ELSEVIER

Thin Solid Films 253 (1994) 33 40

Decorative optical coatings

Georg Reiners a, Uwe Beck a, H e r m a n n A. Jehn b
aBAM (Bundesanstalt fiir Materialforsehung und-priifung), Unter den Eiehen 87, D-12200 Berlin, Germany
bForschungsinstitut fiir Edelmetalle und Metallehemie (FEM), Katharinenstrafle 17, D- 73525 Sehwiibisch-Gmiind, Germany

Abstract

The paper gives a survey of current research on decorative coatings. In the first part the main deposition techniques as well as
characterization techniques are discussed. The paper is restricted to decorative physically vapor deposited hard coatings with
electrochemically deposited barrier coatings. The influence of stoichiometry, structure, and surface roughness on the colour of
physically vapor deposited hard coatings is reviewed. In the last decades, a number of different coating deposition techniques have
been developed. The demand for environmental compatibility of low cost large-scale production techniques has resulted in the
development of combinations of physical vapor deposition and electroplating. Coating systems have been developed using NiPd
and CuSn(Zn) instead of Ni electroplated coatings as interlayers, strongly reducing the allergy risk. New industrial applications
demonstrate the increasing economic importance of decorative hard coatings.

Keywords: Nitrides; Optical properties; Physical vapour deposition; Structural properties

I. Introduction

Decorative coatings have a long tradition in jewellery, ritual objects and even objects of daily life. For
hundreds of years, for example, leaf gold has been used
to decorate works of art. In 1840, the first gold plating
made by electrochemical deposition (ECD) was produced [1]. The function of decorative coatings is
not restricted to giving a desired colour to the surface.
In many cases, the coating also has to protect the
substrate material against wear and/or corrosion. Normally, the substrate material takes over the "mechanical" function. By use of decorative coatings, expensive
substrate materials and/or expensive production techniques (e.g. machining of hard bulk materials) can be
substituted.
A number of different coating deposition techniques
have been developed: painting, anodizing, electroplating (ECD), diffusion coating, thermal spraying,
enamel coating, chemical and physical vapor deposition
(CVD and PVD). The present paper, however, is restricted to decorative hard coatings deposited by PVD
techniques.
The colour of PVD thin films, as many other properties, often differs from that of the bulk material because
the colour is mainly determined by the band structure
0040-6090/94/$7.00 1994 - - Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved
SSDI 0 0 4 0 - 6 0 9 0 ( 9 4 ) 0 4 6 5 7 - R

of the deposited layer which depends on both the

chemical composition and the crystal structure of the
film. The structure of PVD coatings can differ strongly
from that of undisturbed bulk structure depending on
the deposition technique and the substrate material.
Transition metal compounds, e.g. oxides, nitrides and
carbides, find increasing use as decorative coatings
combining intensive colours, high wear resistance and
good corrosion resistance [2-13]. The colour variation
of simple compounds such as the golden TiN and dark
gray TiC is limited. Oxidizing, nitriding and carburizing
of binary alloys or the addition of a second metalloid,
however, widen the spectrum of colours for decorative
applications. A typical example is (Ti, A1)N, changing
from silvery to gold and dark blue colour depending on
the A1 and N content [14].
PVD coatings are often combined with ECD coatings,
especially if cheap materials are used for jewellery parts,
watch cases and other objects of everyday life. In these
cases the electroplated layers mainly act as corrosionresistant interlayers because PVD films are not completely defect free and corrosive media can come in
contact with the substrate material. In addition, surface
leveling and special gloss effects can be obtained by the
deposition parameters of the ECD process. Conventional electroplated barrier layers are mostly based on

34

G. Reiners et al. / Thin Solid Films, 253 (1994) 33 40

Ni which are now having to be replaced because of

their allergy risk.
The first part of this paper deals with fundamentals
of colour generation and changes in colour along with
characterization techniques needed to study the correlation between color and other properties of the coatings.
The second part gives a comprehensive report of current research activities and recent applications of decorative hard coatings.

2. Economic aspects of decorative coatings

For many products, the design and finish fix the price
whereas the function is taken for granted. Colour is a
constitutive element of decorative design. Examples are
watches (watch cases). Even low-price watches show the
exact time with high accuracy but the prices of watches
differ by at least two orders of magnitude. Estimations
[15] show that the world market for thin film products
is about 32 billion US$ per year, decorative thin film
products contributing about 0.75 billion US$ per year.
Decorative parts are attacked in a very complex way
by wear and corrosion simultaneously. Again watches
are taken as an example. They combine all the tribological mechanisms which are typical of decorative coatings [16]. Hence, in addition to their decorative
functions, PVD coatings have to fulfil a wide range of
demands: good adhesion and resistance to wear and
corrosion as well as mechanical and chemical compatibility with the substrates or interlayers. Additionally,
reproducible deposition with respect to the decorative
properties of the coated parts is a prerequisite for any
successful application. The well known high sensitivity
of the human eye requires sensitive characterization
techniques for production quality control. Nevertheless,
the most important point is the price.

3. Deposition techniques of decorative coatings

In general, various techniques for the deposition of
decorative coatings are used in industry. In this paper,
we restrict ourselves to PVD coatings and the combination of PVD and ECD techniques for the deposition to
wear resistant coatings onto metallic substrates.
ECD coatings include noble metals (Au, Au alloys,
Pt, Ag, etc.), metals (e.g. Cr, Ni, Cu), and some binary
alloys (e.g. CuZn, CuSn, etc.). The surface roughness
can be reduced by ECD coatings. The wear resistance
of ECD coatings is sufficient for many applications and
the corrosion resistance is high in most cases. The
typical ECD coating thickness is more than 10 ~tm. The
deposition rates are much higher than 1 ~tm h-l.
The PVD technique has numerous possibilities for the
deposition of noble and other metals, binary, ternary

and multicomponent metal alloys, and especially reactively deposited hard coatings (nitrides, carbides, carbonitrides such as TiN, (Ti, A1)N, etc.). The roughness
of PVD coatings is normally the same as the roughness
of the substrate or greater. The corrosion resistance of
hard coatings is limited because of pin-holes in the
coating, whereas the wear resistance is extremely high.
The typical PVD coating thickness ranges between 1 and
5 ~tm. The deposition rates are often of the order of
1-5 ~tm h i. A more detailed comparison of ECD and
PVD coatings is given in Ref. [17].
A comparison of the properties of coatings deposited
by ECD and PVD has, for example, been made for gold
alloys [18] or ECD hard chrome and PVD CrN [19].
Comparison of different PVD techniques, however,
showed only slight differences with respect to colour
and gloss [20]. Combination of these techniques widens
the field of application for decorative purposes [21 23].

4. Colour
Colour and gloss are the most important properties
of decorative parts and hence also of decorative coatings. The visual perception of colour is well described
by the CIE L*a*b* coordinates L*, a* and b* [24],
which allow better quantification of colour differences
as perceived. The parameters are the lightness L*
(black = 0 , white = I00), the red-green value a* and
the yellow-blue value b* (a*, b * = 0-100).
4. I. Colours ~[ bulk materials

Illuminated by white light a material can generate

colors by dispersion (prisms), interference (filter),
diffraction (grids), scattering (granules), or absorption
(atomic, molecular, solids). For decorative hard coatings the generation of colour is restricted to absorption,
i.e. the response of matter to the incident light. In order
to obtain coloured coatings the colors of bulk materials
can be considered. Some natural colours are given in
Table 1 together with the substances. The composition
of the Swiss gold standards, which are important for
decorative applications, are given in Table 2.
Additional information on nitrides, carbides, and
borides can be found in Ref. [18] and Refs. [25] and
[26]. Colour standards used to calibrate colour measuring equipment can be found in Ref. [27].
Bulk colours generated by absorption processes (e.g.
pigments in a dispersed state) depend on the crystal
structure and the chemical composition of the compound. These dependences are the reason why standard
materials are unsuccessful as PVD coatings. PVD hard
coatings are highly disordered microcrystalline thin
films. Their electronic properties differ from the bulk
values and consequently the colour differs too.

35

G. Reiners et al. / Thin Solid Films, 253 (1994) 33-40

Table 1
Colours of bulk materials [16]
Common
name

Base

Addition

Colour

Ruby
Ruby
Ruby
Sapphire
Sapphire
Sapphire
Topaz

AI203
AI203
AI203
AI203
A1203
AI203
A1203
A1203
A1203
AI203
TiO 2
TiO 2
TiO 2
TiO 2
TiO 2

2"/0_3% Cr2O3

Scarlet
Pink
Blue
Violet
Blue
Yellow
Gold
Sky blue
Marine blue
Blue violet
White
Lantern red
Yellow
Blue
Canary

0.01%-0.5% Cr203
2%-3% V203
0.5% TiO 2 + 1.5% Fe203 + 0.1% Cr203
0.5% TiO 2 + 1.5% Fe203
0.5%- 1% NiO
0.5% NiO + 0.01%-0.05% Cr203
MgO + 0.1%-0.5% CoO
MgO + 0.5%-1% CoO
MgO + 1.5% CoO
0.5% Cr203
0.01% Cr203
1.5% Fe203
0.05% NiO

Table 2
Swiss gold standards (ISO 8654)
ISO notation

ON
1N
2N
3N
4N
5N

Composition (atoms per 1000)

Au

Ag

Cu

585
585
750
750
750
750

300-340
240-265
150-160
120-130
85-95
45-55

Rest
Rest
Rest
Rest
Rest
Rest

Colour

Yellow green
Pale yellow
Bright yellow
Yellow
Ros6
Red

Absorption-flee interference layers generate colours

on a highly reflecting substrate according to the length
of the optical path within the layer. Consequently, the
impression of colour depends on the angle of view.
Multilayers may reduce this dependence.
The colours of hard coatings presently produced by
PVD techniques on an industrial scale are summarized
in Table 3 together with typical hardness values. A
more detailed collection of thin film colours prepared
on a laboratory scale can be found in Ref. [31].
The colours depend additionally on the stoichiometry
and the roughness of the substrate and thin film as well
as the coating thickness [32].

4.2. Colours of thin films

5. Characterization techniques
In general, there are two possible ways of varying the
colour of thin films, i.e. changes in structure and stoichiometry which both influence the electronic structure
of the deposited film resulting in changes in the selective
absorption. Consequently, a shift in the optical gap
results in changes in reflectivity over the visible wavelength range. TiN is an example of stoichiometric dominated colour generation [14, 28] whereas ZrN is an
example of microstructure dominated colour changes
[29, 30]. A very straightforward common example of
the exclusive influence of structure on colour is graphite
and diamond layers.
In principal one has also to consider second order of
magnitude effects for colour changes: surface and volume scattering. This is all the more important for
semitransparent coatings (e.g. Ti inclusions in TiO2 on
a highly reflecting substrate). According to the penetration depth of the incident light wave, the fraction of
surface to volume scattering changes or even in-layer
reflection takes place.

Research into the correlation between colour, stoichiometry and the crystal structure of decorative PVD
coatings requires the typical spectrum of techniques to
chatacterize, in addition to colour, the composition
(glow discharge optical spectroscopy GDOS, Auger
electron spectroscopy AES, electron spectroscopy for
chemical analysis ESCA) structure (X-ray diffraction
XRD), hardness (universal hardness test), adhesion
(scratch test, bending tests) and roughness. Testing of
the corrosion and wear behavior of decorative coated
components requires adapted test conditions which take
into account the specific tribological and corrosion
conditions of the used component. Again, watches are a
good example. All types of wear and corrosion attack
take place. For industrial and laboratory wear and
corrosion test for decorative coatings see for example
Refs. [33, 34].
The optical properties are usually measured by three
techniques to verify the impression of colour both

36

G. Reiners et al. / Thin Solid Films, 253 (1994) 33-40

Table 3
Thin film colours from Ref. [31]
Type

Compound

Colour

Hardness (Hv)"

Nitrides

TiN~
ZrN
Cr2N, CrN
TaN
(Ti, A1)N
(Ti, AI)ON
(Ti, Zr)N

Golden ~ brown-yellow
Yellow-green
Metallic --, brown
Blue-grey
Gold --+dark blue
Transparent --, black
Golden

2400
2600
2500

Carbides

TiC
TiC/WC
TaC.,.
SiC

Bright gray
Dark gray
Yellow~ brown
Black

1500-2900
1400
1800

Carbonitrides

TiC,N>,
ZrC.~N>,

Red golden--, violet

Silver--*gold --. violet

2700

2400-2900

~Different test conditions; parameters not always mentioned in the literature.

physically and physiologically. Integrating sphere measurements (ISM), which uses standared industrial
equipment, and angular dependent measurements obtained by goniospectroscopy (GS) describe the physiological colour perception due to directly and diffuse
reflected parts of light by means of the CIE L * a * b *
coordinates. Both systems refer to the ideal mat white
surface (require a white reference) and measure the
spectral reflectance factor R~[x]. The influences of the
measuring system used, the white reference sample
used, and whether the measurement was taken with or
without gloss trap are discussed in Ref. [35].
Using polarized light in spectroscopic ellipsometry
(SE) allows determination of the complex refractive
index N =n(~o)+ik(~o) and the dielectric function
8 = 8)(o)+ i82(c0) of the layer. As this technique uses
directly reflected light, a smooth surface is required for
measurement [35]. There is no reference to white light
needed and the geometric influences of illumination and
measurement are negligible, but the visual impression is
not correctly described. However, it is possible to describe optical properties more physically, to separate
interference effects and to detect changes in stoichiometry. SE can be used to investigate changes in the optical
constants of the deposited layers as a function of both
stoichiometry (target material composition, reactive
gas flow rate) and structure (film thickness, substrate
temperature).

6. Current research activities

Current research is foccused on three main fields: (i)

the search for new colours of PVD hard coatings, (ii)
demonstration of the applicability of cheap materials
used as substrates for decorative hard coatings, and (iii)

scaling-up of the optimized deposition processes to

produce decorative hard coatings on large and threedimensional parts under industrial conditions. The investigations, however, cover not only these fields (new
hard coatings, selection and coating of substrate materials and equipment construction) but also substrate pretreatment and cleaning procedures, interlayer and top
layer selection and deposition as well as wear and
corrosion tests of coating/substrate systems. In the following, standard and new films and procedures are
discussed with special emphasis on coating development
and system design. Scaling-up as a technical problem is
not treated here in more detail. In principal, hard
coatings are usually deposited by magnetron sputtering, and also by arc ion plating and combined
techniques [ 13].
6.1. Decorative hard coatings
6.1. I. Standard colours

The colour variation of simple compounds such as

the golden TiN and the dark gray TiC is limited.
Oxidizing, nitriding and carburizing of binary alloys or
the addition of a second metalloid, however, widen the
spectrum of colours for decorative applications. A typical example is (Ti,A1)N changing from silvery to gold
and dark blue colour depending on the A1 and N
content [ 14].
The reactive deposition of ZrN coatings with varying
nitrogen contents allows tuning of the colour to match
the colour of brass which is needed for decorative
coatings for bathroom furnishings [36, 37]. The reactive
deposition of CrN results in a coating colour quite
similar to ECD hard chrome coatings which are also
needed for decorative coatings for bathroom furnishings [ 19].

G. Reiners et al. / Thin Solid Films, 253 (1994) 3 3 - 4 0

Table 4
C o m p o s i t i o n o f t a r g e t m a t e r i a l s ( a t . % ) [35, 36]
Base

Cr

AI

Ti
Ti

30
50

---

50
--

---

Zr

10

10

20

Zr
Zr

20
--

10
40

20
--

---

&O

.~""

30

".~

~..".". . . . . .

"*-.

",~

......

-.

10

*~,

',.,

;./

sooOS=
o

.....'"

- .~:.C~,.

-10
-t,

I
-2

.....

.........

I
0

I
+2

I
t,

1
6

I
8

I
10

ZrV 80:20

----

Zr

ZrAI 8 0 : 2 0

.....

ZrY 80:20

Zrln 80:20

Fig. 1. T h e c o l o u r o f nitrides o f Z r - b a s e d alloys as a function o f

different alloying elements [38].

6.1.2. New colours

The addition of a second metal or a metalloid (Table
4) to produce ternary nitrides results in a reduction in
hue [29, 35]. Fig. 1 shows the colour of nitrides of
Zr-based alloys depending on different alloying elements [38]. Nevertheless only limited success allows
(Zr,V)N colours to be tuned to match different Swiss
gold standards [39]. In general, the lightness L* decreases with increasing flow rates for these coatings, see
also Ref. [29]. The surface roughness can change not
only the brilliance of a coating but also its chromatic
value. This was demonstrated by depositing TiN coatings onto substrates with different well defined surface
roughness [32].
Typical examples illustrate some dependences. ZrN
coatings of different thickness deposited under constant
conditions show a nearly constant atomic concentration
ratio Zr:N of about 0.47-0.48 but remarkably different
L*, a*, b* values. The change in colour of these
coatings are accompanied by changes in the XRD
spectra. The reason for this colour variation is therefore
mainly structural. (Zr,Y)N coatings deposited with increasing nitrogen flow rates exhibit strong changes in
both stoichiometry and structure in the lower flow

37

regime [29]. For higher flow rates the main effect on

colour change is again structural.
Comparing the effect of the addition of a second or
third metal, only the addition of yttrium as a third
metal (quaternary nitrides such as (Zr,Y,A1)N) broadens the spectrum of colours depending on the nitrogen
flow rate (e.g. (Zr,Y,A1)N [40]).
The reactive deposition of (Ti,A1)ON [41] with very
low oxygen flow rates results in promising coating
colours, but the coating structure, composition, and
chemical binding stage are not stable. After hours or
days the coating colour changes normally to metallic
gray. Studies are in progress to understand the mechanisms involved.
In part, additional colours are observed for high
reactive gas flow rates which are caused by interference
effects. Target poisoning takes place which results in a
lower deposition rate. The layers are transparent or at
least semitransparent. The measured ellipsometric data
tan(tk) and cos(~) consequently show a modulation
according to an interference effect [35].
Intensive studies on sputter deposition of ZrB 2,
ZrBt~, ZrBN, LaBN coatings were reported in Refs.
[42] and [43]. The first applications are expected soon
because of promising results with anthracite and dark
blue and black colours.
A completely different approach was described in
Ref. [44]. The authors tried to incorporate pigments in
transparent hard coatings such as SIO2. The pigment
material was evaporated onto the substrate prior to
deposition of the hard coating.
A very simple process comparable with CVD
deposition is described in Ref. [45]. A variety of metal
chlorides can be deposited for example by painting
onto Ti substrates. Ti has a thin intrinsic oxide layer.
The coated parts were tempered at 450-650C
in air. During this tempering process a metal oxide
layer of up to 21am thickness grows on the TiO2
layer. Many different colours have been found using
different noble and ignoble metal chlorides as
precursors.
6.2. Decorative coating systems
As already mentioned, in technical applications of
decorative coatings the hard compound films are often
combined with top layers to improve the optical impression or with interlayers to improve adhesion or
corrosion resistance.
6.2.1. Noble metal top coatings
For gold coloured consumer goods it is state of the
art to deposit at least a thin gold flash ( ~ 100 nm) on
top of the hard coatings to obtain the brilliance of gold
alloys. Better adaptation of the colour to the different

G. Reiners et al. / Thin Solid Films, 253 (1994) 33-40

38

Swiss gold standards (see Table 2) is normally achieved

using different expensive gold sputter targets. The reactive deposition of for example AuV alloys allows the
deposition of coatings with different gold colours using
a single target [19].
A new nickel-free gold alloy target (AuV 7.5 at.%)
for the deposition of colour adjustable gold coatings by
reactive sputtering is described in Ref. [46]. A wear
resistance three times better than that of ECD gold
coatings was found.

6.2.2. Interlayer systems ECD, standard or allergy-free

Nickel or nickel-containing alloys have so far been
state of the art for ECD deposition. However, nickel
causes considerable problems with respect to allergy
risk. A nickel proof test according to a Danish standard
of 1988 [47] or a German standard in artificial sweat
solution shows that nickel can penetrate gold layers as
they are removed from the surface over time. However,
even with a PVD hard coating on top of nickel the
problem is not solved because of pin-holes. An improvement in quality can be achieved by the introduction of an NiPd layer [30]. However, this is not suitable
for applications which are in direct contact with human
skin.
A standard layer system on brass consists of a 7 tam
thick electroplated nickel layer on a brass substrate
with a 0.4 lam thick PVD coating on top. An advanced
system was patented in Germany [21, 22]. On top of the
first ECD nickel layer a second ECD NiPd coating
(1-1.5 ~tm thick) was deposited. Coated with a decorative PVD layer, such systems protect brass and aluminum alloys much better against corrosion attack.
Fig. 2 shows such an advanced layer system [35] in 3 '~
angled cross-sections on a brass substrate. Fig. 3 shows
the depth profile of this coating system measured by
GDOS. Applying the same system to substrates made
from die cast zinc one finds severe problems with pores
beneath the coating of the cast. Only high quality die
cast substrates can fulfil the demands for decorative
hard coatings.

lS58
Geatzl

20~1

Fig. 2. 3 angled cross-section of the coating system TiN/Ti/CuSn on

a brass substrate.

I0

JT~
I
6

~2
0

Pb

~\

10

20

,
,
30
~0
50
sputter time [see]

~
60

',
BO

70

,
90

I
100

~-

Fig. 3. Depth profile of a coating system TiN/Ti/CuSn on a brass

substrate measured by GDOS.

As ECD CuSn and CuSn(Zn) layers have no known

allergy risk, they can be used as a substitute for nickelcontaining barrier layers. The adhesion of these layers
to the substrate is good, while the adhesion of PVD
coatings deposited directly onto CuSn or CuSn(Zn) has
yet to be optimized.
The corrosion behavior of P V D - E C D coating systems has been studied by electrochemical methods aswell as short-term technical test (see e.g. Refs. [33] and
[48]). Such studies are of high importance for coating
system development.

6.2.3. Interlayer systems (PVD)

A new barrier coating (NiFeCrPB, analog to
Metglass "' 2826A) deposited by magnetron sputtering
is described in Ref. [46]. A modified sputter deposited
titanium barrier layer was tested in Ref. [49].
6.3. Substrate selection and pretreatment
The suitability of machinable brass alloy (CuZn39
Pb2) and an aluminum alloy (A1MgSi0.5) as substrate
materials for decorative hard coatings was successfully
demonstrated in Ref. [30]. The use of ignoble substrate
materials requires the combination of an ECD layer for
corrosion protection with a PVD decorative thin film.
Brass substrates were cleaned using a five- to seven-step
cleaning procedure without fluorinated or chlorinated
hydrocarbons, for some applications preceded by grinding and polishing of the substrate surface. Most of the
multicomponent coatings discussed in Section 6.1.2
were deposited onto polished SUS 304 stainless steel
sheets.
In the past fluorinated or chlorinated hydrocarbons
were frequently used in cleaning and drying processes
prior to deposition. Now it has become normal on an
industrial as well as on a laboratory scale to use CFCfree processes. Detailed information on the development of pretreatment and drying processes without
using fluorinated or chlorinated hydrocarbons is given
in Ref. [50].

G. Reiners et al. / Thin Solid Films, 253 (1994) 33-40

Advances in three-dimensional decorative coatings

were reported in Ref. [50]. Larger parts can be coated
using a new on-line production coater equipped with
new magnetron sputter sources.

7. Applications of decorative hard coatings

Scanning the literature reporting decorative coatings,
more than 100 articles have been published in the last 5
years. In the following some of the major present and
promising future applications are summarized.
The most important applications in the field of consumer goods are still eye-glass frames, eye glasses,
writing utensils, pens, watch cases and bands, lighters,
custom jewellery, and cuttlery [51-53]. A few reports
also mentioned bicoloured coatings [54] which may be
too expensive for most applications.
An increasing number of papers reports on new
applications for fittings and furnishings (e.g. Ref. [34]),
which demonstrates the progress of industrial coating
technologies for three-dimensional parts [13, 50] and
successful corrosion resistance by interlayers.
Architectural glass coating is mainly done to obtain
special optical functions such as IR reflection. Many of
these coatings have intrinsic colours. Therefore the
demand for homogeneity and reproducibility of the
window colour is very high and requires sophisticated
process quality control. During the last few years an
increasing number of papers has dealt with decorative
coatings on steel sheets for possible applications in
architecture [55-63].

8. Advanced coating systems

Future applications as for example hot plates and
microwave barriers require thermal resistant decorative
coatings on glass. The work until now has not been
successful because of delamination of the coatings at
higher temperatures.
Thin film systems for so-called smart windows (automobile windshields, architectural glass) with adjustable
reflectance and transmission coefficients (e.g. electrochromic systems) also have intrinsic colours. For
large-area application similar demands on the homogeneity and reproducibility of the window colour also
requires sophisticated process quality and control.

9. Conclusions
Many coatings can act as decorative hard coatings.
This paper has reviewed optimized standard decorative
PVD coatings as well as coating systems with advanced

39

corrosion resistance and new colours. Coating systems

have been developed with NiPd and CuSn(Zn) instead
of Ni electroplated coatings acting as interlayers, thus
strongly reducing the allergy risk. The colour of PVD
hard coatings is influenced by stoichiometry, structure
and surface roughness. New industrial applications
demonstrate the increasing economic importance of
decorative hard coatings.
Acknowledgement
A part of the reviewed work (Refs. 8, 11, 12, 18, 23,
29, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 39, 41, 48, 50) were supported by
the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology
(BMFT # 13N5834-37). In this joint project "Decorative
PVD coatings--Basic Properties and Performance",
Leybold AG (Hanau, Germany), METALEUROP
Coating Technology GmbH, (Hohenlockstedt, Germany), BAM (Berlin, Germany), and FEM (Schw/ibischGmiind, Germany) are working together. The authors
thank many coworkers for their assistance and
DEMETRON GmbH (Schw/ibisch-Gmfind, Germany)
for cooperation.
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