Industrial application of ion beam assisted deposition on medical implants

Hydroxyapatite, one form of calcium phosphate coating, is widely used as a biocompatible material for bone tissue replacement, since it has the ability to bond to osseous tissue due to compositional similarity to the mineral phase of bone. Ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) has been proved a promising coating method with more advantages, such as higher bonding strength and uniformity film, over other coating methods (plasma spraying technique, sputtering, etc.). The calcium phosphate film formed on dental implant by IBAD is expected to promote the integration of soft tissue and bone with implants in order to prolong their lifetime in body. For this purpose and gaining the application permission from Food and Drug Administration, the characteristics of the coating was evaluated, and the necessary in vitro and in vivo experiment and clinical assessments were made in this paper.