Patent ID: 8066854

Claim:
A cathodic arc ion plasma deposition method for producing an anti-microbial coating on a substrate, comprising: positioning a substrate between an anode and a cathode target, said target comprising an ionizable metal selected from silver, copper, hafnium or zirconium; introducing only oxygen gas into a vacuum chamber pressurized to about 0.1 to about 30 mTorr which houses the cathode target and the substrate; variably controlling power to the arc to produce a discharge between the anode and the cathode target; and moving the substrate toward or away from the target during arc discharge to deposit a high density, adherent anti-microbial macroparticulate metal/metal oxide coating comprising a range of macroparticle sizes of about 1 nm to 50 microns wherein macroparticle size increases with coating thickness to provide a coating that exhibits antimicrobial activity at least four days longer than a uniform coating containing few macroparticles produced without movement of the substrate during deposition under the same deposition conditions.