Course Objectives

• Learn the different hard-coating processes.
• Understand plasma processing fundamentals.
• Learn about hard-coating systems.
• Learn about characterization and testing of hard coatings.

Course Description

Today, hard coatings, such as titanium nitride, are produced by several different plasma-assisted PVD processes. The one common link between all of the successful PVD hard-coating processes is the use of plasma-assisted deposition, which ensures a hard, fully dense, well-bonded coating.
This course reviews the fundamentals of the different PVD processes and describes the similarities and differences among them. The coatings produced by the different processes are discussed, and particular attention is given to the methods for coating characterization. The specific topics covered are:

• Plasma process fundamentals.
• Advantages of PVD techniques.
• Evaporative and sputtering techniques.
• Commercial hard-coating systems.
• Process control.
• Potential process problems.
• Selection of coatings.
• New coatings such as (Ti, Al)N, diamond, and diamond-like coatings.
• Characterization and testing of hard coatings.
• Applications of hard coatings.

Course Materials

Course Notes