The Pulsed Electron Deposition Technique for Biomedical Applications: A Review

Abstract

The "pulsed electron deposition" (PED) technique, in which a solid target material is ablated by a fast, high-energy electron beam, was initially developed two decades ago for the deposition of thin films of metal oxides for photovoltaics, spintronics, memories, and superconductivity, and dielectric polymer layers. Recently, PED has been proposed for use in the biomedical field for the fabrication of hard and soft coatings. The first biomedical application was the deposition of low wear zirconium oxide coatings on the bearing components in total joint replacement. Since then, several works have reported the manufacturing and characterization of coatings of hydroxyapatite, calcium phosphate substituted (CaP), biogenic CaP, bioglass, and antibacterial coatings on both hard (metallic or ceramic) and soft (plastic or elastomeric) substrates. Due to the growing interest in PED, the current maturity of the technology and the low cost compared to other commonly used physical vapor deposition techniques, the purpose of this work was to review the principles of operation, the main applications, and the future perspectives of PED technology in medicine.

Trends in Metal-Based Composite Biomaterials for Hard Tissue Applications

“…However, a low deposition rate, splashing and higher costs have always been major drawbacks to PLD. 207 Therefore, several variations of PLD such as pulsed electron deposition (PED) and pulsed plasma deposition (PPD) are also being currently investigated for biomedical applications. 129,[208][209][210][211] Bianchi et al investigated the nano-mechanical and in vitro properties of CaP coatings on CP Ti grade 2 processed via PPD technology.…”

Gas type role on the dynamics of channel spark pulsed electron deposition system

“…It was found to be around 1.96×10 20 m -3 . As reported in [13], the current density Jeff of an electron beam is limited by the electron space-charge effect and is given by equation 1.…”

“…At the very beginning, this technique was mainly employed for the deposition of both inorganic, i.e., superconductive MBa2Cu3O7-x, and organic, i.e., polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), thin films. The deposition applications of the technique expanded in the past years to include for example, biomedical materials, CuInGaSe2 Solar Cells, In2O3 nano-films, LaMnO3 thin Films, Poly (ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) films and nanostructured Ag thin films [13][14][15][16][17].…”

Physical Vapour Deposited Biomedical Coatings

“…Furthermore, this Special Issue suitably demonstrates the current landscape for future generations of biological layers containing two extensive review articles on the emerging popularity of more recent/novel manufacturing methods and their relevance to biomaterial applications. These specifically pertain to the Pulsed Electron Deposition (PED) [6] and Combinatorial Laser deposition technologies [7].…”

“…Of great relevance in current orthopaedic coatings, the high voltage potentials (up to 25 kV) enable deposition of the full spectrum from amorphous transparent film to high energy crystalline phases in a single-step, demonstrated to produce layers such as bone-like HA capable of stimulating osseointegration. Liquori et al [6] review the application of PED, PPD, and IJD for materials applicable in orthopaedic prosthetics such as wear resistant crystalline yttria-stabilized zirconia coatings or bioactive strontium doped-HA, Bioglass ® 45S5, nanostructured silver, and HA-magnetite composite layers onto ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, titanium alloys, stainless steel, glass, silicon, and PEEK substrates.…”