Industrially-scaled large-area and high-rate tribological coating by Pulsed Laser Deposition

At the moment, the PLD technique is accounted as a well-establisehd laboratory coating technology. However, the missing of PLD coating systems, which fulfill the requirements for industrial applications - mainly, high rate and large-area deposition - is considered as one of the main obstacles for the industrial breakthrough. This paper addresses the techniques of industrial scale-up and the potential applications of the Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) shown by the example of tribological coatings deposited by the industrially-scaled PLD coater at Laser Center Leoben of JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH in Austria. Future prospects of the industrially-used PLD technique are given based on the HybridPLD technique combining PLD, magnetron sputtering and ion-assisted surface activation/film deposition.