A method for pretreating a substrate prior to depositing a material thereon, the method including immersing the substrate in an activation solution for a predetermined period of time, the activation solution including an ammonium salt that includes a fluorine-containing anion, sulfuric acid and water.

A method for pretreating a substrate prior to depositing a material thereon, the method including immersing the substrate in an activation solution for a predetermined period of time, the activation solution including a fluoride salt, hydrofluoric acid, sulfuric acid and water.

The manufacturing cost of a sputtering target is reduced and the impurity concentration of the manufactured sputtering target is also reduced. A method of manufacturing a sputtering target includes: surface-treating at least one of a used sputtering target and a scrap material; melting at least one of the used sputtering target and the scrap material after the surface treatment to form an ingot; and manufacturing a sputtering target by subjecting the ingot to forging, rolling, heat treating, and machining.

The invention is directed at sputter targets including 50 atomic % or more molybdenum, a second metal element of titanium, and a third metal element of chromium or tantalum, and deposited films prepared by the sputter targets. In a preferred aspect of the invention, the sputter target includes a phase that is rich in molybdenum, a phase that is rich in titanium, and a phase that is rich in the third metal element.

A titanium product for a separator of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell according to the present invention includes: a base material that consists of commercially pure titanium; a first oxide layer that is formed in a surface layer of the titanium product, consists of TiO.sub.2 of a rutile crystallinity, and has a thickness of 0.1 to 1.5 nm; and a second oxide layer that is formed between the base material and the first oxide layer, consists of TiO.sub.x (1<x<2), and has a thickness of 3 to 20 nm. This titanium product is suitable to be used as a separator of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell that has a high corrosion resistance in an environment in a fuel cell, is capable of keeping a low contact resistance with an electrode consisting of carbon fiber and the like, and is inexpensive.

The disclosure relates to a method for etching a molybdenum feature, comprising the steps of: a) oxidizing a thickness portion of the molybdenum feature using a thermal oxidation process to form a thermal molybdenum oxide layer, and b) dissolving the thermal molybdenum oxide layer using a wet chemistry.

A method of forming an implant to be implanted into living bone is disclosed. The method comprises the act of roughening at least a portion of the implant surface to produce a microscale roughened surface. The method further comprises the act of immersing the microscale roughened surface into a solution containing hydrogen peroxide and a basic solution to produce a nanoscale roughened surface consisting of nanopitting superimposed on the microscale roughened surface. The nanoscale roughened surface has a property that promotes osseointegration.

The invention is directed at sputter targets including 50 atomic % or more molybdenum, a second metal element of titanium, and a third metal element of chromium or tantalum, and deposited films prepared by the sputter targets. In a preferred aspect of the invention, the sputter target includes a phase that is rich in molybdenum, a phase that is rich in titanium, and a phase that is rich in the third metal element.

In a titanium material or a titanium alloy material, in an oxide film formed on a surface of a titanium or a titanium alloy, the composition ratio of TiO (I.sub.TiO/(I.sub.Ti+I.sub.TiO)100 found from the maximum intensity of the X-ray diffraction peaks of TiO (I.sub.TiO) and the maximum intensity of the X-ray diffraction peaks of metal titanium (I.sub.Ti) in X-ray diffraction measured at an incident angle to the surface of 0.3 is 0.5% or more. A titanium material or a titanium alloy material, and a fuel cell separator and a polymer electrolyte fuel cell having good contact-to-carbon electrical conductivity and good durability can be provided.

The disclosure relates to a method for etching a molybdenum feature, comprising the steps of: a) oxidizing a thickness portion of the molybdenum feature using a thermal oxidation process to form a thermal molybdenum oxide layer, and b) dissolving the thermal molybdenum oxide layer using a wet chemistry.