Super Hard Coatings
Cubic boron nitride (cBN) is the second hardest of all known materials and therefore of high interest for the coating of e.g. cutting tools. The deposition of cBN layers is often limited to thicknesses of a few hundred nanometers due to the residual intrinsic compressive stress and poor adhesion.
The combination of the cBN thin film deposition with an ion implantation at medium energies results in a significant relaxation of the intrinsic film stress. Film thicknesses of > 1µm could be synthesized.
The combination of PBII und PVD enables the deposition of TiN layers at relatively low temperatures in the 150°C range with excellent adhesion, high hardness and low surface roughness.
