A physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber and a method of operation thereof are disclosed. Chambers and methods are described that provide a chamber comprising an upper shield with two holes that are positioned to permit alternate sputtering from two targets.

Embodiments described and discussed herein provide methods for selectively depositing a metal oxides on a substrate. In one or more embodiments, methods for forming a metal oxide material includes positioning a substrate within a processing chamber, where the substrate has passivated and non-passivated surfaces, exposing the substrate to a first metal alkoxide precursor to selectively deposit a first metal oxide layer on or over the non-passivated surface, and exposing the substrate to a second metal alkoxide precursor to selectively deposit a second metal oxide layer on the first metal oxide layer. The method also includes sequentially repeating exposing the substrate to the first and second metal alkoxide precursors to produce a laminate film containing alternating layers of the first and second metal oxide layers. Each of the first and second metal alkoxide precursors contain different types of metals which are selected from titanium, zirconium, hafnium, aluminum, or lanthanum.

The present disclosure appropriately shortens a processing step for processing a substrate in which a silicon layer and a silicon germanium layer are alternatively laminated. The present disclosure provides a substrate processing method of processing the substrate in which the silicon layer and the silicon germanium layer are alternatively laminated, which includes forming an oxide film by selectively modifying a surface layer of an exposed surface of the silicon germanium layer by using a processing gas including fluorine and oxygen and converted into plasma.

The present disclosure relates to a structural coating and preparation method and use thereof. The structural coating provided in the present disclosure includes a titanium transition layer and platinum-hafnium composite structure layers laminated in sequence on a surface of a substrate; the number of the platinum-hafnium composite structure layer is ≥3; the platinum-hafnium composite structure layer includes a hafnium layer and a platinum layer laminated in sequence.

The coated cutting tool comprises a substrate and a coating layer formed on a surface of the substrate, the coating layer comprises an alternating laminate structure in which two or more first layers and two or more second layers are alternately laminated, the first layer is a compound layer containing Ti(C.sub.aN.sub.1-a), the second layer is a compound layer containing (Ti.sub.xAl.sub.1-x)(C.sub.yN.sub.1-y), an average thickness per layer of each of the first layers and the second layers in the alternating laminate structure is 3 nm or more and 300 nm or less, and an average thickness of the alternating laminate structure is 1.0 μm or more and 8.0 μm or less.

To provide a sliding member comprising a coating film exhibiting constant and stable chipping resistance and wear resistance and excellent in peeling resistance (adhesion), and the coating film thereof. The above-described problem is solved by a sliding member (10) comprising a coating film (1) on a sliding surface (16) on a base material (11). The coating film (1) has, when a cross section thereof is observed by a bright-field TEM image, a total thickness within a range of 1 μm to 50 μm, in repeating units including black hard carbon layers (B), relatively shown in black, and white hard carbon layers (W), relatively shown in white, and laminated in a thickness direction (Y). In the black hard carbon layer (B) and the white hard carbon layer (W) adjacent to each other, the white hard carbon layer (W) has higher hardness and a larger [sp.sup.2/(sp.sup.2+sp.sup.3)] ratio than the black hard carbon layer (B).

A cutting tool incudes a substrate and a coating that coats a surface of the substrate, the coating including a multilayer structure layer composed of at least one layer A and at least one layer B alternately deposited from a side closer to the substrate toward a side closer to a surface, the layer A having an average composition of Al.sub.xCr.sub.(1-x)N, the layer B being composed of Ti.sub.yAl.sub.zSi.sub.(1-y-z)N, the layer A being composed of a domain region and a matrix region, the domain region having a composition ratio of Cr larger than that of Cr of the matrix region, wherein x has a range of 0.5≤x≤0.8, y has a range of 0.5≤y<0.71, z has a range of 0.29≤z<0.5, and 1−y−z has a range of 0<1−y−z≤0.1.

This invention is directed to a corrosion-resistant permanent magnet, to a method for producing a corrosion-resistant permanent magnet, and to an intravascular blood pump comprising the magnet. The magnet is surrounded by a composite coating, the composite coating comprising, in the order recited, a first metal oxide layer, a metal layer, a second metal oxide layer, a linker layer, and a layer formed from poly(2-chloro-p-xylylene). In an alternative embodiment, a further metal layer and, optionally, a further metal oxide layer may be provided between the second metal oxide layer and the linker layer. In a further alternative embodiment, the metal layer may be omitted, and a further layer structure comprising at least one metal oxide layer, a linker layer, and a layer formed from poly(2-chloro-p-xylylene) may be provided instead.

The invention is related to a soft-magnetic powder comprising coated particles, the coated particles comprising a core and a shell, the core having an average particle size D.sub.50 in a range from 0.1 μm to 100 μm and comprising iron, wherein the shell has a thickness of not more than 20 nm and comprises at least two solid oxides and wherein the shell comprises at least three layers and the shell comprises more than one layers of a first solid oxide and at least one layer of a second solid oxide, wherein the more than one layers of the first solid oxide and the at least one layer of the second solid oxide are arranged in an alternating manner. The invention is further related to a process for the production of the soft-magnetic powder, a use of the soft-magnetic powder and an electronic component comprising the soft-magnetic powder.

Provided is a coated cutting tool having a base material side single layer portion and a laminated portion provided as a hard coating in order from a base material side. The base material side single layer portion is formed of a nitride-based hard coating in which a proportion of Al is highest among metal (including metalloid) elements, a sum of Al and Cr in a content ratio (atomic ratio) is 0.9 or more, and at least B is contained. In the laminated portion, a nitride-based a layer in which a proportion of Ti is highest among metal (including metalloid) elements and at least B is contained, and a nitride-based b layer in which a proportion of Al is highest among metal (including metalloid) elements and at least Cr and B are contained are alternately laminated.