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06/15/06 - USPTO Class 428 | 67 views | #20060127699 | Prev - Next | About this Page

Protective layer and process and arrangement for producing protective layers

Title: Protective layer and process and arrangement for producing protective layers

Related Patent Categories: Stock Material Or Miscellaneous Articles, Composite (nonstructural Laminate), Of Inorganic Material, Metal-compound-containing Layer, Carbide-, Nitride-, Or Sulfide-containing Layer

Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Claims

The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060127699, Protective layer and process and arrangement for producing protective layers.

1. A protective layer for a body, comprising: at least one hard-material layer formed from a first material selected from the group consisting of metal oxide, metal nitride, metal carbide, metal oxynitride, metal carbonitride, metal oxycarbonitride, and any combinations thereof, wherein the at least one hard-material layer is a functional layer; and at least one interlayer interrupting the morphology of the functional layer, wherein the at least one interlayer is formed from a second material selected from the group consisting of metal oxide, metal nitride, metal carbide, metal oxynitride, metal carbonitride, metal oxycarbonitride, and any combinations thereof, wherein the second material is different than the first material, and wherein the at least one interlayer is a layer that is very thin compared to the functional layer.

2. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer is at least 50%, crystalline.

3. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer has a first thickness in a range from 100 to 20,000 nm.

4. The protective layer as claimed in claim 3, wherein the at least one interlayer has a second thickness of less than or equal to 10 nm.

5. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer is interrupted by a plurality of interlayers at intervals of 30 to 500 nm.

6. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer is interrupted by a plurality of interlayers at regular intervals.

7. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer is interrupted by a plurality of interlayers, and wherein the functional layer includes columns which on average have a lateral dimension of less than 1 .mu.m.

8. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer has a surface roughness having an R.sub.a value of less than 50 nm.

9. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer comprises silicon nitride.

10. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer comprises a metal oxide.

11. The protective layer as claimed in claim 10, wherein the functional layer comprises zirconium oxide in a temperature stable crystal phase or zirconium oxide with an additional component hafnium oxide in a temperature-stable crystal phase.

12. The protective layer as claimed in claim 11, wherein the zirconium oxide is admixed to an oxide selected from the group consisting of yttrium oxide, calcium oxide, magnesium oxide, tantalum oxide, niobium oxide, scandium oxide, titanium oxide, the lanthanide oxide group, such as lanthanum oxide, and cerium oxide, in order to stabilize the temperature-stable crystal phase.

13. The protective layer as claimed in claim 12, wherein the zirconium oxide comprises, as a stabilizing component, from 0.5 to 50 mol % of Y.sub.2O.sub.3.

14. The protective layer as claimed in claim 11, wherein the at least one interlayer comprises zirconium nitride.

15. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one interlayer comprises silicon oxide.

16. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one interlayer comprises titanium-aluminum oxide.

17. The protective layer as claimed in claim 16, wherein the at least one interlayer has a refractive index that is in a range between greater than or equal to 1.55 and less than or equal to 2.50.

18. The protective layer as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least one interlayer is at least 50% amorphous.

19. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, further comprising

20. The protective layer as claimed in claim 19, wherein the transparent hard-material layer comprises at least 50% silicon oxide.

21. A protective layer for a body, comprising: at least one hard-material layer formed from a material selected from the group consisting of metal oxide, metal nitride, metal carbide, metal oxynitride, metal carbonitride, metal oxycarbonitride, and any combinations thereof, wherein the at least one hard-material layer is a functional layer which that grows in the form of predominantly crystalline, columnar structures; and a plurality of interlayers interrupting the functional layer, the plurality of interlayers having a thickness of less than 10 nm and being dispersed in the functional layer at intervals of 30 to 500 nm so that the crystalline, columnar structures of the functional layer are laterally tightly and cohesive, grow perpendicular to a surface of the body, and have a mean lateral dimension of less than 1 .mu.m.

22. The protective layer as claimed in claim 21, wherein the protective layer finds use for coating bodies made from glass, glass-ceramic or other non-metallic, crystalline materials.

23. A cooking hob, comprising: a coating having at least one hard-material layer formed from a first material selected from the group consisting of metal oxide, metal nitride, metal carbide, metal oxynitride, metal carbonitride, metal oxycarbonitride, and any combinations thereof, wherein the at least one hard-material layer is a functional layer, and at least one interlayer interrupting the morphology of the functional layer, wherein the at least one interlayer is formed from a second material selected from the group consisting of metal oxide, metal nitride, metal carbide, metal oxynitride, metal carbonitride, metal oxycarbonitride, and any combinations thereof, wherein the second material is different than the first material, and wherein the at least one interlayer is a layer that is very thin compared to the functional layer.

24. A cooking device, comprising: a coating having at least one hard-material layer formed from a first material selected from the group consisting of metal oxide, metal nitride, metal carbide, metal oxynitride, metal carbonitride, metal oxycarbonitride, and any combinations thereof, wherein the at least one hard-material layer is a functional layer, and at least one interlayer interrupting the morphology of the functional layer, wherein the at least one interlayer is formed from a second material selected from the group consisting of metal oxide, metal nitride, metal carbide, metal oxynitride, metal carbonitride, metal oxycarbonitride, and any combinations thereof, wherein the second material is different than the first material, and wherein the at least one interlayer is a layer that is very thin compared to the functional layer.

26. A process for coating a body made from glass, glass-ceramic or another nonmetallic, crystalline material with a protective layer, comprising the steps of: providing the body and a plurality of layer substances in a vacuum system; coating the body by a reactive physical vapor deposition process with the plurality of layer substances in atomic dimensions to provide which, as a functional layer, the functional layer growing in a plurality of columnar structures substantially perpendicular a surface on the body; transferring the body into the vacuum system in order to be immediately after the body has been produced; and interrupting the growth of the functional layer at least once by the deposition of a very thin interlayer, wherein the very thin interlayer is uninfluenced by the functional layer that has already grown and has a different morphology than the functional layer so that a tendency of the plurality of columnar structures to widen out in the functional layer is interrupted.

27. The process as claimed in claim 26, wherein the body is coated by electron beam vaporization assisted by an ion beam.

25. A process for coating a body with a protective layer comprising the steps of: providing the body and a plurality of layer substances in a vacuum system; coating the body with the plurality of layer substances by a reactive physical vapor deposition process to produce the protective layer on the body in atomic dimensions which as a functional layer, the functional layer growing in a plurality of columnar structures substantially perpendicular to a surface on of the body; and interrupting the growth of the functional layer at least once by the deposition of a very thin interlayer, wherein the very thin interlayer is uninfluenced by the functional layer that has already grown and has a different morphology than the functional layer so that a tendency of the plurality of columnar structures to widen out in the functional layer is interrupted.

28. The process as claimed in claim 27, wherein the ion beam has ions with an energy between 1 and 2500 eV.

29. The process as claimed in claim 26, wherein the body is coated by magnetron sputtering.

30. The process as claimed in claim 26, wherein the plurality of layer substances are in solid form, as metallic components or as metal oxides.

31. The process as claimed in claim 30, further comprising feeding oxygen into the vacuum system during the growth of the functional layer.

32. The process as claimed in claim 30, further comprising feeding at least one additional gas, preferably nitrogen, for optimizing a material-removal rate and optimizing a formation of atomic oxygen into the vacuum system during the growth of the functional layer.

33. The process as claimed in claim 30, further comprising thermally aftertreating the functional layer in an oxygen atmosphere.

34. The process as claimed in claim 33, wherein the thermal aftertreating is carried out at temperatures of up to 800.degree. C.

35. The process as claimed in claim 25, further comprising cleaning operation the body before coating the body.

36. The process as claimed in claim 35, wherein the cleaning is carried out in a vacuum chamber by plasma treatment with ions, and wherein the ions have an energy that is in the range from 1 to 2500 eV.

37. The process as claimed in claim 25, further comprising activating the surface of the body before coating the body.

38. The process as claimed in claim 37, wherein the activating is carried out in a vacuum chamber by a plasma treatment with ions, and wherein the ions have an energy of which that is in the range from 1 to 2500 eV.

39. The process as claimed in claim 25, further comprising cleaning the body and activating the surface of the body before coating the body, wherein the cleaning and activating are carried out in a single process step.

40. The process as claimed in one of claim 25, further comprising heating the body to be coated, at least before coating the body with the plurality of layer substances, to process temperatures of up to 800.degree. C.

41. The process as claimed in one of claim 27, wherein the coating operation further comprises polishing a coated surface of the functional layer in at least one polishing step.

42. An arrangement for coating a body made from glass, glass-ceramic or another nonmetallic, crystalline material with a protective layer, comprising: a coating installation, having at least one coating chamber, the coating chamber being a vacuum chamber and the coating chamber having targets comprising starting materials for the protective layer; a plurality of excitation sources for generating the starting materials in atomic dimensions; at least one process gas inlet valve for feeding process gases into the coating chamber; and a plurality of shutters for feeding and discharging the body to be coated into and out of the coating chamber, wherein the coating installation is directly connected, via a substrate transfer station and an input lock, to a production installation for the body.

43. The arrangement as claimed in claim 42, wherein the plurality of excitation sources are vaporization sources.

44. The arrangement as claimed in claim 42, wherein the plurality of excitation sources are magnetron sputtering sources.

45. The arrangement as claimed in claim 42, wherein the plurality of excitation sources are double magnetrons.

46. The arrangement as claimed in claim 42, wherein the coating installation has a cleaning/activation chamber, the cleaning/activation chamber being a vacuum chamber and having at least one cleaning/activation ion beam source for cleaning and/or activating the body.

47. The arrangement as claimed in claim 42, wherein the coating installation has a plurality of coating chambers.

48. The arrangement as claimed in claim 42, wherein the coating installation has an aftertreatment chamber, the aftertreatment chamber being a second vacuum chamber and including at least one oxygen feed valve and heating elements and being connected, via one of the plurality of shutters, to the coating chamber.

49. The arrangement as claimed in claim 46, wherein the coating chamber and the cleaning/activation chamber have heating elements for setting a coating temperature.

50. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer is more than 80% crystalline.

51. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer has a first thickness in a range between 500 and 10,000 nm.

52. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer has a first thickness in a range between 1,500 and 5,000 nm.

53. The protective layer as claimed in claim 3, wherein the at least one interlayer has a second thickness om a range between 1 to 5 nm.

54. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer is interrupted by a plurality of interlayers at intervals of 50 to 250 nm.

55. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer is interrupted by a plurality of interlayers, and wherein the functional layer includes columns which on average have a lateral dimension of less than 200 nm.

56. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer has a surface roughness having an R.sub.a value of less than 30 nm.

57. The protective layer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional layer has a surface roughness having an R.sub.a value of less than 20 nm.

58. The protective layer as claimed in claim 12, wherein the zirconium oxide comprises, as a stabilizing component, from 1 to 10 mol % of Y.sub.2O.sub.3.

59. The protective layer as claimed in claim 12, wherein the zirconium oxide comprises, as a stabilizing component, from 1.0 to 7.5 mol % of Y.sub.2O.sub.3.

60. The protective layer as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least one interlayer is more than 80% amorphous.

61. The protective layer as claimed in claim 21, wherein the mean lateral dimension of is less than 200 nm.

62. The arrangement as claimed in claim 42, wherein the coating installation includes an apparatus that can be used to ignite a glow discharge, the apparatus being arranged between the input lock and the coating chamber and being connected to the input lock and the coating chamber via the plurality of shutters.

63. The process as claimed in claim 27, wherein the ion beam has ions with an energy between 1 and 800 eV.

64. The process as claimed in claim 27, wherein the ion beam has ions with an energy between 20 and 450 eV.

65. The process as claimed in claim 33, wherein the thermal treating is carried out at temperatures of between 400.degree. C. and 700.degree. C.

Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Claims

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