Wire Grid Polarizer with Protective Coating

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018259698-A1
Application number	US-201815978470-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 14, 2018
Priority date	Apr 3, 2015
Publication date	Sep 13, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of applying a conformal-coating over a WGP can include exposing the WGP to Si(R1)d(R2)e(R3)g. In the above WGP and method, X can be a bond to the ribs; each R1 can be a hydrophobic group; each R3, if any, can be any chemical element or group; d can be 1, 2, or 3, e can be 1, 2, or 3, g can be 0, 1, or 2, and d+e+g=4; R2 can be a silane-reactive-group; and each R6 can be an alkyl group, an aryl group, or combinations thereof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A wire grid polarizer (WGP) comprising:
ribs located over a surface of a transparent substrate, the ribs being elongated and arranged in a substantially parallel array, and a material of an exterior surface of the ribs has solubility in water of at least 0.015 grams per liter at 25° C.; gaps between at least a portion of the ribs; a conformal-coating located over the ribs, the conformal-coating including an oxidation-barrier and a moisture-barrier, the oxidation-barrier being located between the moisture-barrier and the ribs; the oxidation-barrier including aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, silicon carbide, or combinations thereof; and the moisture-barrier including hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, or combinations thereof.

2 . The WGP of claim 1 , wherein the oxidation-barrier includes aluminum oxide and the moisture-barrier includes hafnium oxide.

3 . The WGP of claim 1 , wherein the conformal-coating includes a hydrophobic-layer as an outermost layer of the conformal coating, the hydrophobic-layer including chemical formula (1), chemical formula (2), or combinations thereof:

where r is a positive integer, each R 1 independently is a hydrophobic group including a perfluorinated group, X is a bond to the ribs, and R 3 is a chemical element or a group.

4 . The WGP of claim 3 , wherein the hydrophobic-layer is a superhydrophobic surface, capable of keeping water on a surface of the ribs in a Cassie-Baxter state.

5 . The WGP of claim 3 , wherein each R 3 is independently —H, —Cl, —OCH 3 , —OH, R 1 , or X.

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

7 . The WGP of claim 3 , wherein:
the hydrophobic-layer further comprises:

where Z is a bond to the ribs and R 5 is a chemical element or a group;
each of the ribs includes a rod and a wire, the wire is reflective and the rod is absorptive, and X is a bond to the rod and Z is a bond to the wire.

8 . The WGP of claim 7 , wherein the hydrophobic-layer provides a superhydrophobic surface, capable of keeping water on a surface of the ribs in a Cassie-Baxter state.

9 . The WGP of claim 1 , wherein the conformal-coating includes a hydrophobic-layer as an outermost layer of the conformal coating, the hydrophobic-layer including:

where each R 1 independently is a hydrophobic group, Z is a bond to the ribs, and R 5 is a chemical element or a group.

10 . The WGP of claim 9 , wherein R 5 is R 1 , —OCH 3 , or Z.

11 . The WGP of claim 1 , wherein:
the conformal-coating comprises at least three layers of different materials, including an oxidation-barrier, a moisture-barrier, and a hydrophobic-layer; the oxidation-barrier is located between the moisture-barrier and the ribs; the moisture-barrier is located between the hydrophobic-layer and the oxidation-barrier; the oxidation-barrier includes aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, silicon carbide, or combinations thereof; the moisture-barrier includes hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, or combinations thereof; and the hydrophobic-layer includes chemical formula (1), chemical formula (2), chemical formula (3), or combinations thereof:

where r is a positive integer; each R 1 independently is a hydrophobic group; each X and Z is a bond to the ribs; and each R 3 and R 5 is independently a chemical element or a group.

12 . The WGP of claim 11 , wherein the hydrophobic group includes
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.

13 . The WGP of claim 1 , wherein the material of the exterior of the ribs includes germanium.

14 . A wire grid polarizer (WGP) comprising:
ribs located over a surface of a transparent substrate, the ribs being elongated and arranged in a substantially parallel array with gaps between the ribs, and material of an exterior of the ribs includes germanium; and a conformal-coating located over the ribs, the conformal-coating including a barrier-layer, the barrier-layer including hafnium, zirconium, or combinations thereof.

15 . The WGP of claim 14 , wherein the barrier-layer includes:
hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, or combinations thereof; and aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, silicon carbide, or combinations thereof.

16 . The WGP of claim 14 , wherein:
the barrier-layer comprises two layers of different materials, including an oxidation-barrier and a moisture-barrier, the oxidation-barrier being located between the moisture-barrier and the ribs; the oxidation-barrier includes aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, silicon carbide, or combinations thereof; the oxidation-barrier has a thickness of at least 0.1 nanometer and less than 15 nanometers; the moisture-barrier includes hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, or combinations thereof; and the moisture-barrier has a thickness of at least 0.1 nanometer and less than 15 nanometers.

17 . The WGP of claim 14 , wherein the conformal-coating includes a hydrophobic-layer as an outermost layer of the conformal coating, the hydrophobic-layer including:

where each R 1 independently is a hydrophobic group; Z is a bond to the ribs; and R 5 is a chemical element or a group.

18 . The WGP of claim 17 , wherein R 5 is R 1 , —OCH 3 , or Z.

19 . The WGP of claim 14 , wherein the conformal-coating includes a hydrophobic-layer as an outermost layer of the conformal coating, the hydrophobic-layer including:

where r is a positive integer; each R 1 independently is a hydrophobic group including a perfluorinated group; X is a bond to the ribs; each R 3 is H, R 1 , X, —Cl, —OCH 3 , or —OH.

20 . A wire grid polarizer (WGP) comprising:
ribs over a surface of a transparent substrate, the ribs being elongated and arranged in a substantially parallel array, and a material of an exterior surface of the ribs having solubility in water of at least 0.015 grams per liter at 25° C.; a conformal-coating located over the ribs, the conformal-coating including a barrier-layer and a hydrophobic-layer, the barrier-layer being sandwiched between the hydrophobic-layer and the ribs, the hydrophobic-layer being a distal layer of the conformal coating; the barrier-layer including aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, silicon carbide, hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, or combinations thereof; the hydrophobic-layer including chemical formula (1), chemical formula (2), chemical formula (3), or combinations thereof:

where r is a positive integer; each R 1 independently is a hydrophobic group; each X and Z is a bond to t

Assignees

• Moxtek Inc

Inventors

• Nielson Stew
• Linford Matt
• Diwan Anubhav
• George Matthew C

Classifications

• C23C14/081

  of aluminium, magnesium or beryllium · CPC title

• C23C16/308

  Oxynitrides · CPC title

• C23C16/405

  of refractory metals or yttrium · CPC title

• C23C16/401

  containing silicon · CPC title

• G02B5/3058 Primary

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