Adherent cubic boron nitride layer production, especially for iron alloy machining tools or optical components, comprises initially depositing an adhesion promoting boron nitride layer by pulsed laser deposition

摘要

An adherent cubic boron nitride layer is produced by initially depositing an adhesion promoting boron nitride layer by pulsed laser deposition. An adherent boron nitride layer system is produced by: (a) cleaning and activating a substrate or body surface by ion bombardment in a vacuum coating unit; (b) depositing an adhesion promoting boron nitride layer (1-BN layer) with amorphous to turbostratic crystalline structure onto the heated or unheated substrate or body surface by pulsed laser deposition either from a boron nitride target without ion bombardment in a nitrogen atmosphere, in a nitrogen plasma or with simultaneous nitrogen or nitrogen/noble gas ion bombardment of the growing layer or from a boron carbide or boron target with simultaneous nitrogen or nitrogen/noble gas ion bombardment of the growing layer; (c) effecting nucleation of a cubic boron nitride phase on this 1-BN layer by ion-enhanced pulsed laser deposition or by an ion- or plasma-enhanced coating process by ion bombardment of the growing layer surface using an incident ion/target atom ratio of greater than 1, low deposition rates and substrate or body surface temperatures above 150 deg C, preferably on a hexagonal boron nitride intermediate layer (h-BN layer) which has been initially grown on the 1-BN layer and which has its c-axis oriented parallel to the substrate or body surface; and (d) depositing a c-BN layer either with the same parameters as step (c) or at lower incident ion/target atom ratios and higher growth rates by means of ion-enhanced pulsed laser deposition, CVD or an ion- or plasma-enhanced coating process. An Independent claim is also included for the following: (i) adherent boron nitride layer systems produced by the above process; and (ii) use of ion-enhanced pulsed laser deposition for production of the above adherent boron nitride layer systems.