Methods and systems for forming complex oxide films are provided. Also provided are complex oxide films and heterostructures made using the methods and electronic devices incorporating the complex oxide films and heterostructures. In the methods pulsed laser deposition is conducted in an atmosphere containing a metal-organic precursor to form highly stoichiometric complex oxides.

A magnetic recording medium includes: an elongated substrate having flexibility; a first layer, being provided on the substrate, containing Cr, Ni, and Fe, and having a face-centered cubic lattice structure with a (111) plane preferentially oriented so as to be parallel to a surface of the substrate; a second layer, being provided on the first layer, containing Co and O, having a ratio of an average atomic concentration of O to an average atomic concentration of Co of 1 or more, and having a column structure with an average particle diameter of 3 nm or more and 13 nm or less; a third layer, being provided on the second layer, and containing Ru; and a perpendicular recording layer, being provided on the third layer.

To provide a sliding member, such as a piston ring for an internal combustion engine, having low friction and excellent toughness. The above-described problem is solved by a sliding member (10) such as a piston ring coated with a CrBTiV(Mn, Mo)-N-based alloy film (2) on a sliding surface (11) thereof, and configured so that the alloy film (2) contains one or both of Mn and Mo and has a total content of the Mn and the Mo within a range of 2 mass % or less. Preferably, a B content is within a range of 0.1 mass % to 1.5 mass %, inclusive, a V content is within a range of 0.05 mass % to 1 mass %, inclusive, and a Ti content is within a range of 0.05 mass % to 1.5 mass %, inclusive.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a multilayer film comprising aluminum, chromium, oxygen and nitrogen, in a vacuum coating chamber, the multilayer film comprising layers of type A and layers of type B deposited alternate one of each other, wherein during deposition of the multilayer film at least one target comprising aluminum and chromium is operated as cathode by means of a PVD technique and used in this manner as material source for supplying aluminum and chromium, and an oxygen gas flow and a nitrogen gas flow are introduced as reactive gases in the vacuum chamber for reacting with aluminum and chromium, thereby supplying oxygen and nitrogen for forming the multilayer film, characterized in that: The A layers are deposited as oxynitride layers of AlCrON by using nitrogen and oxygen as reactive gas at the same time, The B layers are deposited as nitride layers of AlCrN by reducing the oxygen gas flow and by increasing the nitrogen gas flow in order to use only nitrogen as reactive gas for the formation of the AlCrN layer, and wherein the relation between oxygen content and nitrogen content in the multilayer film correspond to a ratio in atomic percentage having a value between and including 1.8 and 4.

A mask plate assembly for evaporation is provided, which includes matching mask plates forming a complete set. Each mask plate includes a main body and an opening region, and the opening region is provided with a block portion, at least one connector, and an evaporation zone. The connector is connected to the main body and the block portion. A size of the connector of one of the at least two mask plates is the same as a size of the evaporation zone of the other mask plate and the positions of the connector and the evaporation zone thereof are overlapped. The evaporation zones in the at least two mask plates are matched each other.

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.

An apparatus for depositing a coating on a substrate at atmospheric pressure comprises (a) a plasma torch comprising a microwave source coupled to an antenna disposed within a chamber having an open end, the chamber comprising a gas inlet for flow of a gas over the antenna to generate a plasma jet; (b) a substrate positioned outside the open end of the chamber a predetermined distance away from a tip of the antenna; and (c) a target material to be coated on the substrate disposed at the tip of the antenna.

A coated cutting tool is provided which has improved wear resistance and fracture resistance and which accordingly has a long tool life. A coated cutting tool comprising a substrate and a coating layer formed on the substrate, wherein: the coating layer comprises at least one composite compound layer containing a compound having a composition represented by (Ti.sub.1-xMo.sub.x)N (wherein x denotes an atomic ratio of the Mo element based on a total of the Ti element and the Mo element and satisfies 0.01x0.30); a ratio I(200)/I(111) between a peak intensity I(111) for a (111) plane of cubic crystals of the composite compound layer and a peak intensity I(200) for a (200) plane of the cubic crystals in an X-ray diffraction analysis satisfies 1<I(200)/I(111)20; and, as to particles which constitute the composite compound layer, an area ratio of particles each having an aspect ratio of 2 or more is 50% or higher.

A composite nitride-based film structure includes a bulk single crystal, a plurality of nitride microcrystals, and an amorphous nitride thin film. The plurality of nitride microcrystals is provided on the bulk single crystal, and has a specific orientation relationship with a crystal structure of the bulk single crystal. The nitride thin film is provided on the bulk single crystal, surrounds the nitride microcrystal, and covers a surface of the bulk single crystal.

To provide a production method that enables to produce a gas barrier film having excellent transparency and gas barrier properties at high speed. A method for producing a gas barrier film, the gas barrier film having an inorganic thin-film layer laminated to at least one of surfaces of a polymer substrate, in which the inorganic thin-film layer is formed by a vacuum vapor-deposition method using Al and SiO.sub.2 as vapor-deposition materials while introducing oxygen gas.