Implant with composite coating

1. An osteoconductive process comprising:

providing an implant comprising:

a substrate;

a structured surface formed on at least a portion of the substrate, the structured surface being of the same material as the substrate; and

a biocompatible coating deposited by a selected one of (i) arc evaporation physical vapor deposition and (ii) chemical vapor deposition on at least a fraction of the structured surface, the coating being softer and more biocompatible than the substrate and the structured surface;

testing for the presence of high adhesion between the coating and the structured surface; and

contacting a bone under in vivo conditions with the implant.

2. An osteoconductive process-comprising:

providing a composition for an implant, the composition comprising a biocompatible material coated by a selected one of (i) arc evaporation physical vapor deposition and (ii) chemical vapor deposition on a structured surface defined by a substrate, the coating being softer and more biocompatible than the substrate and the structured surface;

testing for the presence of high adhesion between the coating and the structured surface, and

contacting a bone under in vivo conditions with the composition.

3. A method for orthopedic surgery which comprises:

providing an implant comprising:

a substrate;

a structured surface formed on a portion of the substrate, the structured surface being of the same material as the substrate; and

a biocompatible coating deposited by a selected one of (i) arc evaporation physical vapor deposition and (ii) chemical vapor deposition on at least a fraction of the structured surface, the coating being softer and more biocompatible than the substrate and the structured surface;

testing for the presence of high adhesion between the coating and the structured surface; and

contacting a bone under in vivo conditions with the implant;

wherein the portion of the substrate is fixed with at least one of tissue in-growth and tissue on-growth for stability.

4. An osteoconductive process comprising:

providing an implant, the implant comprising:

a substrate;

a structured surface formed on a portion of the substrate, the structured surface being of the same material as the substrate; and

a biocompatible coating deposited by a selected one of (i) arc evaporation physical vapor deposition and (ii) chemical vapor deposition on at least a fraction of the structured surface, the coating being softer and more biocompatible than the substrate and the structured surface;

testing for the presence of high adhesion between the coating and the structured surface; and

contacting a bone under in vivo conditions with the implant;

wherein the portion of the substrate is fixed with a selected one of tissue in-growth and tissue on-growth for stability.

5. A method of forming a composite coating, the method comprising:

depositing a biocompatible coating on a structured surface that comprises at least a portion of a surface area of a substrate;

wherein depositing the biocompatible coating includes depositing a coating that is more biocompatible than the structured surface;

wherein depositing the biocompatible coating includes depositing a coating that is softer than the structured surface.

6. The method of forming a composite coating according to claim 5 , further comprising:

covering the portion of the surface area of the substrate with a mixture including a plurality of particles, the plurality of particles including a first material; and

sintering the plurality of particles to produce a porous structure;

wherein the biocompatible coating includes a second material that is different from the first material.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein depositing the biocompatible coating includes depositing a coating that is more biocompatible than the substrate.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein depositing the biocompatible coating includes depositing a coating that is softer than the substrate.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein the depositing of the biocompatible coating includes forming the biocompatible coating by a thin film technique.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the thin film technique includes at least one deposition process selected from the group consisting of physical vapor deposition and chemical vapor deposition.

11. The method of claim 5 , further comprising, before the step of depositing the biocompatible coating, forming a plurality of undercuts in the structured surface, and wherein depositing the biocompatible coating includes coating the plurality of undercuts in the structured surface.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein forming a plurality of undercuts includes forming interconnected pores beneath the structured surface, and wherein depositing the biocompatible coating includes coating the interconnected pores.

13. The method of claim 5 , further comprising, before the step of depositing a biocompatible coating, providing the substrate with at least one material selected from the group consisting of carbon-composite, stainless steel, cobalt-chromium, titanium alloy, tantalum, and ceramic.

14. The method of claim 5 , further comprising, before the step of depositing a biocompatible coating, providing the structured surface with a material that includes a plurality of particles that are sintered together to form a continuous porous phase.

15. The method of claim 5 , further comprising, before the step of depositing a biocompatible coating, preparing the structured surface by at least one method selected from the group consisting of sintering, flame spraying, acid etching, grit blasting, casting-in, forging-in, laser texturing, and micromachining.

16. The method of claim 5 , wherein depositing the biocompatible coating includes depositing at least one material selected from the group consisting of titanium, tantalum, carbon, calcium phosphate, zirconium, niobium, hafnium, hydroxyapatite, and tissue in-growth and/or on-growth facilitating proteins.

17. The method of claim 5 , wherein depositing the biocompatible coating includes depositing multi-layers.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein depositing the biocompatible coating includes depositing nano-layers.

19. The method of claim 5 , further comprising, after the step of depositing a biocompatible coating, treating another portion of the surface area with ion bombardment.