A method of producing a plain bearing having an alloy surface layer comprises placing a bearing component (1) in a vacuum chamber (7) filled with low pressure argon, bombarding it with argon ions to remove any oxide or other unwanted surface material, then heating the component and depositing an alloy layer on it by sputtering. The bearing component may be of Cu/Pb/Sn alloy or Al/Si/Zn alloy, and the surface layer may be of Pb/Sn/In alloy or Pb/Sn alloy respectively. <IMAGE>
