US20090127120A1 - Method of Forming Mirrors on a Conducting Substrate - Google Patents

Method of Forming Mirrors on a Conducting Substrate Download PDF

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Publication number
US20090127120A1
US20090127120A1 US11/911,818 US91181806A US2009127120A1 US 20090127120 A1 US20090127120 A1 US 20090127120A1 US 91181806 A US91181806 A US 91181806A US 2009127120 A1 US2009127120 A1 US 2009127120A1
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
layer
electrode
coating
hydrophilic colloid
mirror
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
US11/911,818
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English (en)
Inventor
John R. Fyson
Christopher B. Rider
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Eastman Kodak Co
Original Assignee
Eastman Kodak Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Eastman Kodak Co filed Critical Eastman Kodak Co
Assigned to EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY reassignment EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: FYSON, JOHN R., RIDER, CHRISTOPHER B.
Publication of US20090127120A1 publication Critical patent/US20090127120A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B5/00—Optical elements other than lenses
    • G02B5/08—Mirrors
    • G02B5/0808—Mirrors having a single reflecting layer
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C25—ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25D—PROCESSES FOR THE ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PRODUCTION OF COATINGS; ELECTROFORMING; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25D5/00—Electroplating characterised by the process; Pretreatment or after-treatment of workpieces
    • C25D5/54—Electroplating of non-metallic surfaces
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C25—ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25D—PROCESSES FOR THE ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PRODUCTION OF COATINGS; ELECTROFORMING; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25D5/00—Electroplating characterised by the process; Pretreatment or after-treatment of workpieces
    • C25D5/54—Electroplating of non-metallic surfaces
    • C25D5/56—Electroplating of non-metallic surfaces of plastics
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C25—ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25D—PROCESSES FOR THE ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PRODUCTION OF COATINGS; ELECTROFORMING; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25D7/00—Electroplating characterised by the article coated
    • C25D7/08—Mirrors; Reflectors

Definitions

  • This invention relates to the field of manufacturing mirrors on conducting transparent substrates.
  • Digital pixelated non-emissive displays require conductive tracks running to the electrodes at every pixel to address the display.
  • the display can be transparent and lit from behind or rely on a reflector on one side, using ambient light to view the device.
  • the tracks carrying the current must be substantially transparent over the viewing area and may be made of an organic conductor such as polythiophene, a derivative of polythiophene which may be mixed with other components or an inorganic conductor such as indium tin oxide (ITO).
  • the track and electrode pattern may be formed in any suitable manner such as photolithography and then etched with a suitable etchant.
  • these ‘conductive’ materials have a relatively large resistance when used to form transparent conductors and this resistance will impair the operation of a display, especially if the display is large.
  • a means of overcoming this is to put a conducting metal over part of these tracks to reduce the resistance. This reduces the light passing through the pixels. The area covered by the metal is kept to a minimum. If the display is backlit, the effect of the metal conductors can be partially overcome by malting them reflective. Any light hitting the metal conductor would then be reflected back into the light box or light guide instead of being absorbed.
  • the metal conductor In the case of a light box, it is necessary that the metal conductor be highly reflective but not necessarily highly specular.
  • edge lighting of a planar waveguide structure which is designed to leak some of the light from one side of the light-guide and uniformly illuminate the display.
  • the reflection from the metal conductor it is important that the reflection from the metal conductor be specular to avoid brealing the waveguiding conditions and causing light leakage that would reduce both the efficiency and the uniformity of the backlight. Therefore, a reflective metal conductor with a good mirror finish on the light box (base/substrate) side would be advantageous in both cases.
  • This metal is often coated by vacuum deposition or sputtering and then subsequently etched. This process is slow and requires the formation of a good vacuum around the material. This puts a limit on the practical size of rigid transparent substrates such as glass or requires a rolled up flexible substrate to be rolled and unrolled within the vacuum.
  • U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,988 discloses a means of depositing metals onto ITO and semi conducting materials using an electrolytic process. In this process the surface is dipped in a suitable plating solution and connected to the negative of a DC supply. An inert anode or one of the metals being plated is placed in the plating solution. A current is passed through the solution and metal is plated on the conducting surface.
  • EP 0352721 teaches that metal plated in this way may not adhere well to the surface. This document teaches the use of a surfactant and air bubbling to create a foam to alleviate the problem.
  • a photographic silver halide imaging system to write features onto the device.
  • silver halide in a binder e.g. gelatin could be coated onto the conducting surface. This could subsequently be imaged as required. It has been found relatively easy to coat gelatin and emulsions onto a conducting ITO layer on glass or flexible PET (EstarTM) but more difficult to coat onto metal due to poor adhesion.
  • a method of forming at least one metal layer on a conductive substrate comprising;
  • the invention has a number of advantages. No vacuum is required to deposit the metal layer and no high voltages are required in sputtering. There is no size restriction on the layers formed.
  • the method of the invention leaves a gelatin/hydrophilic colloid onto which an emulsion can be coated easily. During formation of the mirror under the layer of hydrophilic colloid the conductance can be changed by changing the plating conditions, for example, the time, voltage, agitation etc..
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the apparatus for performing the method of the invention
  • FIG. 2 illustrates the structure of the layers of a device produced by the method according to the invention.
  • FIG. 3 is a graph comparing the properties of a device manufactured in accordance with the invention with a device manufacture by conventional means.
  • FIG. 1 shows the apparatus for performing the method of the invention.
  • a vessel 60 is partially filled with plating solution 100 .
  • the solution may be any suitable plating solution but for a good silver mirror a solution of a silver complex would be used.
  • the vessel 60 is provided with a lid 110 . This lid may be of rubber.
  • Three electrodes 20 , 30 and 40 are supported by the lid 10 and extend down into the solution 100 . Each electrode is connected to potentiostat 10 , by connecting wires.
  • Electrode 20 is the cathode. Electrode 20 is formed of a layer of conductive material 4 coated onto a transparent substrate 2 .
  • the substrate 2 may be flexible.
  • the layer of conductive material may be indium tin oxide. However it will be understood by those skilled in the art that any suitable material may be used as the conductive layer, for example an organic conductor such as polythiophene, a derivative of polythiophene which may be mixed with other components.
  • the transparent substrate may be, for example, PET, cellulose triacetate, PEN or glass. These are examples only.
  • a layer of hydrophilic colloid or gel 8 is coated above the conductive layer 4 . This layer is allowed to dry before the plating process takes place.
  • Electrode 20 is connected to the potentiostat 10 by a connecting wire 70 .
  • Electrode 30 forms a reference electrode. Electrode 30 is connected to the potentiostat 10 by a connecting wire 80 .
  • Electrode 40 is a silver foil electrode and forms the anode. Electrode 40 is connected to the potentiostat 10 by a connecting wire 90 .
  • a stirring device 50 is provided within the vessel 60 .
  • the conducting layer is connected as the cathode in an electrolytic cell charged with an appropriate plating solution. Current is passed for such time that a mirror forms between the transparent conducting coating and the hydrophilic colloid.
  • FIG. 2 illustrates the structure of the mirrored coating after the method described above. As can be seen a layer of silver 6 has been formed between the transparent conductor 4 and the layer of hydrophilic colloid 8 . Suitable metals other than silver include nickel, copper and gold. These are examples only.
  • a standard 3-electrode electrochemical cell was set up as shown in FIG. 1 .
  • a three-electrode arrangement was used to keep track of the voltage on the working electrode, 20 and the current flowing between the working electrode 20 and auxiliary electrode 40 .
  • a 10 ⁇ 50 mm strip of ITO coating, supported by a rubber lid, 110 was connected with a crocodile clip (not shown), squashed together to ensure good contact with the ITO through any coating, to a potentiostat (BrukerTM) via a wire, 70 , as the working electrode.
  • a length of 20 mm of this coating was immersed in the plating liquid, 100 , in the beaker, 60 .
  • a calomel reference (CorningTM) electrode, 30 supported by the rubber lid, 110 , was connected directly via its connecting wire, 80 , to the potentiostat, 10 , and was allowed to dip in the plating solution, 100 , the depth being unimportant.
  • a 20 ⁇ 100 mm silver foil electrode was connected as the auxiliary electrode, again supported by the rubber lid, 110 , via a crocodile clip (not shown) and wire, 80 , to the potentiostat, 10 .
  • the potentiostat, 10 was set up to deliver constant voltage, but this was adjusted to maintain a more-or-less constant desired current, where possible.
  • the plating solution, 100 was stirred by means of an external magnetic stirrer coupled through a stirrer bar, 50 .
  • the samples obtained above were taped to a coating block covering up the smallest area of the mirror possible.
  • the tape was 80 micron thick. This was used as the edge rails for a coating knife (glass slide).
  • Onto the sample was coated the same gelatin solution as used in sample ii) described above. The coatings were allowed to dry. The gelatin peeled off the sample without gel cover (sample i described above) but not from the other samples.
  • the experiment was repeated with coatings i and ii using a larger area of 30 ⁇ 30 mm in the plating solution and using the same current density of 50 ⁇ A/mm 2 .
  • the specular reflectivity at different wavelengths was measured at different wave lengths.
  • FIG. 3 shows the results.
  • the reflectivity of the mirror formed under gelatin is more colour neutral and has a larger area under the curve indicating the overall specular reflectance is greater.

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
  • Electrochemistry (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Electrochromic Elements, Electrophoresis, Or Variable Reflection Or Absorption Elements (AREA)
  • Optical Elements Other Than Lenses (AREA)
  • Electroplating Methods And Accessories (AREA)
US11/911,818 2005-04-23 2006-03-13 Method of Forming Mirrors on a Conducting Substrate Abandoned US20090127120A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB0508235.9 2005-04-23
GBGB0508235.9A GB0508235D0 (en) 2005-04-23 2005-04-23 A method of forming mirrors on a conducting substrate
PCT/GB2006/000883 WO2006114564A1 (en) 2005-04-23 2006-03-13 A method of forming mirrors on a conducting substrate

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US20090127120A1 true US20090127120A1 (en) 2009-05-21

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Family Applications (1)

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US11/911,818 Abandoned US20090127120A1 (en) 2005-04-23 2006-03-13 Method of Forming Mirrors on a Conducting Substrate

Country Status (6)

Country Link
US (1) US20090127120A1 (de)
EP (1) EP1875279B1 (de)
DE (1) DE602006001652D1 (de)
GB (1) GB0508235D0 (de)
TW (1) TW200707543A (de)
WO (1) WO2006114564A1 (de)

Families Citing this family (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US11786036B2 (en) 2008-06-27 2023-10-17 Ssw Advanced Technologies, Llc Spill containing refrigerator shelf assembly
US8286561B2 (en) 2008-06-27 2012-10-16 Ssw Holding Company, Inc. Spill containing refrigerator shelf assembly
EP2346678B1 (de) 2008-10-07 2017-10-04 Ross Technology Corporation Auslaufresistente oberflächen mit wasser- und ölabweisenden rändern
US9074778B2 (en) 2009-11-04 2015-07-07 Ssw Holding Company, Inc. Cooking appliance surfaces having spill containment pattern
EP2354716A1 (de) * 2010-02-03 2011-08-10 Kuraray Europe GmbH Spiegel für solarthermische Kraftwerke enthaltend weichmacherhaltige Polyvinylacetalfolien
JP5858441B2 (ja) 2010-03-15 2016-02-10 ロス テクノロジー コーポレーション．Ｒｏｓｓ Ｔｅｃｈｎｏｌｏｇｙ Ｃｏｒｐｏｒａｔｉｏｎ プランジャーおよび疎水性表面を得るための方法
EP2678400A4 (de) 2011-02-21 2015-11-18 Ross Technology Corp Superhydrophobe und ölabweisende beschichtungen mit bindemittelsystemen mit niedrigem gehalt an flüchtigen organischen verbindungen
DE102011085428A1 (de) 2011-10-28 2013-05-02 Schott Ag Einlegeboden
WO2013090939A1 (en) 2011-12-15 2013-06-20 Ross Technology Corporation Composition and coating for superhydrophobic performance
WO2014003852A2 (en) 2012-06-25 2014-01-03 Ross Technology Corporation Elastomeric coatings having hydrophobic and/or oleophobic properties

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1807875A (en) * 1926-10-21 1931-06-02 Meriden Gravure Company Method of electroplating and product thereof
US4463089A (en) * 1982-12-20 1984-07-31 Drexler Technology Corporation Reflective optical data storage and laser recording medium
US4586988A (en) * 1983-08-19 1986-05-06 Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. Method of forming an electrically conductive member
US6366333B1 (en) * 1999-02-25 2002-04-02 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Method of forming a conductive and reflective thin metal film suitable for a reflective LCD device and a device produced by the method

Family Cites Families (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3825845A1 (de) * 1988-07-29 1990-02-01 Nokia Unterhaltungselektronik Verfahren zum galvanischen metallisieren eines substrats

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1807875A (en) * 1926-10-21 1931-06-02 Meriden Gravure Company Method of electroplating and product thereof
US4463089A (en) * 1982-12-20 1984-07-31 Drexler Technology Corporation Reflective optical data storage and laser recording medium
US4586988A (en) * 1983-08-19 1986-05-06 Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. Method of forming an electrically conductive member
US6366333B1 (en) * 1999-02-25 2002-04-02 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Method of forming a conductive and reflective thin metal film suitable for a reflective LCD device and a device produced by the method

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP1875279B1 (de) 2008-07-02
WO2006114564A1 (en) 2006-11-02
EP1875279A1 (de) 2008-01-09
GB0508235D0 (en) 2005-06-01
TW200707543A (en) 2007-02-16
DE602006001652D1 (de) 2008-08-14

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AS Assignment

Owner name: EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, NEW YORK

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:FYSON, JOHN R.;RIDER, CHRISTOPHER B.;REEL/FRAME:019979/0526

Effective date: 20071016

STCB Information on status: application discontinuation

Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION