A method is provided for fabricating a component material for a battery cell. The method comprises the steps of: providing a partially-fabricated battery cell, the partially-fabricated battery cell comprising a substrate having a planar deposition surface consisting of a first face of the substrate and a first battery component layer provided on the planar deposition surface, the substrate having a plurality of further surfaces, the planar deposition surface and the plurality of further surfaces defining the body of the substrate therebetween; wherein: the first battery component layer contains charge-carrying metal species and has an exposed surface; one or more electrically conductive or semi-conductive pathways extend through at least a portion of the substrate, each of the one or more pathways connecting the planar deposition surface to one of the plurality of further surfaces; and the partially-fabricated battery cell is held in position within a deposition chamber by a holding structure and each site of connection between one of the one or more pathways and the holding structure is electrically insulating; the method further comprising the step of depositing a second battery component layer on the first battery component layer, wherein the depositing comprises forming a plasma within the deposition chamber.

A method may produce a ceramic part with a mother-of-pearl effect, in particular for watchmaking. Such methods may include: forming a ceramic body; depositing a layer of an oxy-nitride component of the OxNy type on at least a portion of the ceramic body; and oxidizing at least a portion of the oxy-nitride layer, preferably by heating.

A novel oxide semiconductor, a novel oxynitride semiconductor, a transistor including them, or a novel sputtering target is provided. A composite target includes a first region and a second region. The first region includes an insulating material and the second region includes a conductive material. The first region and the second region each include a microcrystal whose diameter is greater than or equal to 0.5 nm and less than or equal to 3 nm or a value in the neighborhood thereof. A semiconductor film is formed using the composite target.

A component of a turbine, in particular a gas turbine, wherein the component has a coating for increasing the erosion and corrosion resistance, wherein the coating is preferably applied directly to the component, wherein the coating consists of a functional layer and an intermediate layer, wherein the intermediate layer is arranged between the turbine blade substrate and the functional layer and wherein the functional layer consists of the elements Al, Cr, O and N.

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 coated sliding parts having coating systems which allow better sliding performance under dry and/or under lubricated conditions. The coating systems according to the present invention being characterized by having an outermost layer which—is a smooth oxide-containing layer in case of sliding applications under lubricated conditions, or—is a self-lubricated layer comprising molybdenum nitride, in case of sliding applications under dry or lubricated conditions, is a self lubricated layer with a structured surface comprising a multitude of essentially circular recesses with diameters of several micrometers or below, the recesses randomly distributed over the surface.

A decorative member including: a color developing layer including a light reflective layer and a light absorbing layer provided on the light reflective layer; and a substrate provided on a surface of the color developing layer. The substrate comprises a pattern layer, and the light absorbing layer comprises silicon (Si).

Provided is a carrier-attached metal foil which can suppress the number of foreign matter particles on the surface of a metal layer to enhance circuit formability, and can keep stable releasability even after heating at a high temperature of 240° C. or higher (for example, 260° C.) for a long period of time. The carrier-attached metal foil includes a carrier, a release functional layer provided on the carrier, the release functional layer including a metal oxynitride, and a metal layer provided on the release functional layer.

Disclosed herein are coated articles which may include a substrate and an optical coating that includes one or more layers of deposited material. At least a portion of the optical coating may include a residual compressive stress of more than 100 MPa. The coated article may include a strain-to-failure of 0.4% or more as measured by a Ring-on-Ring Tensile Testing Procedure. The optical coating may include a maximum hardness of 8 GPa or more and an average photopic transmission of 50% or greater.

A window includes a base layer, and an inorganic film disposed directly on at least one selected from an upper surface and a lower surface of the base layer, where the inorganic film includes at least one selected from silicon oxy carbide, silicon oxy carbonitride, and silicon oxide.