A sliding member including a coating film in a sliding surface on a base material. The coating film includes, when a cross section thereof is observed by a bright-field TEM image, a laminated part configured by laminating, in a thickness direction, repeating units including black hard carbon layers and white hard carbon layers and a surface layer part composed of a white hard carbon layer provided on the laminated part. A Vickers hardness of the black hard carbon layer is within a range of 700 to 1600 HV, a Vickers hardness of the white hard carbon layer is higher than a Vickers hardness of the black hard carbon layer adjacent thereto and within a range of 1200 to 2200 HV, and a Vickers hardness of the surface layer part is lower than the Vickers hardness of the white hard carbon layer and within a range of 800 to 1200 HV.

The invention relates to the field of materials engineering and relates to an AlN-based hard material layer on bodies of metal, hard metal, cermet or ceramics and to a method for the production thereof. The aim of the invention is to provide an AlN hard material layer which has improved hardness and wear resistance and can be produced in an inexpensive and time-efficient manner. According to the invention, an AlN-based hard material layer is provided, which is an individual layer or a multi-layered layer system, wherein at least the one layer or at least one layer of the multi-layered layer system is an AlN-based hard material layer with a hexagonal lattice structure that has a <002> texture and is oxygen-doped, wherein the oxygen doping is in the range of 0.01 at. % to 15 at. %. The hard material layer can be used as a wear-protection layer for cutting tools.

Semiconductor fabrication component preparation methods are described. In embodiments, the methods include forming a first layer on a surface of the semiconductor fabrication component. The first layer is characterized by a porosity of greater than or about 0.01 vol. %. The methods further include depositing a second layer on the first layer, where the second layer is characterized by a porosity of less than or about 20 vol. %. Treated semiconductor fabrication components are also described. In embodiments, the treated components include a first layer formed in the surface of the semiconductor fabrication component, where the first layer is characterized by a porosity of greater than or about 0.01 vol. %., and a second layer positioned on the first layer, where the second layer is characterized by a porosity of less than or about 20 vol. %.

The present disclosure relates to a coated substrate having a hard material coating, which comprises a hard carbon layer of the hydrogen-free amorphous carbon layer type, wherein the coating comprises a layer consisting of zirconium between the substrate and the hydrogen-free amorphous carbon layer; wherein between the layer consisting of zirconium and the hydrogen-free amorphous carbon layer, a layer consisting of ZrC.sub.x can be formed in which a zirconium monocarbide is formed; and the layer consisting of ZrC.sub.x and comprising zirconium monocarbide is applied directly to the adhesive layer consisting of zirconium.

Disclosed is a part including a metal substrate, a non-hydrogenated amorphous ta-C or aC carbon coating that coats the substrate, and an undercoat which is based on chromium (Cr), carbon (C) and silicon (Si) and is disposed between the metal substrate and the amorphous carbon coating and to which the amorphous carbon coating is applied, characterized in that the undercoat included, at its interface with the amorphous carbon coating, a ratio of silicon in atomic percent to chromium in atomic percent (Si/Cr) of 0.35 to 0.60, and a ratio of carbon in atomic percent to silicon in atomic percent (C/Si) of 2.5 to 3.5.

A multilayer structure includes: a base material made of an iron-based metal material; a nitride layer that is provided on a surface of the base material through a nitriding treatment performed to the base material; an intermediate layer provided on a surface of the nitride layer; and a DLC layer provided on a surface of the intermediate layer. The intermediate layer is made of Si.sub.3N.sub.4, and the DLC layer has a thickness of 2 m to 10 m.

Nano-multilayered coatings and fabrication methods are disclosed. By exemplary disclosure, a nano-multilayered coating fabricated from sequential depositions on a substrate from an atmospheric-plasma chemical vapor deposition (AP-CVD) source is disclosed. The coating includes a vapor precursor fed to the deposition source, an amorphous oxide layer deposited from the deposition source onto the substrate, and a nanoparticle layer deposited onto the substrate on top of the amorphous oxide layer. A nano-multilayered coating of the amorphous oxide and nanoparticle layers is fabricated from alternating deposition coatings of the amorphous oxide layer and the nanoparticle layer onto the substrate two or more times.

A cutting tool has a substrate. A surface of the substrate for the cutting tool is covered with a hard film. In the cutting tool, the hard film has a root-mean-square slope Rq in a surface of the hard film of 0.060 or less.

A piston ring is provided with is furnished with a diamond-like carbon (DLC) layer as a functional/wear protection layer, wherein the DLC layer is covered with a protective layer, the material of which differs from that of the DLC layer, and the material of which has higher thermal resistance that the material of the DLC layer. In addition, a method is provided for producing a piston ring with a DLC wear protection layer, in whose surface the protective layer is present in the form of deposits in depressions created by the surface roughness.

A protective coating layer, an electronic device including such a protective coating layer, and the methods of making the same are provided. The electronic device includes a substrate, a thin film circuit layer disposed over the substrate, and a protective coating layer disposed over the thin film circuit layer. The protective coating layer includes a first coating and a second coating disposed over the first coating. Each coating has a cross-plane thermal conductivity in a direction normal to a respective coating surface equal to or higher than 0.5 W/(m*K). The first coating and the second coating have different crystal or amorphous structures, different crystalline orientations, different compositions, or a combination thereof to provide different nanoindentation hardness. The first coating has a hardness lower than that of the second coating.