Methods of applying silane coatings

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10752989-B2
Application number	US-201816028039-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 5, 2018
Priority date	Jul 26, 2017
Publication date	Aug 25, 2020
Grant date	Aug 25, 2020

Abstract

A method of vapor depositing a silane chemical onto a wire grid polarizer can include introducing a silane chemical and water into a chamber where the wire grid polarizer is located. The silane chemical and the water can be in a gaseous phase in the chamber. The silane chemical and the water can be maintained simultaneously in the gaseous phase in the chamber for period of time. The silane chemical and the water can react to form a (R 1 ) 2 Si(OH) 2 molecule, where each R 1 is independently any chemical element or group. A silane coating can be formed on the wire grid polarizer from a chemical reaction of the (R 1 ) 2 Si(OH) 2 molecule with the wire grid polarizer and with other (R 1 ) 2 Si(OH) 2 molecules. The silane coating can be relatively thick and multi-layer. A thicker or multi-layer silane coating can have improved high temperature resistance relative to a thinner or mono-layer silane coating.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of vapor depositing a silane chemical onto a wire grid polarizer, the method comprising:
placing the wire grid polarizer into a chamber;
introducing a silane chemical and water into the chamber, the silane chemical and the water being in a gaseous phase in the chamber, the silane chemical including R 1 Si(R 2 ) 3 molecules, where:
R 1 is CF 3 (CF 2 ) n (CH 2 ) m with n and m being integers within the boundaries of 0≤n≤4 and 2≤m≤5;
each R 2 is independently —Cl, —OR 3 , —OCOR 3 , or —N(R 3 ) 2 ; and
each R 3 is independently —CH 3 , —CH 2 CH 3 , or —CH 2 CH 2 CH 3 ;

maintaining the silane chemical and the water simultaneously in the gaseous phase in the chamber and reacting the silane chemical and the water in the chamber to form R 1 Si(OH) 3 molecules, the R 1 Si(OH) 3 molecules being gaseous molecules; and
forming a silane coating on the wire grid polarizer from a chemical reaction of the R 1 Si(OH) 3 molecules with the wire grid polarizer and with other R 1 Si(OH) 3 molecules; and
controlling an amount of the water in the chamber to achieve a thickness of the silane coating of between 2 nm and 20 nm.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein n is an integer within the boundaries of 1≤n≤3.

3. A method of vapor depositing a silane chemical onto a wire grid polarizer, the method comprising:
placing the wire grid polarizer into a chamber;
introducing a silane chemical and water into the chamber, the silane chemical and the water being in a gaseous phase in the chamber;
maintaining the silane chemical and the water simultaneously in the gaseous phase in the chamber and reacting the silane chemical and the water in the chamber to form (R 1 ) 2 Si(OH) 2 molecules, where one R 1 is —CH 3 and the other R 1 is independently any chemical element or group; and
forming a silane coating on the wire grid polarizer from a chemical reaction of the (R 1 ) 2 Si(OH) 2 molecules with the wire grid polarizer and with other (R 1 ) 2 Si(OH) 2 molecules.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein both R 1 are —CH 3 and a pair of the (CH 3 ) 2 Si(OH) 2 molecules react to form in the gaseous phase:

5. The method of 3 , further comprising controlling an amount of the water in the chamber to achieve a desired thickness of the silane coating.

6. The method of 3 , further comprising applying a conformal coating of silicon dioxide on the wire grid polarizer, before introducing the silane chemical and the water into the chamber, the conformal coating of silicon dioxide having a thickness of ≥0.5 nm and ≤30 nm.

7. A method of vapor depositing a silane chemical onto a wire grid polarizer, the method comprising:
placing the wire grid polarizer into a chamber;
introducing a silane chemical and water into the chamber, the silane chemical and the water simultaneously being in a gaseous phase in the chamber;
the silane chemical including R 1 Si(R 2 ) 3 molecules, where R 1 is any chemical element or group; each R 2 is independently —OR 3 , —OCOR 3 , or —N(R 3 ) 2 ; and
each R 3 is independently —CH 3 , —CH 2 CH 3 , or —CH 2 CH 2 CH 3 ;
reacting the silane chemical and the water in the chamber to form R 1 Si(OH) 3 molecules; and
forming a silane coating with multiple layers on the wire grid polarizer, with silane in each layer chemically bonding to silane in an adjacent layer, from a chemical reaction of the R 1 Si(OH) 3 molecules with the wire grid polarizer and with other R 1 Si(OH) 3 molecules.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein forming the silane coating with multiple layers on the wire grid polarizer includes forming covalent bonds between silane and the wire grid polarizer, forming covalent bonds between silane in each layer and silane in the adjacent layer, or both.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the R 1 Si(OH) 3 molecule is a gaseous molecule.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising controlling an amount of the water in the chamber to achieve a desired thickness of the silane coating with multiple layers.

11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising maintaining the silane chemical and the water simultaneously in the gaseous phase in the chamber for at least 5 minutes.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein R 1 is a hydrophobic group with a carbon chain.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein the R 1 Si(OH) 3 molecules include Si(OH) 4 molecules.

14. The method of claim 7 , wherein a pair of the R 1 Si(OH) 3 molecules react to form chemical formula (1), chemical formula (2), chemical formula (3), or combinations thereof:

15. The method of claim 7 , wherein the silane chemical includes R 1 Si[N(CH 3 ) 2 ] 3 molecules.

16. The method of claim 7 , wherein the silane coating with multiple layers has a thickness of at least 2 nm.

17. The method of claim 7 , wherein the silane coating with multiple layers has a thickness of between 0.7 nm and 20 nm.

18. The method of claim 7 , further comprising dissolving the silane chemical in an organic solvent before the step of introducing the silane chemical and water into the chamber; and wherein introducing the silane chemical and water into the chamber further comprises introducing the silane chemical dissolved in the organic solvent and water into the chamber.

19. The method of claim 7 , further comprising dissolving the water in an organic solvent before the step of introducing the silane chemical and the water into the chamber; and wherein introducing the silane chemical and water into the chamber further comprises introducing the water dissolved in the organic solvent and the silane chemical into the chamber.

20. The method of claim 7 , further comprising applying a conformal coating of silicon dioxide on the wire grid polarizer, before introducing the silane chemical and the water into the chamber, the conformal coating of silicon dioxide having a thickness of ≥0.5 nm and ≤30 nm.

21. The method of claim 7 , wherein a density of the water in the gaseous phase in the chamber is between 0.3 g/m 3 and 30 g/m 3 .

Assignees

• Moxtek Inc
• Univ Brigham Young

Inventors

• Diwan Anubhav
• Linford Matt

Classifications

• C09K2323/033

  Silicon compound, e.g. glass or organosilicon · CPC title

• C23C16/455

  characterised by the method used for introducing gases into reaction chamber or for modifying gas flows in reaction chamber · CPC title

• G02B5/3058

  comprising electrically conductive elements, e.g. wire grids, conductive particles · CPC title

• C23C16/402 Primary

  Silicon dioxide · CPC title

• C23C16/45555

  applied in non-semiconductor technology · CPC title