The invention relates to a technique of manufacturing a coated substrate (102) such as glass (104) carrying a conductive layer (112) such as a metal layer to be tempered after deposition. A system (100) for manufacturing the coated substrate (102) may comprise a sputtering configuration (120) adapted for depositing the conductive layer (112) on the substrate (104). A pulse laser (132) is adapted for irradiating the conductive layer (112) with laser pulses (136). The pulse laser (132) is adapted for laser pulses (136) with a pulse duration below one microsecond.

A metal-ceramic article and method for creating the same is disclosed in which the article has undergone machining to remove outer surface volume. The article is then treated to enhance the characteristics of at least the machined surface to be comparable to the original surface. In the disclosed application the machining does not extend to an inner layer of the article in which the article consists purely of a metal.

Methods of forming a volume of hard material on a component of a downhole tool include depositing a film of amorphous carbon on a substrate, irradiating the film of amorphous carbon to form a liquid carbon in an undercooled state, and quenching the liquid carbon to form a layer of quenched carbon on the substrate. A downhole tool comprises a component and a volume of hard material comprising quenched carbon disposed on a surface of the component. Additional downhole tools comprise a component and a polycrystalline compact comprising quenched carbon grains disposed on a surface of the component.

A method includes: sandwiching a plastic layer between a glass substrate and a metal plate made of an iron-nickel alloy and joining the metal plate to the glass substrate with the plastic layer in between; forming a mask portion including a plurality of mask holes from the metal plate; joining a surface of the mask portion that is opposite to a surface of the mask portion that is in contact with the plastic layer to a mask frame, which has a higher rigidity than the mask portion and is in a shape of a frame surrounding the mask holes of the mask portion; and peeling off the plastic layer and the glass substrate from the mask portion.

There is provided a method of manufacturing a decorative surface, comprising the steps of: coating a substrate with an opaque coating using a vapour deposition process; and etching the coating to expose the substrate selectively thereby to manufacture a decorative surface.

Provided is a technique by which an optical member is marked without degrading the quality of the optical member. The optical member is produced through a removing step (S108, S113) of partially removing a low refractive index layer, which is the outermost layer of a multilayer structure in which the low refractive index layer and a high refractive index layer are layered on each other, by performing non-heating processing on an antireflection film that is formed to cover an optical surface of an optical base member and has the multilayer structure, through irradiation with an ultrashort pulse laser beam so as to expose the high refractive index layer.

The present invention discloses a PVD coating process for producing a multifunctional coating structure comprising the steps of producing a HEA ceramic matrix on a substrate and the targeted introduction of a controlled precipitate structure into the HEA ceramic matrix to generate a desired specific property of the coating structure.

A golf club head having a laser-generated features to create contrast on the club face of the golf club head. The club face includes a central region, a toe region, and a heel region. The central region includes a first plurality of laser-generated features that provide a height-intersection coverage of the central region, a width-intersection coverage of the central region, and a surface-area coverage of the central region. The toe region includes a second plurality of laser-generated features that provide a height-intersection coverage of the toe region, a width-intersection coverage of the toe region, and a surface-area coverage of the toe region. The heel region includes a third plurality of laser-generated features that provide a height-intersection coverage of the heel region, a width-intersection coverage of the heel region, and a surface-area coverage of the heel region.

A method for producing a reduced friction sliding surface on a machine element includes applying a coating comprising amorphous carbon to a surface of the machine element and locally heating the coating with a laser. The coating is heated to a temperature below an evaporation temperature of the coating to achieve a local volumetric increase in the coating and a local increase in a layer thickness of the coating. A surface structure of the coating includes a multiplicity of elevations resulting from a local phase transformation of the coating from amorphous carbon into graphite due to the locally heating.

A layer of lanthanum boride of stoichiometry LaB.sub.x where x is between 9 and 12 is deposited on substrate, for example a stainless steel watch dial, and subsequently treated with a laser, such that the portion(s) of the layer treated with the laser change colour according to the laser power. This produces multicoloured surfaces having high resistance to corrosion and abrasion. The layer of LaB.sub.x is deposited by PVD and by cathode sputtering, using a LaB.sub.6 target of purple-violet colour, such that the colour of the deposited layer differs from the colour of the target. The laser treatment at specific powers changes the stoichiometry of the layer in the treatment portions, such that the colour of these portions changes according to the stoichiometry obtained. At higher powers, the laser will remove the layer of LaB.sub.x. Thus the colour of the treated portions is determined by the material of the substrate.