentage having a value between and including 1.8 and 4.

A method of manufacturing an electronic component including a substrate is provided. The method includes generating a plasma remote from a sputter target, generating sputtered material from the sputter target using the plasma, and depositing the sputtered material on a substrate as a crystalline layer.

A part includes a base material, a colored layer, an intermediate layer, and a water-repellent-surface layer. The colored layer contains 35 at % to 99 at % of C, 0 at % to less than 40 at % of Cr, 0 at % to less than 15 at % of N, and more than 0 at % to less than 15 at % of O. The intermediate layer contains at least one metal atom selected from Cr, Zr, and Si; and an oxygen atom. The intermediate layer exhibits a sputtering time of 0.5 minutes or more to 9 minutes or less