Orthopedic implants having a subsurface level ceramic layer applied via bombardment
AssigneeJoint Development, LLC
InventorsEric M. Dacus, Erin E. Hofmann
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An orthopedic implant having a subsurface level ceramic layer generally includes a base material, an intermix layer molecularly integrated with the base material that includes a mixture of the base material and a plurality of subsurface level ceramic-based molecules implanted into the base material, and an integrated ceramic surface layer molecularly integrated with and extending from the intermix layer forming at least part of a molecular structure of an outer surface of the orthopedic implant. The integrated ceramic surface layer and the base material thereafter cooperate to sandwich the intermix layer in between.
Claims21
An orthopedic implant, comprising:
- a base material;
- an intermix layer molecularly integrated with the base material and comprising a mixture of the base material and a plurality of subsurface level ceramic-based molecules implanted into the base material;
- and
- an integrated ceramic surface layer molecularly integrated with and extending from the intermix layer and forming at least part of a molecular structure of an outer surface of the orthopedic implant, the integrated ceramic surface layer and the base material cooperating to sandwich the intermix layer in between.
An orthopedic implant, comprising:
- a base material;
- an intermix layer molecularly integrated with the base material and having a thickness of about 0.1-100 nanometers and comprising a mixture of the base material and a plurality of subsurface level ceramic-based molecules implanted into the base material;
- and
- an integrated ceramic surface layer molecularly integrated with and extending from the intermix layer and comprising a relatively uniform thickness forming at least part of the molecular structure of an articulating surface of the orthopedic implant, the integrated ceramic surface layer and the base material cooperating to sandwich the intermix layer in between, the intermix layer and the integrated ceramic surface layer comprising an aggregate thickness of about 1-10,000 nanometers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.