Preparation and concentration distribution of multicomponent hard coatings

Hard coating development is focused more and more on multicomponent film materials. Examples for ternary coatings are (Ti,Al)N, (Ti,Cr)N or Ti(C,N) where especially (TiAl)N and Ti(C,N) gained industrial importance. Also, more complex coatings like (Ti,Al,V)(O,N) find increasing interest. Such coatings are deposited by various PVD techniques using different sources and target materials. The present paper reviews the different processes and outlines their specific advantages and problems. The effect of the deposition conditions on the depth distribution of the chemical composition is discussed and recent model calculations are presented. Examples for effects of substrate rotation modes to applicative coating properties are given.