Infrared-transparent window coatings for electronic device sensors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10094963-B2
Application number	US-201715483974-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 10, 2017
Priority date	Sep 2, 2016
Publication date	Oct 9, 2018
Grant date	Oct 9, 2018

Abstract

An electronic device may be provided with a display. The display may have a display cover layer. The display may have an active area with pixels and an inactive area without pixels. An opaque masking layer such as a layer of black ink may be formed on the underside of the display cover layer in the inactive area. Windows may be formed from openings in the opaque masking layer. Optical components such as infrared-light-based optical components may be aligned with the windows. The windows may include coatings in the openings that block visible light while transmitting infrared light. The window coatings may be formed from polymer layers containing pigments, polymer layers containing dyes that are coated with antireflection layers, thin-film interference filters formed from stacks of thin-film layers, or other coating structures.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising:
a transparent layer;
an opaque masking layer on at least a portion of the transparent layer, wherein the opaque masking layer has an opening; and
at least one optical component aligned with a window formed from the opening, wherein the window includes a visible-light-blocking-and-infrared-light-transmitting coating in the opening and wherein the coating is configured to exhibit a haze of less than 5% and a transmission of 75-95% at near-infrared wavelengths of 900-1000 nm.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the coating includes a polymer layer on the transparent layer.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2 further comprising a visible-light-absorbing-and-infrared-light-transmitting dye in the polymer layer.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the polymer layer is free of pigment and wherein the coating further comprises an infrared-light antireflection coating on the polymer layer.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 4 wherein the antireflection coating comprises a stack of 2-10 thin-film layers on the polymer layer.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the thin-film layers include at least one silicon oxide layer.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the optical component comprises a light-emitting component.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the optical component comprises a light-detecting component.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the optical component comprises an array of infrared lasers.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the optical component comprises an infrared image sensor.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the transparent layer comprises a display cover layer in a display, wherein the display has a pixel array in an active area of the display that displays images, and wherein the display has an inactive area that does not display images and that includes the opaque masking layer.

12. An electronic device, comprising:
a housing;
a display in the housing having an active area with an array of pixels and having an inactive area without pixels, wherein the display has a display cover layer and has an opaque masking layer on the display cover layer in the inactive area;
at least one optical component; and
a window in the inactive area that is aligned with the at least one optical component, wherein the window includes an opening in the opaque masking layer and a coating in the opening, wherein the coating includes a polymer that contains dye and that contains an infrared-light antireflection layer on the polymer, and wherein the coating is configured to block light at visible wavelengths while transmitting light at near-infrared wavelengths and exhibiting a haze of less than 5% at the near-infrared wavelengths.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 12 wherein the visible wavelengths are wavelengths of 400-700 nm and wherein the coating is configured to transmit less than 15% of the light at the visible wavelengths.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 13 wherein the near-infrared wavelengths are wavelengths of 900-1000 nm, and wherein the coating is configured to transmit 75-90% of the near-infrared light at the wavelengths of 900-1000 nm while exhibiting a haze of less than 4% at 900-1000 nm.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 14 wherein the antireflection layer comprises 2-10 thin-film layers.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 15 wherein the thin-film layers include at least one inorganic layer.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 16 wherein the optical component comprises an optical component selected from the group consisting of: a light source having an array of lasers, a time-of-flight proximity sensor, and an infrared camera.

18. An electronic device, comprising:
a housing;
a display in the housing having an active area with an array of pixels and having an inactive area without pixels, wherein the display has a display cover layer and has an opaque masking layer on the display cover layer in the inactive area;
at least one optical component, wherein the at least one optical component comprises an optical component selected from the group consisting of: an array of lasers, a time-of-flight proximity sensor, and an infrared camera; and
a window in the opaque masking layer in the inactive area that is aligned with the at least one optical component, wherein the window includes an opening in the opaque masking layer and a thin-film interference filter formed from a plurality of thin-film layers in the opening, wherein the thin-film interference filter is configured to block light at visible wavelengths while transmitting light at near-infrared wavelengths.

19. The electronic device defined in claim 18 wherein the visible wavelengths are wavelengths of 400-700 nm, wherein the coating is configured to transmit less than 20% of the light at the visible wavelengths, wherein the near-infrared wavelengths are wavelengths of 900-1000 nm, and wherein the coating is configured to transmit 75-90% of the near-infrared light at the wavelengths of 900-1000 nm while exhibiting a haze of less than 4% at 900-1000 nm.

20. The electronic device defined in claim 19 wherein the thin-film layers include hydrogenated amorphous silicon layers and include silica layers.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Giachino Marta M
• Matsuyuki Naoto
• Rogers Matthew S
• Zhao Xianwei
• Wang Ligang

Classifications

• G02B5/285

  comprising deposited thin solid films (G02B5/281 - G02B5/289 take precedence; multilayered film filters for fibre optic multiplexing G02B6/29361) · CPC title

• H01L27/14649

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L27/1462

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G02B1/115

  Multilayers · CPC title

• G02B5/281 Primary

  designed for the infrared light · CPC title