Industrially-scaled hybrid Pulsed laser Deposition at Room Temperature

In the last decades, the Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD= has emerged as a unique tool to grow high quality films of complex chemical compounds - e.g. more than 800 different materials were deposited up to now. Hence, the PLD technique is accounted as a well-established laboratory coating technology. However, the missing of PLD coating systems, which fulfil the requirements for industrial applications - high-rate and large-area deposition of high reproducibility -, is considered as one of the main obstancles for an industrial breakthrough of the PLD. The aim of this work is to rebut these arguments by highlighting the advantages of PLD coating on the example of tribological films (TiN, (Ti,Al) (C,N), Ti-TiN multilayers, etc.). Based on the HybridPLD coater at JOANNEUM RESEARCH the industrial scale-up is presented, combining the advantages of several conventional techniques (sputtering, ion beam activation / deposition) and PLD by the hybrid coating concept. Thus, the optimized coating adhesion design by particle implantation and the optimized microstructure design by alloying and multilayer architecture in this hybrid coating facility allow the growth of coatings on metals, ceramics and polymers at room temperature with similiar properties than films deposited by conventional techniques at some 100°C higher temperatures. The big advantages of the combination of these concepts were shown by investigations of the interface formation between various films and various substrate surfaces, the first steps of film growth, the microstructural development and texture formation in the films, the chemical film properties, the topographical, mechanical and tribological behaviour of the films - down to the atomic scale. In conclusion the broad usability of the HybridPLD technique for both the industrial-scale coating with and of advanced materials is revealed by the recent applications in wear protection of distortion-sensitive tools (e.g. in cold massive forming) and temperature-sensitive polymer components (e.g. racing-car throttle valvers, aritificial heart devices). Goal of this work:Confirmation of the advantages of theHybridPLD technique in fabrication of tribological coatings in the industrially-scaled deposition.Thesis: HybridPLD allows the fabrication of high quality hard coatings at room temperature.