Patent ID: 8778491

Claim:
A coated article, comprising: a substrate; a titanium bonding layer formed on the substrate; a titanium-chromium alloy transition layer formed on the titanium bonding layer; and a titanium-chromium-nitrogen hard layer formed on the titanium-chromium alloy transition layer; wherein within the titanium-chromium-nitrogen hard layer, the titanium has an atomic percentage of about 25.6%-37.0%, the chromium has an atomic percentage of about 51.7%-67.6%, and the nitrogen has an atomic percentage of about 5.4%-13.8%, the titanium bonding layer, the titanium-chromium alloy transition layer, and the titanium-chromium-nitrogen hard layer are formed by ion beam assisted sputtering processes during which ion beams bombard the substrate, the coated article has a surface micro-hardness of about 600 HV 0.025 -700 HV 0.025 .