Provided is a MgAl.sub.2O.sub.4 sintered body, which includes a relative density of the MgAl.sub.2O.sub.4 sintered body being 90% or higher, and an L* value in a L*a*b* color system being 90 or more. A method of producing a MgAl.sub.2O.sub.4 sintered body is characterized by that a MgAl.sub.2O.sub.4 powder is hot pressed at 1150 to 1300° C., and is thereafter subjected to atmospheric sintering at 1350° C. or higher. Embodiments of the present invention address the issue of providing a high density and white MgAl.sub.2O.sub.4 sintered body and a sputtering target using the sintered body, and a method of producing a MgAl.sub.2O.sub.4 sintered body.

A method of bonding transparent substrates is provided, comprising: preparing a pair of transparent substrates; forming a thin film of aluminum oxide by a sputtering method, on a bonding surface of the transparent substrates; contacting the aluminum oxide thin films in the air to bond the pair of transparent substrates; and heating the bonded pair of transparent substrates.

A film contains a fluororesin, a chromatic pigment, and a black pigment, in which a visible light transmittance of the film is from 5 to 60% and a haze value of the film is 30% or less.

A MgO layer is formed using a process flow wherein a Mg layer is deposited at a temperature <200° C. on a substrate, and then an anneal between 200° C. and 900° C., and preferably from 200° C. and 400° C., is performed so that a Mg vapor pressure >10.sup.−6 Torr is reached and a substantial portion of the Mg layer sublimes and leaves a Mg monolayer. After an oxidation between −223° C. and 900° C., a MgO monolayer is produced where the Mg:O ratio is exactly 1:1 thereby avoiding underoxidized or overoxidized states associated with film defects. The process flow may be repeated one or more times to yield a desired thickness and resistance×area value when the MgO is a tunnel barrier or Hk enhancing layer. Moreover, a doping element (M) may be added during Mg deposition to modify the conductivity and band structure in the resulting MgMO layer.

Electrochromic devices and methods may employ the addition of a defect-mitigating insulating layer which prevents electronically conducting layers and/or electrochromically active layers from contacting layers of the opposite polarity and creating a short circuit in regions where defects form. In some embodiments, an encapsulating layer is provided to encapsulate particles and prevent them from ejecting from the device stack and risking a short circuit when subsequent layers are deposited. The insulating layer may have an electronic resistivity of between about 1 and 10.sup.8 Ohm-cm. In some embodiments, the insulating layer contains one or more of the following metal oxides: aluminum oxide, zinc oxide, tin oxide, silicon aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, tungsten oxide, nickel tungsten oxide, and oxidized indium tin oxide. Carbides, nitrides, oxynitrides, and oxycarbides may also be used.

A component for a plasma processing apparatus includes a substrate and a film on at least a part of the substrate. The film includes an oxide, a fluoride, an oxyfluoride, or a nitride of a rare earth element. A ratio σ22/σ11 of a compressive stress σ11 to occur across a surface of the film to be exposed to plasma and a compressive stress σ22 to occur across the surface in a direction perpendicular to the compressive stress σ11 is 5 or less. A plasma processing apparatus includes the above component.

A coated article is described herein that may comprise a substrate and an optical coating. The substrate may have a major surface comprising a first portion and a second portion. A first direction that is normal to the first portion of the major surface may not be equal to a second direction that is normal to the second portion of the major surface. The optical coating may be disposed on at least the first portion and the second portion of the major surface. The coated article may exhibit at the first portion of the substrate and at the second portion of the substrate hardness of about 8 GPa or greater at an indentation depth of about 50 nm or greater as measured on the anti-reflective surface by a Berkovich Indenter Hardness Test.

Implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to separators, high performance electrochemical devices, such as, batteries and capacitors, including the aforementioned separators, and methods for fabricating the same. In one implementation, a method of forming a separator for a battery is provided. The method comprises exposing a metallic material to be deposited on a surface of an electrode structure positioned in a processing region to an evaporation process. The method further comprises flowing a reactive gas into the processing region. The method further comprises reacting the reactive gas and the evaporated metallic material to deposit a ceramic separator layer on the surface of the electrode structure.

Coated substrate comprising a substrate (1) comprising a metal substrate surface (11) coated with a coating system (7) consisting of or comprising a functional coating film (5), said functional coating film (5) consisting of or comprising at least one MCr Al—X coating layer, whereas ° the at least one MCr Al—X coating layer is deposited directly on the metal substrate (11), or ° the at least one MCr Al—X coating layer is deposited on an intermediate coating layer (3) that is formed of at least one substrate matching layer (31), wherein the at least one substrate matching layer (31) is deposited directly on the metal substrate surface (11), wherein the layer deposited directly on the metal substrate surface (11), it means respectively the MCr Al—X coating layer if it is deposited directly on the metal substrate surface (11) or the substrate matching layer (31) if it is deposited on the metal substrate surface (11) exhibits: ° epitaxial growth in part or totally, or ° heteroepitaxial growth in part or totally.

An alpha-alumina coated turbocharger turbine wheel includes a hub portion, a plurality of blades disposed about the hub portion, each blade of the plurality of blades having a leading edge and a trailing edge, a centerline passing axially through the hub portion, and a back-side wall defined radially between the leading edge of each blade of the plurality of blades and the centerline. The turbocharger turbine wheel is made of a metal alloy and a surface coating layer of alpha-alumina. The surface coating layer of alpha-alumina may be disposed only on the hub portion, the plurality of blades, and a radially-outer portion of the back-side wall. The radially-outer portion is defined between a radial distance from the centerline and the leading edge of each blade of the plurality of blades. Alternatively, the surface coating layer of alpha-alumina may be disposed on the hub portion, the plurality of blades, and an entirety of the back-side wall.