Wire grid polarizer with phosphonate protective coating

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10025015-B2
Application number	US-201715613985-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 5, 2017
Priority date	Apr 3, 2015
Publication date	Jul 17, 2018
Grant date	Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

A method of applying a phosphonate conformal-coating over a WGP can include exposing the WGP to (R1)iPO(R4)j(R5)k, where: i is 1 or 2, j is 1 or 2, k is 0 or 1, and i+j+k=3; each R1 can independently include a hydrophobic group; R4 can include a phosphonate-reactive-group; each R6 can independently include an alkyl group, an aryl group, or combinations thereof; and each R5, if any, can independently be any suitable chemical element or group.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wire grid polarizer (WGP) comprising:
a) ribs located over a surface of a transparent substrate, wherein the ribs are elongated and arranged in a substantially parallel array;
b) gaps between at least a portion of the ribs;
c) a conformal-coating located over the ribs, wherein the conformal-coating includes a phosphonate chemical:

where:
i) each R 1 independently includes a hydrophobic group;
ii) Z includes a bond to the ribs;
iii) R 5 includes a phosphonate-reactive-group, R 1 , R 6 , or Z;
iv) the phosphonate-reactive-group is —Cl, —OR 6 , —OCOR 6 , —N(R 6 ) 2 , or —OH; and
v) each R 6 independently includes an alkyl group, an aryl group, or combinations thereof.

2. The WGP of claim 1 , wherein the hydrophobic group comprises a carbon chain with a perfluorinated group including at least 1 and less than 30 carbon atoms.

3. A wire grid polarizer (WGP) comprising:
a) ribs located over a surface of a transparent substrate, wherein the ribs are elongated and arranged in a substantially parallel array;
b) gaps between at least a portion of the ribs;
c) a conformal-coating located over the ribs, wherein the conformal-coating includes a phosphonate chemical:

where:
i) each R 1 independently includes a hydrophobic group;
ii) Z includes a bond to the ribs; and
iii) R 5 is a chemical element or a group.

4. The WGP of claim 3 , wherein:
a) R 5 includes a phosphonate-reactive-group, R 1 , R 6 , or Z;
b) the phosphonate-reactive-group is —Cl, —OR 6 , —OCOR 6 , or —OH; and
c) each R 6 independently includes an alkyl group, an aryl group, or combinations thereof.

5. The WGP of claim 3 , wherein each R 5 is independently —N(R 6 ) 2 or —OR 6 , where each R 6 independently is an alkyl group with ≤2 carbon atoms.

6. The WGP of claim 3 , wherein the hydrophobic group includes a carbon chain.

7. The WGP of claim 3 , wherein each hydrophobic group is independently CF 3 (CF 2 ) n (CH 2 ) m , where n and m are integers within the boundaries of: 0≤n≤20 and 0≤m≤5.

8. The WGP of claim 3 , wherein each hydrophobic group is independently CF 3 (CF 2 ) n (CH 2 ) m , where n and m are integers within the boundaries of: 4≤n≤10 and 2≤m≤5.

9. The WGP of claim 3 , wherein:
a) the conformal-coating is a distal conformal-coating;
b) the WGP further comprises a proximal conformal-coating and a middle conformal-coating;
c) the proximal conformal-coating is distinct from the ribs, includes a metal oxide, and is located between the distal conformal-coating and the ribs;
d) the middle conformal-coating is located between the proximal conformal-coating and the distal conformal-coating and includes a metal oxide comprising a material different from the metal oxide of the proximal conformal-coating.

10. The WGP of claim 9 , wherein the proximal conformal-coating includes aluminum oxide and the middle conformal-coating includes hafnium oxide.

11. The WGP of claim 9 , wherein:
a) the proximal conformal-coating includes aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, silicon carbide, or combinations thereof; and
b) the middle conformal-coating includes hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, or combinations thereof.

12. The WGP of claim 1 , wherein a material of an exterior surface of the ribs has solubility in water of at least 0.5 grams per liter at 25° C.

13. The WGP of claim 12 , wherein the material of the exterior surface of the rib includes germanium oxide.

14. A method of making a wire grid polarizer (WGP), the method comprising:
a) obtaining ribs located over a surface of a transparent substrate, wherein the ribs are elongated and arranged in a substantially parallel array with gaps between at least a portion of the ribs; and
b) exposing the WGP to a phosphonate chemical to form a conformal-coating over the ribs, the phosphonate chemical including (R 1 ) i PO(R 4 ) j (R 5 ) k ,
where:
i) i is 1 or 2, is 1 or 2, k is 0 or 1, and i+j+k=3;
ii) each R 1 independently includes a hydrophobic group;
iii) R 4 is a phosphonate-reactive-group; and
iv) each R 5 , if any, is independently any chemical element or group.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein:
a) each phosphonate-reactive-group is independently selected from: —Cl, —OR 6 , —OCOR 6 , —N(R 5 ) 2 , and —OH; and
b) each R 6 independently includes an alkyl group, an aryl group, or combinations thereof.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein exposing the WGP to the chemical is done by vapor-deposition.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein:
a) the conformal-coating is a distal conformal-coating; and
b) the method further comprises applying a proximal conformal-coating before applying the distal conformal-coating, the proximal conformal-coating including hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, or combinations thereof.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the proximal conformal-coating includes hafnium oxide.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the proximal conformal-coating includes aluminum oxide.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein applying the proximal conformal-coating includes applying by atomic layer deposition, vapor-deposition, anhydrous deposition, or combinations thereof.

21. The WGP of claim 1 , wherein each R 6 independently includes the alkyl group with ≤2 carbon atoms.

Assignees

• Moxtek Inc

Inventors

• Linford Matt
• Diwan Anubhav
• Lane Fred
• Nielson Stew
• Wangensteen Ted

Classifications

• C23C16/45525

  Atomic layer deposition [ALD] · CPC title

• G02B1/04

  made of organic materials, e.g. plastics (G02B1/08 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B1/18

  Coatings for keeping optical surfaces clean, e.g. hydrophobic or photo-catalytic films (G02B1/16 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C23C16/345

  Silicon nitride · CPC title

• B05D1/60

  Deposition of organic layers from vapour phase (vapour phase deposition in general C23C14/00, C23C16/00) · CPC title