JPS61240225A - Optical element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an optical element simple in structure, high in coloring speed and coloring intensity, and power consumption efficiency by laminating one or more combinations of a transparent electrode, a coloring layer, and an ion-feeding thin layer, and forming an electrode at the uppermost part. CONSTITUTION:The thin transparent electrode 12 made of ITO for transmitting the visible light is formed on a quartz base glass 11, on this layer, the coloring layer 13 made of a mixture of oxides of lithium and tungsten is formed by sputtering, and then, the ion-feeding thin layer 14 is formed on the layer 13 by sputtering, thus the first combination 15 composed of 12, 13, and 14 is formed. Next, the second combination 15' composed of 12, 13, and 14, and further, the third combination 15'', and the fourth combination 15''' are laminated on the first combination 15, and finally forming the electrode 16 on the ion-feeding thin layer 14 of the fourth combination 15''' of the 4 laminated combinations to prepare the optical element.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical element that can be driven at high speed and is used in recording materials and display elements.

Conventional technology The optical elements conventionally used in recording materials and display elements are 1
As shown in FIG. 2, two transparent electrodes 2 and 2' are provided on two substrates 1 and 1' made of quartz glass, respectively, and are placed facing each other. WOI) layer is provided, the periphery of both electrodes 2 and 2' is sealed with a sealing material 4, and an ion supply source 5 is enclosed between the coloring layer 3 and the counter electrode 2'.

Examples of the ion source 5 of the conventional optical element having the above-described structure include IN H, SO, aqueous electrolyte, or LL.
Solid electrolytes such as WOa and insulators such as polyolefin films have been used.

In the conventional optical element having the configuration as described above, one electrode and two
' is positive and electrode 2 is negative and a voltage is applied, the electrolyte of the ion supply source 5 dissociates, cations enter the coloring layer 3, a light absorber is generated near the interface, and color is generated. Moreover, when the opposite voltage is applied, the color is bleached.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the conventional optical element described above, when the applied voltage is low, the coloring intensity in the coloring layer 3 is proportional to the amount of charge injected, but the coloring speed increases as the applied voltage increases. Become. Therefore, if the applied voltage is increased in order to increase the coloring speed (1), that is, to enable high-speed driving, the coloring intensity tends to be saturated, which limits the coloring intensity and makes it difficult to reach the maximum coloring intensity. For this reason, in the conventional optical element as described above, not only a large amount of current is required to increase the speed, but also a large amount of current is required to increase the speed. It had a drawback that the coloring efficiency was poor with respect to the amount of charge injected. For this reason, the practical range of such optical elements has become extremely narrow.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide an optical element that overcomes the above-mentioned drawbacks, that is, an optical element that has a simple structure, has a fast coloring speed, a high coloring intensity, and is efficient in power consumption.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides a color forming layer 1 on a transparent electrode that transmits visible light, and an ion source thin layer thereon, and a combination of the transparent electrode 1 color forming layer and ion source thin layer. Add one or more tanks,
An optical element is characterized in that an electrode is provided at the top.

As the transparent electrode that transmits visible light, a conventionally commonly used transparent electrode, such as a TO thin film, can be used. If the transparent electrode is not self-supporting, the transparent electrode may be provided on a suitable transparent or opaque substrate.

According to the present invention, a sputtered film of a mixed oxide of lithium and tungsten formed in an argon atmosphere is used as the coloring layer, and an argon/oxygen film of the mixed oxide of lithium and tungsten is used as the ion source thin layer. It is preferable to use a sputtered film formed in an atmosphere.

According to the present invention, two or more of the above-mentioned combinations of the transparent electrode, the coloring layer, and the ion source thin layer are arbitrarily combined in a desired number.

Further, the total thickness of the coloring layer and the ion source thin layer is preferably 2000A or less.

According to the present invention, as described above, a plurality of combinations of the transparent electrode 1 coloring layer and the ion source thin layer are stacked, and the electrode is finally provided on the uppermost ion source thin layer.

This electrode may be constructed of the same material as the transparent electrode described above, or may be an entirely thin film opaque electrode. Further, a transparent or opaque base may be provided on this electrode as necessary.

Function In the present invention, as described above, a sputtered film of a mixed oxide of lithium and tungsten formed in an argon atmosphere is used as the coloring layer, and a sputtered film formed in an argon atmosphere of a mixed oxide of lithium and tungsten is used as the ion source thin layer. The reason why a sputtered film formed in an atmosphere is used is that during the formation of these two layers (films), mutual diffusion between the layers (films) can be minimized, and the film can be formed with a thin film thickness. Further, if the thickness of both layers is set to 2000 A or less, the applied voltage can be reduced, and power consumption can be reduced.

As described above, in the present invention, by stacking a plurality of combinations of a transparent electrode, a coloring layer, and an ion source thin layer, the voltage to be applied to the optical element according to the present invention can be adjusted according to the number of combinations. However, if the film thickness of each layer constituting each combination is controlled to be thin, the above voltage can be lowered accordingly.◇Also, the voltage to the interface of each combination, that is, one interface, is Since the voltage is low depending on the number of batteries, leakage current is extremely low, and low power consumption can also be achieved.

In the optical element of the present invention, when a voltage is applied to the optical element according to the number of combinations so that the amount of charge injected into each combination is the same as the amount of charge injected in the case of an optical element with a conventional configuration, Even if the coloring intensity and the speed at which it is reached are the same for each combination, the number of interfaces in each combination increases according to the number of combinations, so the overall coloring intensity increases and a clear display can be obtained. It will be done. As a result, a clear display with high coloring intensity can be quickly achieved.Furthermore, according to the present invention, each layer, especially the ion source thin layer, is made of a solid thin film, so that each layer can be easily formed.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of an optical element according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a quartz glass substrate that transmits visible light, and a τO thin film serving as a transparent electrode 12 that transmits visible light was formed thereon.

Next, a sputtered film having a thickness of 1000 Å was formed on the thin film IT electrode 12 by sputtering a mixed oxide of lithium and tungsten in an argon atmosphere as a coloring layer 13. Next, the ion source thin layer 1 is placed on the coloring layer 13.
4, a mixed oxide of lithium and tungsten was sputtered to a thickness of 10 mm in an argon/oxygen atmosphere.
08 people formed sputtered films. Thus, a combination 15 of the first transparent electrode 12, the coloring layer 13 and the ion source thin layer 14 was formed.

Next, as described above, a second transparent electrode 12, a color forming layer 13 and an ion source thin layer 1 are further applied on the first combination 15.
A combination 15' of 4 was formed and stacked. In this way the second
As shown in the figure 1 further combination 15/'/ and 15''
A total of four combinations were formed and stacked, and the entire thin film was formed as an electrode 16 on the ion source thin layer 14 of the last combination 15'' to make an optical element.

A voltage was applied using the TO thin film electrode 12 on the substrate 11 of the optical element produced as described above as an electrode and the entire thin film 16 as a positive electrode. This resulted in a strong and vivid coloration. The coloring quickly disappeared by reversing the positive and negative voltage applications. According to this example, the film thickness of the color forming layer 13 and the ion source thin layer 14 is set to 200 OA, but it is possible to perform coloring and decoloring at a voltage that is sufficient for practical use, and to quickly achieve stronger and clearer coloring than before. I was able to make it happen.

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, by forming an optical element into a structure in which a large number of combinations of a transparent electrode, a coloring layer, and a thin ion source layer are stacked, it is possible to increase the intensity of coloring and to increase the speed at which it is achieved. can be achieved with a simple structure and excellent effects can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an optical element according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a conventional optical element. 11 is a substrate, 12 is a transparent electrode, 13 is a coloring layer, 14 is an ion supply and source thin layer, 15, 15', 15'. 15'' is a combination of a transparent electrode, a coloring layer and an ion source thin layer, and 16 is an electrode. Patent applicant Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 1'

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A color forming layer is provided on a transparent electrode that transmits visible light, and an ion source thin layer is provided on the transparent electrode, and one or more combinations of the above transparent electrode, color forming layer, and ion source thin layer are provided. An optical element characterized by being stacked and having an electrode at the top. 2. The coloring layer is a sputtered film of a mixed oxide of lithium and tungsten in an argon atmosphere, and the ion source thin layer is a sputtered film of a mixed oxide of lithium and tungsten in an argon atmosphere.
The optical element according to claim 1, which is a sputtered film in an oxygen atmosphere. 3. The total thickness of the coloring layer and ion source thin layer is 20
The optical element according to claim 1 or 2, which has a thickness of 00 Å or less.