Patent ID: 8652588

Claim:
A method of protecting a surface of an article against aquatic biofouling, said method comprising: placing the article on a holder for rotation in a chamber while applying a thin film coating within said chamber onto said surface to form a protective external coating thereon; wherein said method comprises the steps of rotating the holder with the article placed thereon; applying a bias to the said article, applying a layer of silicon material on said surface from a solid target of silicon material; applying a layer of SiO 2 on top of the silicon material layer and then applying, simultaneously, material from the solid silicon target of material and material from gases in the form of HMDSO and O 2 introduced into the said chamber, to form the final and external layer of the said coating and the silicon material is deposited from the solid target using closed field unbalanced magnetron sputtering and operating an electrode in the chamber to assist in the breaking down of gases as the said final and external layer of the coating is formed.