A method for producing an Al—Cr—O-based coating on a workpiece surface, including: a) placing a workpiece in an interior of a vacuum chamber, and b) depositing a film comprising aluminum and chromium on the workpiece surface to be coated, wherein a ratio of aluminum to chromium in the film in atomic percentage has a first value corresponding to Al/Cr≤2.3, and c) forming volatile compounds of Cr—O, thereby causing at least part of the chromium contained in the film to leave the film in a form of Cr—O volatile compounds, and d) executing step c) during a period of time, within which the chromium content in the film is reduced until attaining a second value of the ratio of aluminum to chromium in the film in atomic percentage corresponding to Al/Cr≥3.5, thereby the film is transformed into a film containing a reduced content of chromium.

A film forming apparatus includes: a processing container; a substrate holder that holds the substrate in the processing container; and a target assembly disposed in an upper side of the substrate holder. The target assembly includes: a target made of metal, including a main body and a flange provided around the main body, and emitting sputter particles from the main body; a target holder including a target electrode configured to supply power to the target, and holding the target; a target clamp that clamps the flange of the target to the target holder; and an anti-deposition shield provided around the main body of the target to cover the flange, the target clamp, and the target holder, and having a labyrinth structure in which an inner tip end thereof is disposed to enter a recess between the main body of the target and the target clamp.

The present invention relates to a method of forming a plasma resistant oxyfluoride coating layer, including: mounting a substrate on a substrate holder provided in a chamber; causing an electron beam scanned from an electron gun to be incident on an oxide evaporation source accommodated in a first crucible, and heating, melting, and vaporizing the oxide evaporation source as the electron beam is incident on the oxide evaporation source; vaporizing a fluoride accommodated in a second crucible; and advancing an evaporation gas generated from the oxide evaporation source and a fluorine-containing gas generated from the fluoride toward the substrate, and reacting the evaporation gas generated from the oxide evaporation source and the fluorine-containing gas generated from the fluoride to deposit an oxyfluoride on the substrate. According to the present invention, it is possible to form a dense and stable oxyfluoride coating layer having excellent plasma resistance, suppressed generation of contaminant particles, and no cracks.

Methods for depositing a dielectric oxide layer atop one or more substrates disposed in or processed through a PVD chamber are provided herein. In some embodiments, such a method includes: sputtering source material from a target assembly onto a first substrate while the source material is at a first erosion state and while providing a first amount of RF power to the target assembly to deposit a dielectric oxide layer onto a first substrate having a desired resistance-area; and subsequently sputtering source material from the target assembly onto a second substrate while the source material is at a second erosion state and while providing a second amount of RF power to the target assembly, wherein the second amount of RF power is lower than the first amount of RF power by a predetermined amount calculated to maintain the desired resistance-area.

A method to transfer a layer of harder thin film substrate onto a softer, flexible substrate. In particular, the present invention provides a method to deposit a layer of sapphire thin film on to a softer and flexible substrate e.g. quartz, fused silica, silicon, glass, toughened glass, PET, polymers, plastics, paper and fabrics. This combination provides the hardness of sapphire thin film to softer flexible substrates.

A thin aluminum film substrate and microarrays thereof including a substrate and a thin film of aluminum deposited on the substrate for surface plasmon resonance analysis. Methods of forming the thin aluminum film substrate and microarrays including providing a substrate, using electron-beam physical vapor deposition (EBPVD) to deposit a thin film of Al on a surface of the substrate. Also disclosed are methods of detecting an analyte, wherein a functionalized surface of the thin aluminum film includes a biomolecule and the methods include applying a sample including the analyte to the thin aluminum film substrate, and using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy to detect molecular interactions between the biomolecule and the analyte at a surface of the thin aluminum film substrate. In some examples, an unmodified Al film with an Al.sub.2O.sub.3 layer is effective in enriching phosphorylated peptides. In some examples, a coating of an ionic polymer is used to analyze charged-based interactions of biomolecules.

The invention refers to negative electrode plate, preparation method thereof and electrochemical device. The negative electrode plate comprises: a negative current collector, a negative active material layer, and an inorganic dielectric layer which are provided in a stacked manner; the negative active material layer comprises opposite first surface and second surface, wherein the first surface is disposed away from the negative current collector; the inorganic dielectric layer is disposed on the first surface of the negative active material layer and consists of an inorganic dielectric material. The negative electrode plate provided by the application is useful in an electrochemical device, and can result in an electrochemical device having simultaneously excellent safety performance and cycle performance.

There is provided a method of making a curved barrier film, including: depositing a barrier layer between a first organic layer and a second organic layer to form a barrier film; and thermoforming or vacuum-forming the barrier film from a flat barrier film to a curved barrier film; wherein the barrier film includes the barrier layer having two opposing major surfaces, wherein the barrier layer includes buckling deformations and non-buckling regions; the first organic layer in direct contact with one of the opposing major surfaces of the barrier layer; and the second organic layer in direct contact with the other of the opposing major surfaces of the barrier layer.

A wire grid polarizer (WGP) can have a conformal-coating to protect the WGP from at least one of the following: corrosion, dust, and damage due to tensile forces in a liquid on the WGP. The conformal-coating can include a silane conformal-coating with chemical formula (1), chemical formula (2), or combinations thereof: ##STR00001##
A method of applying a conformal-coating over a WGP can include exposing the WGP to Si(R.sup.1).sub.d(R.sup.2).sub.e(R.sup.3).sub.g. In the above WGP and method, X can be a bond to the ribs; each R.sup.1 can be a hydrophobic group; each R.sup.3, if any, can be any chemical element or group; d can be 1, 2, or 3, e can be 1, 2, or 3, g can be 0, 1, or 2, and d+e+g=4; R.sup.2 can be a silane-reactive-group; and each R.sup.6 can be an alkyl group, an aryl group, or combinations thereof.

The present invention relates to a cutting tool consisting of a hard base material, such as cemented carbide, cermet, ceramic, and cubic boron nitride, and a hard coating film formed on the hard base material. In the cutting tool according to the present invention, the hard coating film, which is composed of a monolayer or multilayer structure, is formed on a base material, wherein the hard coating film comprises a layer composed of an oxide, wherein in the layer composed of an oxide, the oxygen content of an edge center of the cutting tool is higher than the oxygen content in an area distanced from the edge center by 50 μm or more.