A coating apparatus having a vacuum chamber, a plurality of cathodes arranged therein and also a HIPIMS power source is distinguished in that, in addition to at least one coating cathode which can be operated by the HIPIMS power source, a plurality of etching cathodes which have a smaller surface area than the coating cathode are provided, it being possible to connect said etching cathodes to the HIPIMS power source in a prespecified or prespecifiable order.
H01J 37/36 - Gas-filled discharge tubes for cleaning surfaces while plating with ions of materials introduced into the discharge, e.g. introduced by evaporation
2.
A METHOD OF GIVING AN ARTICLE A COLOURED APPEARANCE AND AN ARTICLE HAVING A COLOURED APPEARANCE
A method of giving an article a coloured appearance on at least one external surface thereof when illuminated by light, the method comprising the steps of depositing a transparent coating on said external surface and incorporating a plurality of dispersed particles within the transparent coating, said particles being selected to generate a selectable colour or hue by surface plasmon resonance. The coating is preferably designed to suppress interference effects. Also claimed are articles provided with a coloured appearance and an apparatus operating a PVD or CVD process for giving articles a coloured appearance. The transparent coating can be made hard and wear resistant.
This application describes and claims the use of a binary coating including a layer of at least first and second metallic elements in the form of Ti and Cr as a top layer or an underlayer for corrosion protection on a metallic substrate consisting of any one of iron, steel, aluminium or an aluminium alloy, magnesium or a magnesium alloy or brass or copper or Zamak or any die-cast material.
C23C 16/06 - Chemical coating by decomposition of gaseous compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating, i.e. chemical vapour deposition [CVD] processes characterised by the deposition of metallic material
C23C 28/02 - Coating for obtaining at least two superposed coatings either by methods not provided for in a single one of main groups , or by combinations of methods provided for in subclasses and only coatings of metallic material
C23C 30/00 - Coating with metallic material characterised only by the composition of the metallic material, i.e. not characterised by the coating process
4.
DUAL MAGNETRON SPUTTERING POWER SUPPLY AND MAGNETRON SPUTTERING APPARATUS
A dual magnetron sputtering power supply for use with a magnetron sputtering apparatus having at least first and second sputtering cathodes (1, 4) for operation in the dual magnetron sputtering mode, there being a means (9, 10) for supplying a flow of reactive gas to each of said first and second cathodes via first and second flow control valves (12, 14) each associated with a respective one of said first and second cathodes and each adapted to control a flow of reactive gas to the respectively associated cathode, the power supply having, for each of said first and second cathodes a means for deriving a feedback signal relating to the voltage prevailing at that cathode, a control circuit for controlling the flow of reactive gas to the respectively associated cathode by controlling the respective flow control valve and adapted to adjust the respective flow control valve to obtain a voltage feedback signal from the respective cathode corresponding to a set point value set for that cathode. Also claimed is a magnetron sputtering apparatus in combination with such a power supply.
The present invention relates to a method and a device for coating particularly rounded objects, such as spheres made of plastic, metal, glass, or of other materials, by means of a PVD and/or CVD, or PACVD method in a vacuum system, characterized in that the objects are brought into contact with the coating material in the form of vapor, optionally in a reactive manner, and are rotated by means of vibration energy, and are optionally also suspended in order to obtain a uniform coating.
C23C 14/56 - Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coatingArrangements for maintaining the vacuum, e.g. vacuum locks
C23C 16/54 - Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coating
C23C 14/22 - Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material characterised by the process of coating
C23C 16/458 - Chemical coating by decomposition of gaseous compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating, i.e. chemical vapour deposition [CVD] processes characterised by the method of coating characterised by the method used for supporting substrates in the reaction chamber
6.
DUAL MAGNETRON SPUTTERING POWER SUPPLY AND MAGNETRON SPUTTERING APPARATUS
A dual magnetron sputtering power supply for use with a magnetron sputtering apparatus having at least first and second sputtering cathodes for operation in the dual magnetron sputtering mode, there being a means for supplying a flow of reactive gas to each of said first (1) and second (4) cathodes via first (12) and second (14) flow control valves each associated with a respective one of said first and second cathodes and each adapted to control a flow of reactive gas to the respectively associated cathode, the power supply having, for each of said first and second cathodes a means for deriving a feed-back signal relating to the voltage prevailing at that cathode, a control circuit for controlling the flow of reactive gas to the respectively associated cathode by controlling the respective flow control valve and adapted to adjust the respective flow control valve to obtain a voltage feedback signal from the respective cathode corresponding to a set point value set for that cathode. Also claimed is a magnetron sputtering apparatus in combination with such a power supply.
A vacuum treatment apparatus (10) for treating at least one substrate (12) and comprising a treatment chamber (14), at least one cathode (16), a power supply (18) associated with the cathode for generating ions of a material present in the gas phase in the chamber and/or ions of a material of which the cathode is formed, a substrate carrier (20) and a bias power supply for applying a negative bias to the substrate carrier and any substrate present thereon, whereby to attract said ions to said at least one substrate, said cathode power supply being adapted to apply relatively high power pulses of relatively short duration to said cathode at intervals resulting in lower average power levels comparable with DC operation, e.g. in the range from ca. 1 KW to 100 KW, is characterized in that the bias power supply is adapted to permit a bias current to flow at a level corresponding generally to the average power level, and in that an additional voltage supply of relatively low inductive and resistive impedance is associated with the bias power supply for supplying a bias voltage adapted to the power of the relatively high power pulses when said relatively high power pulses are applied to said at least one cathode.
The invention relates to an object comprising a relatively soft carrier material, optionally, an adhesive layer and/or an adhesive layer system, which are applied to the carrier material, and a relatively hard decorative layer. The object is characterised in that an intermediate layer is provided between the carrier material and the decorative layer and/or between the adhesive layer and the adhesive layer system and the decorative layer and comprises at least DLC (diamond like carbon) as the main component. The invention also relates to a method for producing said type of object.
C23C 28/00 - Coating for obtaining at least two superposed coatings either by methods not provided for in a single one of main groups , or by combinations of methods provided for in subclasses and
C23C 14/02 - Pretreatment of the material to be coated
C23C 14/06 - Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material characterised by the coating material
C23C 14/32 - Vacuum evaporation by explosionVacuum evaporation by evaporation and subsequent ionisation of the vapours
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