Coated forming tool for processing of plastics materials or aluminum or aluminum alloy materials, comprising a substrate having a substrate surface, wherein the substrate surface is coated with a coating formed of one or more layers, wherein the coating comprises a Si—C—N-based layer having element composition in atomic percentage corresponding to Si.sub.aC.sub.bN.sub.cX.sub.d with 50<a+b+c≤100, 0≤d<60, preferably 0≤d<50, wherein X is one or more elements selected from the elements hydrogen, oxygen, titanium, chromium, and/or aluminum.

A coated cutting tool comprising a substrate containing a cubic boron nitride-containing sintered body, and a coating layer formed on the substrate, wherein the coating layer comprises a lowermost layer and an alternating laminate structure in this order, the lowermost layer comprises (Al.sub.1-xCr.sub.x)N, an average thickness of the lowermost layer is 0.01 μm or more and 0.2 μm or less, the alternating laminate structure includes mutually different two kinds of compound layers of a first compound layer containing (Al.sub.1-y1Cr.sub.y1)N and a second compound layer containing (Al.sub.1-y2Cr.sub.y2)N alternately laminated repeatedly twice or more, an average thickness of the entire alternating laminate structure is 0.1 μm or more and 1.2 μm or less, an average thickness of the entire coating layer is 0.2 μm or more and 1.3 μm or less, and a compressive residual stress at the cubic crystal (111) plane is 3.0 GPa or less.

An interference layer system includes a plurality of optically transparent layers. The interference layer system has no carrier substrate and the optically transparent layers are disposed extensively over one another. The optically transparent layers are selected from the group consisting of dielectrics, metals, and combinations thereof, with at least one first optically transparent layer having a refractive index n.sub.1 and at least one second optically transparent layer having a refractive index n.sub.2, and with the first refractive index n.sub.1 and the second refractive index n.sub.2 differing by at least 0.1. The disclosure further relates to the production and the use of the interference layer system.

A sliding member (10) including a coating film (1) composed of a hard carbon layer on a sliding surface (16) of a base material (11). The coating film has, when a cross section thereof is observed by a bright-field TEM image, a thickness within a range of 1 μm to 50 μm, and is configured by 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, and comprise an inclined region, provided on a base material side, where thicknesses of white hard carbon layers (W) of the repeating units gradually increase in a thickness direction, and a homogeneous region\, provided on a surface side of the sliding member, where thicknesses of the white hard carbon layers (W) of the repeating units are the same or substantially the same in the thickness direction.

A surface-coated cutting tool includes a substrate and a coating film that coats the substrate, wherein the coating film includes a hard coating layer constituted of a domain region and a matrix region, the domain region is a region having a plurality of portions divided and distributed in the matrix region, the domain region has a structure in which a first layer composed of a first Al.sub.x1Ti.sub.(1-x1) compound and a second layer composed of a second Al.sub.x2Ti.sub.(1-x2) compound are layered on each other, the matrix region has a structure in which a third layer composed of a third Al.sub.x3Ti.sub.(1-x3) compound and a fourth layer composed of a fourth Al.sub.x4Ti.sub.(1-x4) compound are layered on each other, the first AlTi compound, the second AlTi compound and the fourth AlTi compound have a cubic crystal structure, the third AlTi compound has a hexagonal crystal structure.

A surface coated cutting tool comprises a base material and a coating layer that coats the base material, the coating layer including an alternate layer composed of a first unit layer and a second unit layer alternately stacked, the first unit layer being composed of a nitride containing aluminum and zirconium, in the first unit layer, when the total number of metal atoms constituting the first unit layer is represented as 1, a ratio thereto of the number of atoms of the zirconium being not less than 0.65 and not more than 0.95, the second unit layer being composed of a nitride containing titanium and aluminum, in the second unit layer, when the total number of metal atoms constituting the second unit layer is represented as 1, a ratio thereto of the number of atoms of the aluminum being larger than 0.40 and not more than 0.70.

Provided is a coated cutting tool, which includes a hard coating film containing a layer (b) formed of a nitride or a carbonitride, a layer (c) which is a layered coating film formed by alternately layering a nitride or carbonitride layer (c1) that contains 55 atom % or more and 75 atom % or less of Al, Cr having a second highest content percentage, and at least Si and a nitride or carbonitride layer (c2) that contains 55 atom % or more and 75 atom % or less of Al and Ti having a second highest content, and a layer (d) that is a nitride or carbonitride that contains, with respect to a total amount of metal elements (including metalloid elements), 55 atom % or more and 75 atom % or less of Al and Ti having a second highest content percentage, the content percentage of Ti being 20 atom % or more.

Provided is a coated cutting tool having improved wear resistance and fracture resistance and a long tool life. The coated cutting tool includes a substrate, and a coating layer formed on a surface of the substrate. The coating layer has a laminated structure in which a first layer and a second layer are alternately laminated for one or more layers. The first layer is a compound layer having a composition represented by Ti(C.sub.xN.sub.1-x). The second layer is a compound layer having a composition represented by (Ti.sub.yAl.sub.1-y)N. The laminated structure includes first to third laminated structures in this order from a substrate side to a surface side of the coating layer. An average thickness per layer of each of the first layer and the second layer in the first to third laminated structures is in a specific range. An average thickness of the first to third laminated structures is in a specific range.

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 structures, or different crystalline orientations, or different compositions, or a combination thereof to provide different nanoindentation hardness. The first coating has a hardness lower than that of the second coating.

A sliding member of the present invention includes a base material and a coating layer that is formed on the base material. The coating layer includes a particle aggregate, and the particle aggregate contains two or more kinds of precipitation hardened copper alloy particles that have different compositions. The sliding member has high coating strength and superior wear resistance.