Inorganic oxide articles with thin, durable anti-reflective structures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024142668-A1
Application number	US-202418408883-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 10, 2024
Priority date	Aug 17, 2018
Publication date	May 2, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

An article that includes: an inorganic oxide substrate having opposing major surfaces; and an optical film structure disposed on a first major surface of the substrate, the optical film structure comprising one or more of a silicon-containing oxide, a silicon-containing nitride and a silicon-containing oxynitride and a physical thickness from about 50 nm to less than 500 nm. The article exhibits a hardness of 8 GPa or greater measured at an indentation depth of about 100 nm or a maximum hardness of 9 GPa or greater measured over an indentation depth range from about 100 nm to about 500 nm, the hardness and the maximum hardness measured by a Berkovich Indenter Hardness Test. Further, the article exhibits a single-side photopic average reflectance that is less than 1%.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An article comprising:
a substrate comprising opposing major surfaces including a first major surface and a second major surface; an anti-reflective coating disposed on the first major surface of the substrate; the anti-reflective coating comprising a physical thickness from about 50 nm to less than 500 nm; the anti-reflective coating comprising a plurality of alternating high refractive index and low refractive index layers with a first low refractive index layer in direct contact with the first major surface of the substrate, wherein each low refractive index layer comprises a silicon-containing oxide and each high refractive index layer comprises a nitride or an oxynitride; and an additional coating disposed on the anti-reflective coating, wherein the additional coating comprises a metal oxide including Nb or Ti.

2 . The article of claim 1 , wherein the article exhibits a hardness of 8 GPa or greater measured at an indentation depth of about 100 nm or a maximum hardness of 9 GPa or greater measured over an indentation depth range from about 100 nm to about 300 nm, the hardness and the maximum hardness measured by a Berkovich Indenter Hardness Test.

3 . The article of claim 1 , wherein the article including the anti-reflective coating exhibits a higher hardness value in comparison to a hardness value of the underlying substrate.

4 . The article of claim 1 , wherein each high refractive index layer comprises a silicon-containing nitride or a silicon-containing oxynitride.

5 . The article of claim 1 , wherein a combined physical thickness of the high refractive index layers is 30% or greater than the physical thickness of the anti-reflective coating.

6 . The article of claim 1 , wherein the low refractive index layers have a refractive index in a range of 1.3-1.7, and the substrate has a refractive index in a range of 1.45-1.55.

7 . The article of claim 1 , wherein the anti-reflective coating comprises a physical thickness from about 50 nm to about 350 nm.

8 . The article of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of alternating high refractive index and low refractive index layers is four (4) layers or less.

9 . The article of claim 1 , wherein the article exhibits a single-side photopic average light reflectance that is less than 2%.

10 . The article of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a glass substrate, a glass-ceramic substrate, or a chemically strengthened glass substrate.

11 . A consumer electronic product, comprising:
a housing comprising a front surface, a back surface and side surfaces; electrical components at least partially within the housing, the electrical components comprising a controller, a memory, and a display, the display at or adjacent to the front surface of the housing; and a cover substrate disposed over the display, wherein at least one of a portion of the housing or the cover substrate comprises the article of claim 1 .

12 . An article comprising:
a substrate comprising opposing major surfaces including a first major surface and a second major surface; an anti-reflective coating disposed on the first major surface of the substrate; the anti-reflective coating comprising a plurality of alternating high refractive index and low refractive index layers with a first low refractive index layer in direct contact with the first major surface of the substrate, and wherein each low refractive index layer comprises a silicon-containing oxide, and each high refractive index layer comprises a nitride or an oxynitride; the anti-reflective coating comprises a capping layer of silicon-containing oxide; and wherein one of the high refractive index layers in the anti-reflective coating is a thickest layer in the layers of the anti-reflective coating below the capping layer.

13 . The article of claim 12 , wherein each high refractive index layer comprises a silicon-containing nitride or a silicon-containing oxynitride.

14 . The article of claim 12 , wherein the article exhibits a hardness of 8 GPa or greater measured at an indentation depth of about 100 nm or a maximum hardness of 9 GPa or greater measured over an indentation depth range from about 100 nm to about 300 nm, the hardness and the maximum hardness measured by a Berkovich Indenter Hardness Test.

15 . The article of claim 12 , wherein the article including the anti-reflective coating exhibits a higher hardness value in comparison to a hardness value of the underlying substrate.

16 . The article of claim 12 , wherein a combined physical thickness of the high refractive index layers is 30% or greater than the physical thickness of the anti-reflective coating.

17 . The article of claim 12 , wherein the substrate has a refractive index in a range of 1.45-1.55.

18 . The article of claim 12 , wherein the anti-reflective coating comprises a physical thickness from about 50 nm to about 500 nm.

19 . The article of claim 12 , wherein the high refractive index layer adjacent to the capping layer has an optical thickness from about 45 nm to about 450 nm.

20 . The article of claim 12 , wherein the capping layer has a physical thickness of 80 nm or more.

21 . The article of claim 12 , wherein the capping layer has a physical thickness of 100 nm or less.

22 . The article of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of alternating high refractive index and low refractive index layers is four (4) layers or less.

23 . The article of claim 12 , wherein the article exhibits a single-side photopic average light reflectance that is less than 2%.

24 . The article of claim 12 , wherein the substrate comprises a glass substrate, a glass-ceramic substrate, or a chemically strengthened glass substrate.

25 . A consumer electronic product, comprising:
a housing comprising a front surface, a back surface and side surfaces; electrical components at least partially within the housing, the electrical components comprising a controller, a memory, and a display, the display at or adjacent to the front surface of the housing; and a cover substrate disposed over the display,
wherein at least one of a portion of the housing or the cover substrate comprises the article of claim 12 .

26 . An article comprising:
a substrate comprising opposing major surfaces including a first major surface and a second major surface; an anti-reflective coating disposed on the first major surface of the substrate; the anti-reflective coating comprising a plurality of alternating high refractive index and low refractive index layers with a first low refractive index layer in direct contact with the first major surface of the substrate; the anti-reflective coating comprises a capping layer; the anti-reflective coating comprises a physical thickness from about 50 nm to about 500 nm; wherein the high refractive index layer adjacent to the capping layer has an optical thickness from about 45 nm to about 450 nm; and wherein the capping layer has a physical thickness of 80 nm or more.

27 . The article of claim 26 , wherein each low refractive index layer comprises a silicon-containing oxide, and each high refractive index layer comprises a nitride or an oxynitride;

28 . The article of claim 26 , wherein the article exhibits a hardness of 8 GPa or greater measured at an indentation depth of about 100 nm or a maximum hardness of 9 GPa or greater measured

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Hart Shandon Dee
• Koch Iii Karl William
• Kosik Williams Carlo Anthony
• Lin Lin
• Mayolet Alexandre Michel
• Price James Joseph

Classifications

• G02B1/14

  Protective coatings, e.g. hard coatings · CPC title

• C03C2217/218

  V2O5, Nb2O5, Ta2O5 · CPC title

• C03C2217/212

  TiO2 · CPC title

• G02B1/115 Primary

  Multilayers · CPC title

• C03C17/3435 Primary

  comprising a nitride, oxynitride, boronitride or carbonitride · CPC title