JP2001516655A - Tool with protective layer system - Google Patents

Abstract

There is proposed a tool with a tool body and a wear resistant layer system, which layer system comprises at least one layer of MeX. Me comprises titanium and aluminium and X is a nitrogen or carbon. Thereby, in the MeX layer the quotient QI as defined by the ratio of the diffraction intensity I(200) to I(111) assigned respectively to the (200) and (111) plains in the X ray diffraction of the material using the THETA - THETA 2 method is selected to be. QI has a value QI <= 2. A tool is a solid carbide end mill or a solid carbide ball nose mill or a cemented carbide gear cutting tool. Further, the I(111) is at least twenty times larger than the intensity average noise value, both measured with a well-defined equipment and setting thereof.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This specification has Attachment A.

The present invention relates to a tool having a tool body and a protective layer system, the layer system comprising at least one layer of MeX,-Me comprising titanium and aluminum,-X comprising at least one of nitrogen and carbon. On the other hand. Definition and terms Q _I is (- defined as the ratio of 2 (in X-ray diffraction of a material using the method (200) plane and (111) plane each assigned, the diffraction intensity I (200) vs. I (111) Therefore, there is a valid value Q _I = I (200) / I (111), whose intensity value was measured using the following equipment with the following settings: Siemens diffractor D500 power: operation Voltage: 30 kV Operating current: 25 mA Aperture stop: Aperture position I: 1 ° Aperture position II: 0.1 ° Detector aperture: Solar slit Time constant: 4s 2θ Angular velocity: 0.05 ° / min Emission: Cu-Kα (0 .15406 nm) The expression “measured according to MS” means that measurements were made using these instruments and settings.All quantitative results of Q _I and I throughout this application were , MS, measured by: "Tool body" is an uncoated tool "Hard material" is a tool that is subjected to high mechanical and thermal loads during operation On the other hand, MeX material is mentioned below as a preferred example of a material that is coated to provide abrasion resistance.

[0003] In the field of tool protection, it is well known to provide wear-resistant layer systems comprising at least one layer of hard material, as defined by MeX.

[0004] The invention has the object of greatly improving the life of the tool. The purpose is
For the at least one layer, the effective value is achieved by selecting the Q _I value is a Q _I ≦ 2. The tool may be a hard carbide end mill or a hard carbide ball nose mill or a cemented carbide cutting tool. Furthermore, the value of I (111) is at least 20 times higher than the average noise intensity level measured according to MS.

According to The present invention, by thus specified Q _I value, the wear resistance is surprisingly improved, and therefore, if it is of a type tool is identified, even the life of the tool leap Increase.

Until now, wear resistant layer systems of MeX hard material have been utilized irrespective of the interaction between the material of the tool body and the mechanical and thermal loads applied to the tool during operation. In the present invention, based on the fact that the wear resistance is surprisingly improved when a particular _QI value is selectively combined with a particular type of tool, the average noise in the measurement according to MS is reduced. I (111) at least 20 times higher than the intensity level
) Value.

The improvement achieved by the present invention is further enhanced when Q _I is selected to be less than or equal to one, and by choosing Q _I to be less than or equal to 0.5 and even less than or equal to 0.2. Further improvements are made. The degree of improvement is maximum is a case where the Q _I is 0.1 or less. However, if the specific crystal orientation in accordance with the diffraction intensity I (200) approaches zero is applied to the layer material, Q _I is believed to reduce towards zero. Therefore, lower limit Q _I rather, it is intended that only the set only by feasibility.

As known to those skilled in the art, there is a correlation between the hardness of a layer and its stress. The higher the stress, the higher the hardness. Nevertheless, as the stress increases,
Adhesion to the tool body tends to decrease.

For the tool according to the invention, the higher hardness is more important than the highest possible adhesion. Therefore, the stress in the MeX layer is advantageously selected above the stress range described below. These considerations limit the value of Q _I that is actually available.

In a preferred embodiment of the tool of the invention, the MeX material of the tool is titanium aluminum nitride, titanium aluminum carbonitride or titanium aluminum boron nitride, wherein the first two materials are Today, it is preferred over titanium aluminum boron nitride.

In yet another implementation of the tool of the invention, the Me of the layer material MeX may additionally comprise at least one element of boron, zirconium, hafnium, yttrium, silicon, tungsten, chromium. It is therefore preferred to use yttrium and / or silicon and / or boron from this group. Such elements added to titanium and aluminum are Me
Is set to 100 atomic%, and is preferably introduced into the layer material at a content i where the effective value is 0.05 atomic% ≦ i ≦ 60 atomic%.

[0012] In all the various embodiments of the at least one MeX layer, an additional layer of titanium nitride having a thickness d with an effective value of 0.05 μm ≦ d ≦ 5 μm is provided between the MeX layer and the tool body. Further improvements are achieved by interposition.

In view of the comprehensive object of the present invention to provide a new tool which is as low-cost as possible and therefore very economical to manufacture, the tool comprises one layer of MeX material. It is further proposed to have only layers and to have additional layers arranged between the MeX layer and the tool body.

The stress σ in MeX is preferably selected within a range of 2 GPa ≦ σ ≦ 8 GPa, and most preferably selected within a range of 4 GPa ≦ σ ≦ 6 GPa.

The content x of titanium in the Me component of the MeX layer is preferably selected within a range of 70 atomic% ≧ x ≧ 40 atomic%, and in a further preferred embodiment, 65 atomic% ≧ x ≧ 55 atomic% Selected within the range.

On the other hand, the aluminum content y in the Me component of the MeX material is preferably selected within the range of 30 at% ≦ y ≦ 60 at%, and in a more preferred embodiment, 35 at% ≦ y ≦ 45 at%. It is selected within the range of%.

In another preferred embodiment, both ranges for titanium and aluminum are achieved.

The deposition of the layer, in particular the MeX layer, can be carried out by any known vacuum deposition (
deposition techniques, but in particular, reactive cathodic arc deposition (ev
It can be done by reactive PVD coating techniques, such as aporation or reactive sputtering. By appropriately controlling the influence process parameters for the coating of growth, the range of Q _I utilized in the present invention are achieved.

In order to achieve excellent reproducible adhesion of the layer to the tool body, a plasma etching technique was used in the preparation phase. This was performed based on an argon plasma as described in Appendix A. Attachment A is incorporated herein by reference for such etching and subsequent coating. This document is based on US Patent Application No. 08/710095 by the same inventor (two persons) and applicant as the present application. Example 1 An arc ion plating apparatus using a magnetically controlled arc source as described in Appendix A was used, operated as shown in Table 1, to obtain a 10 mm diameter, z
= 6, a MeX layer was deposited on the hard carbide end mill, also as shown in Table 1.
deposit). The thickness of the deposited MeX layer was always 3 μm. Here, in sample numbers 1 to 5, the _QI values indicated according to the invention were achieved, whereas for comparison, in sample numbers 6 to 10, this condition was not fulfilled. The I (111) value was always much greater than 20 times the average value of the noise in measurements according to MS. The coated end mill was used to mill under the conditions indicated below to determine the milling distance achievable before flank wear with an average width of 0.20 mm was obtained. The resulting milling distance according to the tool life is also shown in Table 1.
Test cutting conditions: - Tool: Hard carbide end mill diameter 10 mm, z = 6 - material AISI D2 (DIN 1.2379) as a cutting target - Cutting parameters: v _c = 20 m / min f _t = 0.031mm a _p = 15mm a _e = 1 mm Downward milling, dry process End mills coated according to the invention are much better protected against delamination and abrasion than end mills coated according to comparative conditions. It is clearly understood from.

[0020]

[Table 1]

Example 2 Samples 11 to 20 in Table 2 were coated, again using the equipment used for coating according to Example 1. The tools to be coated and the test conditions were the same as in Example 1. Table 2 shows the thickness of the layers.

In addition to the coating according to Example 1, an intermediate layer of titanium nitride was applied between the MeX layer and the tool body, and the outermost layers of the respective materials shown in Table 2 You will see that. The conditions for I (111) and average noise level, measured according to MS, were almost satisfied.

It will be seen that a further improvement has already been made by providing an intermediate layer between the MeX layer and the tool body. Additional improvements have been achieved by providing an outermost layer of one of titanium carbonitride and titanium aluminum oxynitride, and in particular, an outermost layer of aluminum oxide. It will also be seen that significant improvement is achieved by achieving the _QI values shown in the present invention for comparative sample numbers 16 to 20.

The outermost layer of 0.3 μm thick aluminum oxide was formed by plasma CVD.

As described above, the coated end mill was tested under the same cutting conditions as in Example 1, and Q _I was measured according to MS.

[0026]

[Table 2]

EXAMPLE 3 Again, a hard carbide end mill was prepared using the equipment of Example 1 with the MeX shown in Table 3.
Coated with layers. The Q _I condition presented in the present invention was still satisfied, and furthermore, the condition of I (111) for the average noise level was satisfied. These were measured according to MS. Here, one of zirconium, hafnium, yttrium, silicon and chromium was introduced into Me in the amounts described above.

The coated end mill was kept in an air oven at 750 ° C. for 30 minutes. Thereafter, the final thickness of the oxide layer was measured. These results are also shown in Table 3.
Shown in For comparison, end mills coated according to the invention with different Me components of the MeX material were also tested. It can be seen that adding any element according to Samples 21 to 30 to Me greatly reduces the thickness of the resulting oxide film. The best results for the oxidation were obtained by adding silicon or yttrium.

As is known to those skilled in the art, it should be pointed out that there is an effective value for the wear resistant layer of MeX material. That is, the higher the oxidation resistance, and thus the thinner the resulting oxide film, the better the cutting performance.

[0030]

[Table 3]

Example 4 The equipment and coating method according to Example 1 were also used. 6 teeth, 1 diameter
A 0 mm hard carbide end mill was coated with a 3.0 μm layer of MeX.
An intermediate layer of titanium nitride having a thickness of 0.08 μm was provided between the MeX layer and the tool body. Test conditions for the end mills were as follows: Tool: Solid carbide end mill, diameter 10 mm z = 6 material: AISI D2 (DIN 1.2379) 60 HRC Cutting parameters: v _c = 20 m / min f _t = 0. _{031mm a p = 15mm a e =} 1mm downward milling, dry.

The hard carbide end mill was used until a flank wear of 0.20 mm average width was obtained. Table 4 shows the results. Again, the I (111) -to-noise condition, as measured by MS, is clearly satisfied for sample number 35 and sample number 3
For 4, the I (200) to noise condition was satisfied.

[0033]

[Table 4]

Example 5 The equipment and coating method according to Example 1 were used.

A hard carbide ball nose mill was coated with 3.1 μm of MeX and had a thickness of 0 μm.
. A 07 μm TiN intermediate layer was provided. The coated tools were tested by milling a quench hardened mold steel. Test Conditions: Tool: Solid carbide ball nose mill J97 (Njabulo, Jabro) R4 (φ8x65mm) Materials: mold steel H11 (DIN 1.2343), HRC 49.5 Cutting parameters: v _c = 220 m / min a _p = 0. 5 mm No coolant The tool life was evaluated in minutes.

[0036]

[Table 5]

FIG. 1 illustrates the reactive PVD deposition (deposi) used to implement the example described above.
Figure 3 shows a linear scaled plot of nitrogen partial pressure versus tool body bias voltage applied for reactive cathodic arc evaporation as a method.

All the process parameters of the cathodic arc evaporation process, ie, arc current, process temperature, deposition rate, material to be evaporated, strength of the magnetic field adjacent to the arc source and The configuration, the geometry and dimensions of the process chamber and the workpiece tool being processed were kept constant. The other process parameters, i.e. the partial pressure or total pressure of the reactive gas, and the ground potential of the wall of the chamber of the tool body to be coated as a workpiece, the bias voltage with respect to a predetermined reference potential, Changed.

Thus, titanium aluminum nitride was deposited. For the partial pressure and bias voltage of the tool body of the reactive gas, different, effectively that acts is determined, Q _I value is measured I follow the MS in the vapor deposition (Deposition) has been hard material layer, obtained Was done.

From the diagram of FIG. 1, there is a region P that extends in a first approximation linearly from at least a portion adjacent to the origin of the coordinates of the diagram, and the resulting layers are I (200) and I (111) It can be seen that the XRD intensity value is extremely low. Obviously, a large number of measurements must be taken to determine the exact bounds of P. Here, there are no intensity values I (200) and I (111) that are as large as 20 times the average noise level when measured according to MS.

As shown in FIG. 1, on one side of this region P, Q _I is larger than 1, and in the other region with respect to P, Q _I is smaller than 1. In any of these regions, at least one of the values I (200) and I (111) is greater than 20 times the average noise level when measured according to MS.

As indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1, the partial pressure of the reactive gas is reduced, or, if substantially equal to said partial pressure, the total pressure is reduced and / or the bias voltage of the tool body to be coated is increased. As a result, Q _I decreases. Thus, the method of the present invention for manufacturing a tool that includes a tool body and a wear-resistant layer system that includes at least one layer of hard material includes the steps of forming at least one layer of hard material in a vacuum chamber by reactive PVD. The step of depositing and thereby the process parameter values for the PVD deposition process step in addition to one or both of the two process parameters of the reactive gas partial pressure and the tool body bias voltage. Pre-selecting. And either or both of these two parameters in order to achieve a desired Q _I value is adjusted, by the present invention, the partial pressure and / or reactive gases bias voltage is increased is reduced, 2 or less as described above, preferably 1 or less, further still also be 0.5 or less to obtain a Q _I value of 0.2 or less. Most preferably, Q _I ≦ 0.1. In addition to the Q _I value to be used by the invention in the "right" region of regard When the P, measured according to MS, I (111) is greater than 20 times the intensity average noise level, often much more than 20 times large.

FIG. 2 shows a typical strength versus angle 2θ when a titanium aluminum nitride hard material layer is deposited in the region of Q _I ≧ 1 in FIG. 1 to obtain a Q _I value of 5.4. The figure of is shown. The average noise level N ^* is significantly lower than I (200) / 20. The measurement is performed by MS.

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 2, but with the deposition of titanium aluminum nitride.
Is controlled by the bias voltage and the nitrogen partial pressure, and Q _I ≦ 1 is obtained by the invention. The resulting Q _I value is 0.03. Here again, the I (111) value, measured according to MS, is greater than 20 times the intensity average noise level.

Note that in FIG. 1 each Q _I value within each region is shown at each effective point measured (according to MS).

FIG. 4 shows a diagram similar to FIGS. 2 and 3 with respect to the effectively acting point P ₁ of FIG. When compared to the region outside P, the intensities I (200) and I (111)
) Can be seen to be significantly reduced. There are no values I (200) and I (111) that reach 20 times the noise average level N ^* .

Thus, by simply adjusting at least one of the two Q _I control reactive PVD process parameters, ie, the reactive gas partial pressure and the workpiece bias voltage, the Q _I value utilized by the present invention is controlled. You.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the adjustment direction for reducing Q _I when ΔQ ₁ <0, where Q _I is increased in the opposite adjustment direction of the two control process parameters. Is clear.

Appendix A Process and Apparatus for Workpiece Coating The present invention relates to a coating arrangement according to the general description of claim 1 and claim 14
For coating a workpiece according to the general description of the invention.

In many known vacuum processing processes, cleaning of the workpiece surface is performed before vacuum coating. Further, the workpiece may be heated to a desired temperature before or after the cleaning step. These steps are mainly
Necessary to ensure sufficient cohesion of the coating to be deposited. This is especially important in applications where the workpiece and especially the tool are provided with a wear resistant coating. For tools such as drills, mills, broaches and forming dies, such coatings can have very high mechanical and abrasive
Subject to stress. For this reason, a very good connection with the substrate is essential for effective and economical use. As a reliable method for pre-treating such a tool, heating by electron impact and etching by ion etching such as sputter etching can be cited. Heating by electron bombardment from a plasma discharge is known, for example, from DE 33 30 144.

The plasma discharge path may be used to generate heavy noble gas ions, such as argon ions, which are accelerated from the plasma toward the workpiece or substrate and onto the workpiece or substrate. Sputter etching is performed. This is described in DE 28 23 876.

In addition to sputter etching, another known technique involves performing a plasma discharge with an additional reactive gas to chemically etch the workpiece. However, a process technique combining reactive etching and sputter etching is also feasible. The purpose of all these pretreatment processes is to prepare the workpiece surface in such a way that the subsequently deposited coating adheres well to the substrate.

For the generation of plasma, the above arrangement uses a low voltage arc discharge, which is located at the central axis of the device, but the workpiece is at a distance around this arc along the cylindrical surface. It is arranged at. The coating is then deposited by thermal evaporation or sputtering. Depending on the process control, additional ion bombardment is generated from the corresponding substrate bias during coating, a technique known as ion plating. The advantage of this configuration is that a large ion stream with low particle energy can be extracted from the low voltage arc, thereby providing a workpiece-friendly process. However, in order to achieve uniform and reproducible results, the workpiece must be located in a zone defined radially to the discharge, and often the workpiece is positioned on the center axis and the workpiece itself. The disadvantage is that it has to be rotated about an axis.

Another disadvantage is that the relatively narrow acceptable cylindrical processing bandwidth limits the size of workpieces that can be processed or limits the batch size for many small workpieces. This significantly limits the cost efficiency of known configurations. This is due to the fact that the low-voltage arc discharge that passes through the center of the processing chamber itself requires a certain size. In order to produce a good reproducible result, the workpiece must have a suitable distance from the discharge, which means that a large part of the space in the central processing chamber cannot be used.

Further, a sputtering configuration provided with a so-called diode discharge is also known. Such diode discharges operate at high voltages up to 1000 volts and sometimes higher. Diode etchers have been found to be unsuitable for demanding applications. On the one hand, the achievable etch rates are low and thus the efficiency is low, on the other hand such high voltages can cause defects in sensitive substrates. In particular, workpieces that require three-dimensional processing, such as tools, cannot be easily processed with such a configuration. For example, tools are designed with several fine cutting edges, and such discharges tend to concentrate on those fine cutting edges, resulting in overheating and functional edges at such fine edges and tips. Uncontrollable effects, such as destruction, can occur.

In the patent application DE 41 25 365, an approach which solves the above-mentioned problem is described. The approach assumes that the coating is deposited by a so-called arc deposition process. To produce a coating that bonds well with such a deposition apparatus, the arc of the deposition apparatus itself is used prior to the actual coating, and ions that occur in the arc, such as metal ions, are directed from the evaporation target to the workpiece. Accelerate with a negative accelerating voltage, typically higher than 500 volts, but often in the range of 800 to 1000 volts, so that more material is sputtered away from the workpiece than is deposited. To After this etching process, the deposition apparatus operates as a coating source. The description states that such a high voltage is essential in order to produce a coating that adheres better to the arc deposition process in normal processes based on arc coating technology.

In order to prevent problems of overheating or etching for non-uniform mass distributions or fine workpiece geometries, the description describes in addition to the arc plasma, the auxiliary discharge path due to the high voltage that causes additional ionization coupled to the deposition arc. It is suggested to work. The ions are extracted from the plasma by a further DC source and accelerated towards the workpiece, thereby obtaining the desired etching effect. To increase this effect, additional anodes with alternative discharge paths operating from separate power sources are also considered. During the etching process, the substrate is shielded from the direct influence of the vapor deposition device in order to operate the arc vapor deposition device with the shutter closed, thereby preventing the formation of so-called small grains on the substrate.

The disadvantages of the above arrangement are that it also requires high voltages, achieves only a limited processing homogeneity, and the coupling of the different plasma paths also limits the ability to adjust the operating environment. . Furthermore, this arrangement is very complex and therefore expensive to manufacture and operate, which severely impairs the economics of the manufacturing system. Use of voltages above 1000 volts requires additional safety precautions.

Systems based on current technology are not well suited for high throughput where high processing quality is also required. This is very challenging if systems capable of handling coating widths up to 1000 mm and beyond can be manufactured.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a process which is particularly suitable for providing a coating configuration and depositing a coating which adheres well to a large number of workpieces or individual large workpieces having a non-uniform mass distribution. The proposal is to eliminate the aforementioned disadvantages of the current technology while achieving the desired homogeneity and the required very economical processing speed without compromising the microstructure.

This is achieved by the design of the process arrangement mentioned at the outset according to the characterizing part of claim 1 and by the coating process designed according to the characterizing part of claim 14.

Thus, the workpiece surface to be coated is exposed to a plasma source designed as a hot-cathode low-voltage arc discharge arrangement by transporting it transversely to the linear extent of the latter discharge path. . Because the workpiece is connected to a negative voltage, ions are extracted from the arc discharge and accelerated relative to the workpiece, causing the latter to be sputter etched. After this, the workpiece is coated from the same side where the low voltage arc discharge was effective.

Preferred design variants of the coating arrangement according to the invention are defined in dependent claims 2 to 13, and preferred design variants of the process are defined in claims 14 to 17.

Etching with a hot cathode low voltage arc discharge configuration as an ion source allows such arc discharges to operate at discharge voltages below 200 volts, ie, the process has the disadvantage of high voltage etching. It is particularly advantageous because it does not bother you. Also, etching by low voltage arc discharge does not harm the workpiece in particular. That is, there is no adverse effect of thermal overload on microstructures such as the edges of larger workpieces, and no edges are rounded by high energy ion bombardment.

[0065] Despite the relatively low discharge voltage in the operating range of 30 volts DC to 200 volts DC, preferably in the range of 30 volts to 120 volts, tens to hundreds of amps, preferably 100 to 300 amps. Very high discharge currents are feasible. This means that this type of discharge can produce very high ion flows at low energy. Due to the availability of high ion currents, high etch rates on the substrate can be achieved at relatively low accelerating voltages, and, as noted above, workpiece-friendly processing. The extraction or acceleration voltage on the substrate is in the range of -50 volts to -300 volts, preferably in the range of -100 volts to -200 volts. The value of the ion flow directed to the workpiece can range from 5 to 20 amps, with a preferred operating range of 8 to 16 amps. The processing width of the workpiece may be up to 1000 mm. With somewhat more sophisticated device designs, larger process widths are also feasible. This achievable value depends not only on the operating value of the arc discharge, but also on their geometry for the workpieces and the working pressure selected. Typical working pressures are of the order of 10 ^-3 mbar. A rare gas is used as a working gas for operating the arc discharge, and a heavy rare gas such as argon is preferably used.

Heretofore, low voltage arc discharge configurations have been rotationally symmetric, that is, the arc discharge is centered and the workpiece is rotated around this arc located at a central axis. It was assumed here that a rotationally symmetric configuration with a centrally located arc discharge should yield the best possible result with regard to uniformity and the speed of the etching operation. However, it has surprisingly been found that the asymmetric configuration proposed by the present invention is generally much more advantageous than the rotationally symmetric configuration described above. In a rotationally symmetric configuration in which the arc discharge is provided on a central axis, the placement of a large volume workpiece is limited in the center direction by the arc discharge itself. In addition, such workpieces must be rotated not only about the central axis, but also about their own axis, whereby the etched workpiece surface is placed on the walls of the chamber after the etching process. The source must be ready for coating. Only in this way can a sufficient distribution of the etching process and of the coating thickness be ensured.

Also, the distance of the workpiece from the arc discharge is more important in a rotationally symmetric configuration than in an asymmetric configuration where the workpiece is only exposed to the arc discharge from one side towards the arc discharge. I understand.

In the apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to pass a workpiece having a large volume before the arc discharge without further rotation, whereby the size of the processing chamber can be suppressed within a reasonable range. The handling of heavy workpieces becomes very simple. This has a significant effect on the economics of the manufacturing system. The arrangement according to the invention is not only advantageous for large-volume workpieces, but it is also possible to accommodate a corresponding large number of smaller workpieces and process them simultaneously.

Another advantage of the arrangement according to the invention is that it is no longer necessary to configure the etching apparatus as an integral part of the processing chamber, which places the etching apparatus in the region of the walls of the processing chamber. Only, i.e. it can be arranged as an elongated smaller discharge chamber on the latter outer wall, which provides much greater freedom in the design of the processing chamber. It has been found that in this configuration, the distance between the arc discharge and the workpiece surface is less critical, and higher reproducibility of the results can be achieved for the larger spacing variations typically encountered with larger workpieces. The overall ion flow that can be extracted from the arc discharge also advantageously reaches a high value and can be sufficiently concentrated on the workpiece, resulting in the desired high etching rate. Since the low voltage arc discharge or plasma source is actually separated from the processing chamber or zone, the design of this source provides a high degree of freedom, and therefore an integrated rotary where the discharge is provided on the central axis of the device The source design can be adapted much more flexibly to the process requirements than in a symmetric configuration.

To deposit a well-bonded coating after the etching process, one or more additional evaporation sources acting from the same side are arranged on the walls of the processing chamber. Particularly suitable are sources which can be arranged in such a way as to coat a workpiece carried in front of the source over a corresponding elongated area, such as an elongated low-voltage discharge. A suitable source is a sputtering source or an arc evaporation source. Implementations have shown that so-called cathodic spark or arc deposition devices have proved to be particularly suitable, since these and the above-mentioned etching processes can be economically produced with better bonding coatings. Test tools treated with this configuration have achieved much longer and more reproducible service lives than can be achieved with the known arc deposition coatings with high voltage etching described above. For example, the useful life of cutting tools such as milling cutters has been increased at least 1.5 times, and even doubled in the particularly preferred case over the prior art. In addition, a very homogeneous etch distribution is achieved, which is less dependent on the workpiece geometry than before, and also allows mixing different substrates in a batch.

In the proposed arrangement, it is easily possible to implement the process using a chemically active gas as well as a noble gas, which means that the low-voltage arc discharge reduces gases such as N ₂ and H _2. This is for activating very well. Unwanted parasitic discharges occurring on insulating surfaces can be easily controlled by low voltage discharges. The low voltage arc discharge is preferably operated by a separate cathode or ionization chamber containing the hot cathode and communicating with the discharge or processing chamber only through a small opening. Gas is preferably admitted via this cathode compartment. This results in some gas separation between the processing chamber and the coating source, which reduces or eliminates the problem of target contamination. This arrangement also allows activation of the workpiece by different process gases during the actual coating stage. The desired operating conditions can be set by selecting a corresponding negative or positive voltage for the workpiece.

In general, the workpiece must be passed several times before the source in the processing steps in order to achieve the required etch or coating depth and uniform and reproducible processing, It is advantageous to design the device so that the source can be rotated about a central axis and the source is arranged on the wall of the chamber in such a way that the source acts all inwards from the outside. In this case, in order to process a very large workpiece, it may be arranged in such a way that it rotates about its central axis. However, in the same space, a number of small workpieces, which may be different in size, may be placed on a holder and passed across the source while rotating about this central axis to obtain a homogeneous result. Good. Although such an arrangement is particularly small and easy to manufacture, it is essential for an economical process.

The plasma source or low voltage arc discharge is preferably arranged on the processing chamber wall transverse to the transport direction. Preferably, the low-voltage arc discharge device may be arranged, for example, in a box-shaped appendage, where it is in the form of a discharge chamber, where the low-voltage arc is diametrically opposed to the workpiece or the zone to be processed. Is connected to the processing chamber by a long narrow opening in such a manner as to be arranged on the side of the processing chamber. Low voltage arcing is generated by an electrically heated or thermionic emitting cathode and anode located at a distance. A corresponding discharge voltage is applied to this anode to draw an arc current. This discharge is characterized by a gas inlet port to which the arc discharge is supplied together with the working gas. This arrangement preferably operates with a noble gas such as argon, but a reactive gas may be added as described above. The size of the discharge path must be at least 80% of the width of the processing zone and must be positioned relative to the processing zone in such a way as to obtain the desired processing distribution or homogeneity. To perform a corresponding sputter etch on the workpiece, the latter or the workpiece holder is operated at a negative voltage with respect to the arc discharge configuration. Some processes, such as reactive processes during coating, may operate this configuration without such a voltage, or may even operate this configuration using a positive voltage or electron bombardment.
Intermediate or high frequency AC voltages other than DC voltages may be used, and superposition of DC on AC is also feasible. The DC voltage may also be applied in pulses, with only a portion of it being superimposed on the AC supply. With such a supply, it is possible to control certain reactive processes. Also,
In particular, parasitic arcs can be prevented if dielectric zones are present or formed on the surface of the device and workpiece.

The desired distribution for the treatment zone can be set via the length of the discharge and its location. Another parameter that controls the distribution is the plasma density distribution along the arc discharge. This distribution can be influenced, for example, by using an additional magnetic field located in the region of the discharge chamber. A permanent magnet is placed along the discharge chamber for setting and modifying process parameters. However, better results are obtained by operating the discharge path with a separate powered anode provided along the discharge path according to the distribution requirements. In such a configuration, even the distribution curve can influence to some extent. For this reason, a configuration that does not include correction magnets and includes two or more anodes along the discharge path is preferable. However, it is also possible to combine this preferred configuration with further correction magnets. Additional anodes can be easily operated in combination with a single cathode. However, it is advantageous to provide an emission cathode on the opposite side of each anode and to decouple these circuits in an optimal manner, thereby improving controllability.

The thermionic emission cathode is preferably located in a separate small cathode chamber that communicates with the discharge chamber through a small opening. The cathode compartment preferably has an inlet port for the noble gas. If desired, a reactive gas may be introduced through this gas inlet. Preferably, the reactive gas is not introduced into the cathode compartment, but is eg introduced into the discharge compartment. At least partially ionized gas emerges from this opening as electrons are attracted to the anode through the opening in the cathode compartment. The processing chamber is preferably designed in such a way that the central axis about which the workpiece rotates is arranged vertically. The cathode or cathode compartment is preferably located above the anode. In the cathode compartment, the outlet opening is preferably arranged downward. Such an arrangement simplifies the overall handling of the system and avoids any problems that may arise from particulate generation.

In addition to the low voltage arc discharge configuration, the processing chamber is provided with at least one further source, preferably in the form of an arc evaporation device. These sources act radially in the same direction from the outside toward the central axis or processing zone. Advantageously, the low-voltage arc discharge is arranged in front of the coating source in the direction of transport. As with the arc discharge configuration, the arc deposition apparatus usually has a linear extent, which is transverse to the transport direction, so that the entire processing zone can be coated with the desired homogeneity.
In the proposed coating configuration, preferably several round arc evaporation devices are used, which are distributed along the walls of the chamber in such a way that the desired homogeneity is achieved. The advantage is that the high power consumption of the deposition apparatus can be divided and the coating thickness distribution can be better controlled or even adjusted to some extent by the power supply. In this way, very high coating speeds can be achieved, resulting in increased economics. For example, a process for a tool, especially a forming die, is configured as follows.

Example of Process The system configuration corresponds to FIG. 2 and FIG. The tool does not rotate about its own axis, but passes in front of the source simply by rotating the workpiece holder about its central axis. A coating zone having a width b of 1000 mm and a diameter d of 700 mm is formed in which the workpiece is placed. The processing chamber has a diameter of 1200 mm and a height of 1300 mm. Etching parameters: Low voltage arc current I _LVA = 200 A Arc discharge voltage U _LVA = 50 V Argon pressure P _Ar = 2.0 × 10 ^-3 mbar Etching current I _sub = 12 A Etching time t = 30 min Etching depth 200 nm Coating: Current for each arc vapor deposition device I _ARC = 200 A (8 vapor deposition devices and 150 mm diameter titanium target) Arc discharge voltage U _ARC = 20 V Nitrogen pressure P _N2 = 1.0 × 10 ^-2 mbar Bias pressure U _Bias = -100 V Coating time t = 45 minutes Coating thickness TiN 6 μm The process cycle time for one batch, including heating and cooling, is 150 minutes.

The voltage generator for the negative accelerating voltage on the workpiece normally operates at a voltage of up to 300 volts DC, but to protect the workpiece, the voltage is preferably kept in the range of 100 volts to 200 volts. Thus, even in this range, a good etching rate can be performed without causing defects. The low voltage arc configuration must be operated at least 10 cm away from the workpiece, but this distance is preferably greater than 15 cm or preferably in the range 15 cm to 25 cm, with good distribution High rates can be achieved.

The coating system according to the invention is particularly suitable for processing tools such as drills, milling and forming dies. The holder and the transport device are specifically designed for this type of tool. In general, good results can be achieved with the coating arrangement according to the invention even when the workpiece to be coated is rotated only about the central axis of the device. Especially in critical situations or when a very large number of small parts are loaded in the system, this design concept makes it easy to supplement the rotation about the central axis by adding a further axis of rotation about the central axis. Can be.

The present invention is illustrated and schematically described with reference to the following drawings. FIG. 1 is a coating configuration with a low voltage discharge according to the prior art (state of the art).

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a typical coating system according to the present invention with a peripheral discharge chamber for low voltage discharge.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the system shown in FIG. FIG. 4a is a cross-sectional view of a portion of an arrangement with a discharge chamber for low voltage arc discharge and a plurality of anodes located inside the chamber.

FIG. 4 b is similar to FIG. 4 a, but further illustrates a separate cathode-anode discharge path in which the cathode is located in a separate cathode compartment.

FIG. 4c shows, similar to FIGS. 4a and 4b, a separate cathode-anode discharge path, but with the cathode located in a common cathode chamber.

FIG. 5 is a comparative curve of the service life of tools coated by the prior art and the technology according to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a known workpiece coating configuration. The vacuum chamber plays the role of the processing chamber 1 for accommodating the low-voltage arc discharge 18, which runs in the center of the vacuum chamber 1 along the latter central axis 16 and the magnetron sputtering source 14 It is attached to the wall of the processing chamber 1 as a flange at the periphery from the outside. At the top of the processing chamber 1 is a cathode chamber 2 that holds a thermionic thermal cathode 3;
A working gas, typically a noble gas such as argon, can be supplied to this via a gas inlet 5. Active gas can also be added in a reactive process. The cathode chamber 2 communicates with the processing chamber 1 through a small hole of the shutter 4. The cathode chamber is usually insulated from the processing chamber by an insulator 6. Since the shutter 4 is further insulated from the cathode chamber via the insulator 6, the shutter 4 can be operated at a floating potential or an auxiliary potential as required. The anode 7 is arranged on the opposite side of the cathode chamber 2 in the direction of the central axis 16. The anode 7 may be in the form of a crucible and holds the material to be evaporated by a low voltage arc discharge. During the etching process, this evaporation option is not used, just the ions are extracted from the low voltage arc discharge and accelerated towards the workpiece, so that the latter is sputter etched. To operate the low voltage arc discharge 18, the cathode 3 is heated by a heater supply unit so that the cathode 3 emits electrons. Cathode 3 and anode 7
There is a further power supply 8 for operating the arc discharge. This usually produces a positive DC voltage at the anode 7 to maintain the low voltage arc 18. Between the arc discharge 18 and the wall of the processing chamber 1 there is arranged a workpiece holder which holds the workpiece 11 and, in order to achieve sufficient processing quality, disposes them on its vertical central axis 1.
7 may be rotated. The workpiece holder 10 is supported on a further workpiece holder arrangement 12 with a rotary drive, which rotates the workpiece holder 10 about a central axis 16. In a device of this type, a further coil 13, for example in the form of a Hertzholm coil,
It is necessary to concentrate the low-voltage arc discharge 18 via the. Workpiece 1
It is clear that 1 can be treated by a low voltage arc discharge 18, that ion bombardment occurs when a negative voltage is applied to the substrate, and that applying a positive substrate voltage enables electron bombardment. . In this way, the workpiece can be pretreated with the aid of low-voltage arcing, either by heating-induced electron bombardment or by ion bombardment with sputter etching. Thereafter, the workpiece 11 may be evaporated via evaporation of material from the crucible 7 by a low voltage arc, or via sputtering by a magnetron sputter source 14 supplied by a power supply 15.
Can be coated.

It will be readily appreciated that the mechanical assembly for moving the substrate and the configuration of the low voltage arc discharge are relatively complex in this layout. On the other hand, the degree of freedom is severely limited since the workpiece can only be arranged between the centrally located low-voltage arc discharge and the outer wall of the chamber. This type of system is uneconomical to operate on large workpieces or large batches.

One example of a preferred coating configuration according to the present invention is shown as a cross-sectional view in FIG. The processing chamber 1 includes a workpiece holder 11, which is arranged in such a way that the workpiece can rotate about a central axis 16 of the processing chamber. The chamber is normally depressurized by a vacuum pump 19 which maintains the working pressure required for the processing steps. In the proposed arrangement, a large workpiece 11 extending beyond the central axis 16 can be arranged in the processing chamber 1 in such a way that it can be processed by a source arranged, for example, on the wall of the processing chamber. The zone available for loading the workpiece almost completely fills the processing chamber 1. In such a configuration, either a single large workpiece 11 or a number of smaller workpieces that substantially fill the volume of the chamber can be positioned.

The workpiece holder for rotating the workpiece 11 about the central axis 16 extends transversely to the direction of rotation over the coating width b. With the system according to the invention, it is particularly advantageous to be able to achieve a uniform and reproducible coating result over a large coating width b or over a large depth range extending from the central axis 16 to the periphery of the coating width, ie over the entire diameter D. It is. According to the known concentric arrangement according to the prior art, where such conditions are important, the eccentric arrangement according to the invention was not expected to produce better results. A variety of workpiece geometries with fine edges and cutting edges can be accommodated in this large area without causing problems with thermal stresses or undesirable arcing.

An etching source and a coating source are arranged on the outer wall of the processing chamber, and both act from the outside toward the workpiece. Due to the important preliminary sputter etching process, the walls of the chamber are provided with slot-shaped openings, the length of which corresponds at least to the processing width b. Behind this opening 26 is a box-shaped discharge chamber 21 in which a low-voltage arc discharge 18 is generated. This low voltage arc discharge 18 runs substantially parallel to the processing width b and has an effective length that is at least 80% of the processing width b. Preferably, the length of the discharge is equal to or extends beyond the treatment width b.

The axis of the arc discharge 18 is at a distance d from the nearest processing zone, ie the next workpiece section. This distance d is at least 10 cm, preferably 15 cm to 25 cm. Thereby, good processing homogeneity is obtained, and a high sputtering rate can be maintained. At the lower part of the discharge chamber 21, the cathode chamber 2 is flanged, which communicates with the discharge chamber 21 via the orifice 4. The cathode chamber 2 includes a hot cathode 3 supplied via a heating power supply unit 9. This supply can be operated with AC or DC. The cathode chamber 2 features a gas inlet port 5 for supplying a working gas, usually a noble gas such as argon, or a rare gas-active gas mixture for certain reactive processes. I do. An auxiliary gas inlet 22 allows the use gas to be introduced via the processing chamber 1. The active gas is preferably introduced directly into the processing chamber 1 via the gas inlet 22.

[0092] Above the discharge chamber 21, there is an electrode 7 designed as an anode. DC supply 8
Is connected between the cathode 3 and the anode 7 so that the anode is on the anode 7 so that a low voltage arc discharge can be extracted. A voltage generator between the low voltage arcing arrangement and the workpiece 11 causes the workpiece holder or workpiece 11
By applying a negative voltage to, the argon ions are accelerated towards the workpiece and the surface is sputter etched. This can be achieved with an accelerating voltage of up to 300 volts DC, but is preferably performed at a voltage in the range of 100 to 200 volts to ensure gentle processing of the workpiece 11. The homogeneity of the process can be set by appropriately arranging the cathode chamber 2 and arranging the anode 7 in relation to the processing width b of the workpiece to be processed according to the process specifications. Another factor is the shape of the anode 7. The latter may be, for example, flat, dished or rectangular, or may be designed as a tubular cooled anode.

FIG. 3 shows a horizontal sectional view of the system according to FIG. The box-shaped discharge chamber 21 on the outer wall of the processing chamber 1 communicating with the processing zone through the slot opening 26 is again shown. Of course, if desired, several such discharge chambers may be arranged in the system, for example, to further enhance the processing effect. Also shown is an evaporation source 23 attached as a flange to the chamber wall. For example, the magnetron sputtering source is changed to the evaporation source 2
Although it may be used as 3, it is preferable to use a so-called arc evaporation source to achieve a high processing speed at low cost. The advantage of this arrangement is that the arc evaporation source 23 can be freely arranged from the outside in such a way that the desired coating homogeneity can be set by means of the distributed arrangement of the sources and a high coating speed can be maintained. Rather than using a single rectangular evaporation source, it has been found more advantageous to use several smaller round sources located around the system according to process requirements.

FIG. 4 a shows another advantageous variant of the arrangement according to the invention, in which the cathode chamber 2 is located on top of the discharge chamber 21. The advantage is that such coating systems have the least interference with the operation of the discharge path by the particles that are necessarily generated.
It also shows the possibility of further dividing the discharge path by using several anode-cathode circuits and making the intensity along discharge 1 adjustable. The main discharge is generated by a power supply 8 between the main anode 7 and the cathode chamber 2. Further auxiliary discharge may be generated by the auxiliary anode 24 and the auxiliary power supply 25. In this way, it is possible to adjust the power density of the discharge locally along the entire discharge path between the anode 7 and the cathode 2 and with respect to the strength for the homogeneity requirements of the workpiece.

FIG. 4b shows another configuration. The anode-cathode path can be completely separated,
Alternatively, the decoupling can be effected using separate anodes 7 and 24, separate cathodes 3 and 3 'and separate cathode compartments 2 and 2'. The alternative shown in FIG. 4c uses two separate anodes 7 and 24 and a common cathode chamber 2 with two hot cathodes 3 and 3 '.

FIG. 5 shows the test results of an HSS-finished milling mill treated according to the invention (curve b) and the prior art (curve a). In each case, the mill was provided with a 3.5 μm TiN coating. In the milling according to the prior art (curve a), the high voltage etching was first performed in a conventional manner, whereas the milling represented by the curve b used the process according to the invention. The test conditions are as follows.

HSS finishing mill: 16 mm diameter Number of teeth 4 Test material: 42 CrMo4 (DIN 1.7225) Hardness: HRC 38.5 Infeed: 15 mm × 2.5 mm Cutting speed 40 m / min per tooth Feed rate 0.088 mm Feed rate 280 mm / min End of life: spindle torque 80 (arbitrary unit) This result shows a clear improvement in the life of the tool treated according to the invention. An improvement of 1.5 times or more can be easily achieved. What is important is not only the extension of the tool life, but also a flatter progression of the torque curve, which indicates the deterioration of the quality of the tool towards the end of the tool life. In the example according to FIG.
at a total milling depth of m. Curve a representing the prior art shows a sharp deterioration of the tool quality at a total milling depth of 15 m. This means that the cutting quality achievable with the prior art varies widely over the tool life, ie is not very constant.

The system manufactured according to the present invention shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 provides a much higher throughput and the above-mentioned high quality compared to the system 1 corresponding to the prior art. Throughput can be easily doubled, or can be increased by a factor of three to five, thus significantly improving economics.

SUMMARY In order to deposit a hard coating on a high performance tool to be sputter etched prior to coating, the present invention sputter etches the tool by a low voltage arc discharge and then coats the tool from the etched direction. Propose that.

Claims 1. A coating arrangement for processing a workpiece (11), comprising a vacuum processing chamber (1) and a plasma source (18) arranged on the chamber, wherein a coating source (23) is arranged in said chamber. Said chamber comprises a holding and / or conveying device defining a processing zone (b) for positioning or passing the workpiece (11) in front of the source, said source comprising: Acting at the same distance from the same direction, the coating configuration comprises:
Featuring a plasma source (18) designed as a hot cathode low voltage discharge arrangement, the linear extent (1) in the direction transverse to the workpiece transport direction substantially corresponds to the width (b) of the processing zone And wherein the coating configuration comprises an arc discharge (18).
A coating arrangement including a device for generating an electric field (20) between the workpiece and the workpiece (11). 2. The holding and conveying device for the workpiece (11) is arranged rotatably about the central axis (16) of the processing chamber (1), and the sources (18, 23) are both central axis (1).
2. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the arrangement is arranged on the wall of the chamber in such a way that it acts radially from the outside in the direction of 6). 3. The plasma source of the discharge chamber (21) is arranged on the outer wall of the chamber (1),
Inside or above 21) a thermionic emission cathode (3) is provided, at least 80% of the processing zone width being away from and along the processing zone width (b), producing a low voltage arc discharge (18). A noble gas port (5) in a discharge chamber (21) with a voltage generator (20) in such a configuration that the cathode is on the workpiece (11). The arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the arrangement is located between the anode-cathode circuit and the workpiece (11), such that the plasma source arrangement (2, 7, 18, 21) functions as a sputter etching apparatus. 4. At least one further anode (24) extending along the plasma path at a distance from the plasma path comprises an emitting cathode (3) and an anode (3) for adjusting the plasma density distribution along the arc discharge (18). 7) The arrangement according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the arrangement is arranged between the first and second embodiments. 5. The anode (7) and the further anode (24) are separate adjustable power supplies (2
5), and preferably the opposite cathode (7, 25) for each anode (7, 25)
3) is provided, which together with the corresponding anode (7, 25) and a separate power supply (8, 25) forms its own adjustable power supply circuit. Configuration. 6. The emission cathode (3) is arranged in the cathode chamber 2 separate from the discharge chamber (21),
The cathode chamber (2) communicates with the discharge chamber (21) through the opening (4), through which electrons can appear, and the rare gas inlet port (5) is preferably provided. The arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, arranged on this cathode chamber (2). 7. The processing chamber (1) and its central axis (16) are arranged vertically and the cathode (
3) The cathode compartment (2) according to any of claims 2 to 6, wherein the cathode compartment (2) is arranged above the anode (7, 24) and the opening (4) of the cathode compartment (2) is preferably facing downward. The configuration described. 8. Preferably at least one comprising at least one arc evaporation device (23)
Arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, wherein one coating source (23) is arranged on the processing chamber wall next to the plasma source (18), the plasma source (18) being located further forward in the transport direction. . 9. Arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the voltage generator (20) is designed for voltages up to 300V DC, preferably between 100V and 200V. 10. The low voltage arcing arrangement (18) is at least one piece away from the workpiece (11).
Arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, located at 0 cm, preferably 15 cm to 25 cm apart. 11. 11. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the holding and conveying device is designed in particular as a tool holder for drills, milling and forming dies. 12. At least one magnetic field generator for adjusting the plasma density distribution in the discharge chamber (
Arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, arranged in or on 21). 13. The discharge chamber (21) has an opening along the entire width (b) of the processing zone, the opening facing the latter so that the processing zone is exposed to an arc discharge.
13. The configuration according to any one of items 1 to 12. 14． A process for at least partially coating a workpiece (11) in a vacuum processing chamber (1), comprising a plasma source (18) disposed on the processing chamber.
And a coating source (23), wherein a holding and / or conveying device is arranged in the chamber (1), said device positioning or passing the workpiece (11) in front of the source (18, 23). A processing zone (b) for causing the source to work from the same side and being located at a distance from the workpiece (11);
In said process, the plasma source (18) generates a hot cathode low voltage arc (18) substantially across at least 80% of the width (b) of the processing zone in a direction transverse to the direction of workpiece transport; In the process, a voltage is applied between the arc discharge and the workpiece to allow charge carriers to be extracted from the plasma and accelerated toward the substrate. 15. The workpiece preferably rotates continuously about the central axis (16) of the processing chamber, passes in front of the source (18, 23), and plasma processing occurs in the first step via charge carrier bombardment, The process according to claim 14, wherein the coating of (11) is performed in a second step. 16. The charge carriers are directly arced (18) with the help of a negative workpiece voltage.
Consisting of ions extracted from and sputter-etching the workpiece (11),
A process according to claim 14 or claim 15. 17． The homogeneity of the etch distribution over the coating zone (b) depends on the arc length,
The distance (d) between the arc and the workpiece and the position of the arc relative to the workpiece can be set to a predetermined value by selecting and adjusting a plasma density distribution along the arc. 17. The process according to any of 14 to 16.

FIG. 5 Spindle torque [a. u. End of tool life High voltage etching, 3.5 μm TiN (arc coating) Low voltage arc coating, 3.5 μm TiN (arc coating), (
Invention) Total milling depth [m]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a linearly scaled view of nitrogen partial pressure versus tool body bias voltage.

FIG. 2 is a typical intensity versus angle 2θ diagram when a titanium aluminum nitride hard material layer is deposited in the region of Q _I ≧ 1 in FIG. 1 to obtain a Q _I value of 5.4. is there.

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 2 except that titanium aluminum nitride is deposited.
on) is a diagram obtained by the invention a Q _I ≦ 1 is controlled by a bias voltage and nitrogen partial pressure.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIGS. 2 and 3 but with respect to the effective point P ₁ of FIG. ₁ ;

[Procedural Amendment] Submission of translation of Article 34 Amendment of the Patent Cooperation Treaty

[Submission date] March 10, 2000 (2000.3.10)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Claims]

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] All figures

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG.

FIG. 2

FIG. 3

FIG. 4

[Attachment A Figure 1]

[Attachment A Figure 2]

[Attachment A Fig. 3]

[Attachment A Figure 5]

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (81) Designated country EP (AT, BE, CH, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, IT, LU, MC, NL, PT, SE), OA (BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG), AP (GH, KE, LS, MW, SD, SZ, UG, ZW) , EA (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, MD, RU, TJ, TM), AL, AM, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BR, BY, CA, CH, CN, CU, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, GB, GE, GH, HU, ID, IL, IS, JP, KE, KG, KP, KR, KZ, LC, LK, LR , LS, LT, LU, LV, MD, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RU, SD, SE, SG, SI, SK, SL, TJ, TM, TR, TT, UA, UG, US, UZ, VN, YU, ZW

Claims (19)

[Claims] 1. A tool comprising a tool body and a wear-resistant layer system,
The layer system comprises at least one layer of MeX, Me comprises titanium and aluminum, X is at least one of nitrogen and carbon, the layer has a Q _I value of Q _I ≦ 2, wherein The tool is one of a hard carbide end mill, a hard carbide ball nose mill, and a cemented carbide hobbing tool.
The value of I (111) is at least 20% of the intensity average noise value when measured according to
Double, tool. Wherein the effective range of the Q _I is Q _I ≦ 1, preferably a Q _I ≦ 0.5, more preferably a Q _I ≦ 0.2, particularly preferably, Q The tool according to claim 1, wherein _I ≦ 0.1. 3. The MeX material is one of titanium aluminum nitride, titanium aluminum carbonitride, titanium aluminum boron nitride, and preferably one of titanium aluminum nitride and titanium aluminum carbonitride. The tool according to claim 1. 4. The Me further comprises at least one further element of the group consisting of boron, zirconium, hafnium, yttrium, silicon, tungsten, chromium, preferably comprising at least one of yttrium and silicon and boron. Item 4. The tool according to any one of Items 1 to 3. 5. The element according to claim 4, wherein the content i of the further element contained in Me is 0.05 atomic% ≦ i ≦ 60 atomic% when the content of Ti is 100 atomic%. The described tool. 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a further layer of titanium nitride between the at least one layer and the tool body, wherein the further layer has a thickness d, and the effective range of d is 0.05 μm ≦ d ≦ The tool according to any one of claims 1 to 5, which has a thickness of 5.0 µm. 7. The tool according to claim 6, wherein the layer system is formed by the at least one layer and the further layer. 8. The tool according to claim 1, wherein the stress σ in the at least one layer is 2 GPa ≦ σ ≦ 8 GPa, preferably 4 GPa ≦ σ ≦ 6 GPa. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the content x of titanium in Me is 70 atomic% ≧ x ≧ 40 atomic%, preferably 65 atomic% ≧ x ≧ 55 atomic%. The tool according to item 1. 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the content y of aluminum in Me is 30 at% ≦ y ≦ 60 at%, preferably 35 at% ≦ y ≦ 45 at%. Or the tool according to item 1. 11. A method of manufacturing a tool including a tool body and a wear-resistant layer system, wherein the wear-resistant layer system includes at least one layer of hard material, the method comprising: Performing reactive PVD deposition on at least one of two parameters consisting of a partial pressure of a reactive gas in the vacuum chamber and a bias voltage of the tool body with respect to a predetermined reference potential. Te, previously selecting a process parameter values determined, with the desired Q _I values, at least one and average intensity of I (200) and I (111) for said PVD deposition (deposition) I (200) and I (1) when the noise value was measured according to MS.
11) at least one of said partial pressure and said bias voltage to realize said layer, wherein at least one value of said at least one is greater than at least 20 times the average intensity noise value.
A method for manufacturing a tool, comprising the step of adjusting one. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein Q To reduce the _I value further comprises the step of increasing and contact step of decreasing the partial pressure, method for producing tool according to claim 11. Wherein said Q _I comprising the step of steps and reduction increases the bias voltage to reduce the value, method for producing a tool according to claim 11 or claim 12. 14. The method of claim 11, further comprising performing said reactive PVD deposition by reactive cathodic arc evaporation.
4. The method for manufacturing a tool according to any one of items 3 to 5. 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of magnetically controlling the evaporation. 16. The method further comprising the step of depositing a layer of MeX on the tool body, wherein Me comprises titanium and aluminum, X is at least one of nitrogen and carbon and the reactive gas is used for the PVD deposition ( The method of manufacturing a tool according to any one of claims 11 to 15, which is introduced into deposition). 17. The tool is one of a hard carbide end mill, a hard carbide ball nose mill, and a cemented carbide hob, whereby the Q _I value is Q _I ≦ 2 and the reactive PVD deposition is 17. The method of manufacturing a tool according to any one of claims 11 to 16, wherein the method is selected by adjusting at least one of the reactive pressure of the deposition and the bias voltage. 18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the Q _I value is selected such that Q _I ≦ 1, preferably Q _I ≦ 0.5, and more preferably Q _I ≦ 0.2. 19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the Q _I value is selected as Q _I ≦ 0.1.