Open Access

ALD can be used in medical technology to produce thin and stable protective coatings. For example, such coatings can be used as tarnish and oxidation protection for silver electrodes used in high-frequency surgery. For the investigation of the pretreatment method, platelets of sterling silver were used instead of silver electrodes. Three methods were used to pretreat the silver substrates. The first pretreatment method is cleaning with acetone and isopropanol. In the other two, the samples are additionally cleaned with a phosphoric acid etching mixture or citric acid. The pretreated substrates were coated using the atomic layer deposition method. 45 nm of aluminum oxide was deposited on the silver samples, followed by another 45 nm of titanium oxide. Subsequently, the samples were autoclaved in order to check the clinical routine and the reusability. The results show a significantly improved adhesion in contrast to samples that were not cleaned. The layer no longer flakes off the silver substrate. Nevertheless, small blisters appear on the protective layer after autoclaving. These indicate that the layer is weakened by the stress.