A method for depositing very hard and smooth metal alloy nitride or multi layer nitride coatings with excellent adhesion

摘要

A method of coating a substrate 12, comprising electrically biasing the substrate before coating so that the ion current drawn by the substrate is sufficient for ion bombardment of the surface of the substrate, then depositing a metal nitride layer 16 followed by at least one metal alloy 18. The metal nitride may be any of titanium, chromium, molybdenum or niobium nitride. Preferably, a layer of metal 15 may be applied to the substrate before the deposition of the metal nitride. The deposition may occur from a first metal target and at least a second metal alloy target. Preferably, additional targets may be provided for the deposition of the same or further materials. The method may use closed field unbalanced magnetron sputter ion plating apparatus. Also claimed is a method of depositing a layer of metal alloy nitride, carbide, oxide, carbonitride or oxynitride using magnetron sputtering.