Patent ID: 7771773

Claim:
A method of producing a homo-metallic protective coating on a metallic surface of a metallic component of an orthopedic prosthesis, the method comprising the steps of depositing a metallic substance on said surface, the metallic substance having at least one metallic constituent element in common with the metallic surface, bombarding the metallic surface with a beam of one or more selected ions having an energy in a range of about 0.05 keV to about 10 keV concurrently with deposition of said metallic substance so as to form a metallic protective coating on said surface having an average atomic concentration of said common constituent element that differs from the concentration of said common element in the metallic surface by less than about 10 percent and having a nano-crystalline structure with average grain sizes ranging from about 1 nm to about 999 nm, wherein said protective coating has a thickness in a range of about 0.3 microns to about 3 microns.