The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 23, 1999
Filed:
May. 06, 1997
Gary Lynn Doll, Canton, OH (US);
Joseph Vito Mantese, Troy, MI (US);
General Motors Corporation, Detroit, MI (US);
Abstract
This invention includes the discovery that poorly crystallized hexagonal-like films of boron nitride with sp.sup.2 bonding can be converted by ion implantation to amorphous, cubic-like, boron nitride with sp.sup.3 bonding. Preferably the sp.sup.2 bonded film has a considerable amount of residual stress. The discovery that sp.sup.2 bonded BN can be converted to sp.sup.3 bonded BN may prove to be a significant advancement in coating technology for the electronics, machine tool, biomedical, and automotive industries. This discovery is important in that growth processes compatible with high volume production can be used to grow sp.sup.2 bonded BN (e.g., sputtering, e-beam evaporation, and CVD), then implantation procedures can be used to subsequently change the film to sp.sup.3 bonding. The amorphous, cubic-like, BN films can be grown on silicon wafers. This technique is also well-suited for metallic and plastic substrates because both the deposition and implantation processes occur at low temperatures. Coatings applied to metallic substrates such as carbonized steels and aluminum alloys must be processed at temperatures typically less than 150 C.