To provide a piston ring comprising a hard carbon film that is easy to form and exhibits excellent wear resistance. The above-described problem is solved by having a hard carbon film 4 formed on at least an outer peripheral sliding surface 11 of a piston ring base material 1, wherein the hard carbon film 4 is a laminated film comprising a plurality of layers, and is configured so as to contain boron within a range of an atomic density of 0.210.sup.22 atoms/cm.sup.3 to 2.010.sup.22 atoms/cm.sup.3 inclusive. This hard carbon film 4 may be configured to have an sp.sup.2 component ratio within a range of 40% to 80% inclusive, measured in a TEM-EELS spectrum formed by combining electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) with a transmission electron microscope (TEM), and a hydrogen content within a range of 0.1 atom % to 5 atom % inclusive. Further, a total thickness of this hard carbon film 4 may be configured to be within a range of 0.5 m to 20 m inclusive.

The invention relates to a coated body and to a method for coating a body. The coated body comprises at least a substrate (22), a diamond layer (24) having a thickness of 1-40 m, and a hard material layer (26), which is arranged farther outside on the body (10) than the diamond layer (24). The hard material layer (26) comprises at least one metal element and at least one non-metal element. An adhesive layer (32) having a thickness of 2-80 nm is provided between the diamond layer (24) and the hard material layer (26). The adhesive layer (32) contains carbon and at least one metal element. The diamond layer (24) can be applied by means of a CVD method. The hard material layer can be applied by means of a PVD method. The adhesive layer (32) between the diamond layer (24) and the hard material layer (26) can be produced in that, before the hard material layer (26) is applied, the surface of the diamond layer (24) is pretreated by means of HIPIMS metal ion etching, wherein ions are implanted into or diffuse into the surface of the diamond layer (24) by means of metal ion etching.

An AlFe alloy coated steel sheet includes a base steel sheet and an alloy coating layer, wherein the base steel sheet includes, by wt %, C: 0.1%0.5%, Si: 0.01%2%, Mn: 0.01%10%, P: 0.001%0.05%, S: 0.0001%0.02%, Al: 0.001%1.0%, N: 0.001%0.02%, and the balance of Fe and other impurities, wherein the alloy coating layer includes: an AlFe alloy layer I formed on the base steel sheet and having a Vickers hardness of 200800 Hv; an AlFe alloy layer III formed on the AlFe alloy layer I and having a Vickers hardness of 7001200 Hv; and an AlFe alloy layer II formed in the AlFe alloy layer III continuously or discontinuously in a length direction of the steel sheet, and having a Vickers hardness of 400900 Hv, wherein an average oxygen content at a depth of 0.1 m from a surface of the oxide layer is 20% or less by weight.

Embodiments described herein relate to methods and materials for fabricating semiconductor device structures. In one example, a metal film stack includes a plurality of metal containing films and a plurality of metal derived films arranged in an alternating manner. In another example, a metal film stack includes a plurality of metal containing films which are modified into metal derived films. In certain embodiments, the metal film stacks are used in oxide/metal/oxide/metal (OMOM) structures for memory devices.

A coated cutting tool comprising a substrate and a coating layer formed on the substrate, wherein: the coating layer includes a first composite nitride layer containing a compound having a composition represented by (Al.sub.xCr.sub.1-x)N, and a second composite nitride layer containing a compound having a composition represented by (Al.sub.yCr.sub.1-y)N; an average particle size of particles which constitute of the first composite nitride layer is less than 100 nm; the second composite nitride layer comprises a cubic crystal system, and a ratio I(111)/I(200) of a peak intensity I(111) for a (111) plane to a peak intensity I(200) for a (200) plane in the second composite nitride layer is 1.0 or more; an average particle size of particles which constitute of the second composite nitride layer is 100 nm or more; and a residual stress of the second composite nitride layer is from 10.0 GPa or higher to 2.0 GPa or lower.

A surface-coated cutting tool includes a substrate and a coating formed on a surface of the substrate, the coating including one or two or more layers, at least one of the layers being an Al-rich layer including hard particles, the hard particle having a sodium chloride type crystal structure, and including a first unit phase in a form of a plurality of lumps and a second unit phase interposed between the lumps of the first unit phase, the first unit phase being composed of a nitride or carbonitride of Al.sub.xTi.sub.1-x, the first unit phase having an atomic ratio x of Al of 0.7 or more and 0.96 or less, the second unit phase being composed of a nitride or carbonitride of Al.sub.yTi.sub.1-y, the second unit phase having an atomic ratio y of Al exceeding 0.5 and less than 0.7.

In one embodiment, a method for forming an alkali resistant coating includes forming a first oxide material above a substrate and forming a second oxide material above the first oxide material to form a multilayer dielectric coating, wherein the second oxide material is on a side of the multilayer dielectric coating for contacting an alkali. In another embodiment, a method for forming an alkali resistant coating includes forming two or more alternating layers of high and low refractive index oxide materials above a substrate, wherein an innermost layer of the two or more alternating layers is on an alkali-contacting side of the alkali resistant coating, and wherein the innermost layer of the two or more alternating layers comprises at least one of: alumina, zirconia, and hafnia.

An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask blank production system includes: a substrate handling vacuum chamber for creating a vacuum; a substrate handling platform, in the vacuum, for transporting an ultra-low expansion substrate loaded in the substrate handling vacuum chamber; and multiple sub-chambers, accessed by the substrate handling platform, for forming an EUV mask blank includes: a multi-layer stack, formed above the ultra-low expansion substrate, for reflecting an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light, and an absorber layer, formed above the multi-layer stack, for absorbing the EUV light at a wavelength of 13.5 nm includes the absorber layer has a thickness of less than 80 nm and less than 2% reflectivity.

An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask blank production system includes: a substrate handling vacuum chamber for creating a vacuum; a substrate handling platform, in the vacuum, for transporting an ultra-low expansion substrate loaded in the substrate handling vacuum chamber; and multiple sub-chambers, accessed by the substrate handling platform, for forming an EUV mask blank includes: a multi-layer stack, formed above the ultra-low expansion substrate, for reflecting an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light, and an absorber layer, formed above the multi-layer stack, for absorbing the EUV light at a wavelength of 13.5 nm includes the absorber layer has a thickness of less than 80 nm and less than 2% reflectivity.

Embodiments described herein generally relate to methods of manufacturing an oxide/polysilicon (OP) stack of a 3D memory cell for memory devices, such as NAND devices. The methods generally include treatment of the oxide and/or polysilicon materials with precursors during PECVD processes to lower the dielectric constant of the oxide and reduce the resistivity of the polysilicon. In one embodiment, the oxide material is treated with octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS) precursor. In another embodiment, germane (GeH.sub.4) is introduced to a PECVD process to form Si.sub.xGe.sub.(1-x) films with dopant. In yet another embodiment, a plasma treatment process is used to nitridate the interface between layers of the OP stack. The precursors and plasma treatment may be used alone or in any combination to produce OP stacks with low dielectric constant oxide and low resistivity polysilicon.