A substrate is coated with a multi-layer coating, comprising in order: (i) a first functional layer comprising ta-C, (ii) a second functional layer comprising ta-C, (iii) (a) a third functional layer comprising ta-C and a first intermediate layer comprising a carbide of a first element, or (b) a first intermediate layer comprising a carbide of a first element, and a second intermediate layer comprising the first element, wherein the ta-C has a hydrogen content less than 10% and an sp2 content less than 30%; wherein (i) the Young's modulus or (ii) the hardness or (iii) both the Young's modulus and the hardness independently stay the same or increase from layer to layer in (iii) (a) from the first intermediate layer to the first functional layer, or in (iii) (b) from the second intermediate layer to the first functional layer.

A method of forming a silicon nitride film on a substrate in a vacuum vessel, includes forming the silicon nitride film by depositing a layer of reaction product by repeating a cycle a plurality of times. The cycle includes a first process of supplying a gas of a silicon raw material to the substrate to adsorb the silicon raw material to the substrate, subsequently, a second process of supplying a gas of ammonia in a non-plasma state to the substrate to physically adsorb the gas of the ammonia to the substrate, and subsequently, a third process of supplying active species obtained by converting a plasma forming gas containing a hydrogen gas for forming plasma into plasma to the substrate and causing the ammonia physically adsorbed to the substrate to react with the silicon raw material to form the layer of reaction product.

In a method for coating a sliding element, in particular a piston ring or a cylinder liner of an internal combustion engine, DLC phases are embedded into a hard material layer as said hard material layer is deposited. A sliding element, such as a piston ring or a cylinder liner of an internal combustion engine, comprises a hard material layer with embedded DLC phases.

An orthopaedic implant can replace a joint in a patient. The orthopaedic implant includes a first component having a first component surface and a second component having a second component surface. The first component surface and the second component surface mate at an interface. The first component surface includes a metal substrate, a nanotextured surface, a ceramic coating, and a transition zone. The nanotextured surface is disposed directly upon the metal substrate and has surface features in a size of 10.sup.−9 meters. The ceramic coating conforms to the nanotextured surface and includes a plurality of bio-active sites configured to attract and retain calcium and phosphorous cations. The transition zone is disposed between the metal substrate and the ceramic coating. The transition zone includes a concentration gradient transitioning from the metal substrate to the ceramic coating and there is no distinct interface between the metal substrate and the ceramic coating.

A sliding element for use in an internal combustion engine may include a ferrous base having a peripheral sliding surface covered by a protective surface layer, the protective surface layer including at least one nitride applied via at least one of physical vapour deposition and a nitrided layer. The peripheral sliding surface may have a diamond like carbon (DLC) coating disposed thereon. The coating may include at least one of (a) one or more transition layers composed of WC1-x and (b) an adhesive layer of metallic chromium with a crystal structure. The coating may include an intermediate layer of metal DLC, the metal may be tungsten in a multilayer structure of a-C:H:W and a-C:H, and an outer layer of metal-free DLC.

The invention provides substrates with a multi-layer coating, comprising in order: i) the substrate; ii) a seed layer; ill) a barrier layer deposited via a CVD method; and iv) a functional layer deposited via a PVD method, and methods of making such coatings. The coatings of the invention have been shown to possess good resistance to corrosion.

A method for manufacturing an alumina-based layer structure having transition regions between layers is disclosed. The method may include ion milling a stainless steel structure surface to partially reduce a metal oxide layer from, and create an exposed portion of, the surface. The method may include oxidizing the exposed portion of the surface to form a crystallized metal oxide bonding layer, growing a crystallized alumina layer onto the metal oxide bonding layer, and diffusing metal from the surface into the crystallized alumina layer, to form a graded aluminate spinel layer. The method may include forming a first transition region from the graded aluminate spinel layer to a crystalline alumina layer, growing the crystalline alumina layer from the first transition region, forming a second transition region from the crystalline alumina layer to an amorphous alumina layer, and growing the amorphous alumina layer from the second transition region.

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.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the fabrication of integrated circuits. More particularly, the embodiments described herein provide techniques for depositing high-density films for patterning applications. In one or more embodiments, a method of processing a substrate is provided and includes flowing a deposition gas containing a hydrocarbon compound and a dopant compound into a processing volume of a process chamber having a substrate positioned on an electrostatic chuck, where the processing volume is maintained at a pressure of about 0.5 mTorr to about 10 Torr. The method also includes generating a plasma at the substrate by applying a first RF bias to the electrostatic chuck to deposit a doped diamond-like carbon film on the substrate, where the doped diamond-like carbon film has a density of greater than 2 g/cc and a stress of less than −500 MPa.

The invention relates to a workpiece carrier device (1) for holding and moving workpieces (15), having: a workpiece carrier (2) for receiving workpieces (15), which is mounted on a main frame (4) so as to rotate about an axis (3); a drive part, which can likewise rotate about the axis (3) relative to the workpiece carrier (2); and multiple workpiece holders (5), which are arranged on the workpiece carrier (2) in a ring around the drive axis and are mounted on the workpiece carrier (2) so as to rotate about holder axes (6) which are spaced from the drive axis. The holder axes (6) run in such a way in relation to the axis (3) that the workpiece holders (5) form a conical crown arrangement (7). The invention further relates to a coating method using the workpiece carrier device (1) according to the invention and to workpieces or substrates (15) coated by means of the coating method (e.g, pins, pen injectors, balls, ball pins, pistons, nozzle needles etc.).