WO2013082477A2

WO2013082477A2 - Process for making of glass articles with optical and easy-to-clean coatings

Info

Publication number: WO2013082477A2
Application number: PCT/US2012/067370
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christopher Morton Lee; Xiao-feng LU; Michael Xu Ouyang; Junhong Zhang
Original assignee: Corning Incorporated
Priority date: 2011-11-30
Filing date: 2012-11-30
Publication date: 2013-06-06
Also published as: EP2785662A2; TW201331143A; US20140113083A1; CN109384399A; TWI588112B; JP2015506893A; JP6896671B2; WO2013082477A3; JP2018090489A; CN104321290A; KR20140098178A

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to a process in which both an optical coating, for example, and AR coating, and an ETC coating can be applied to a glass substrate article, in sequential steps of the optical coating first and the ETC coating second, using substantially the same procedure without exposing the article to the atmosphere at any time during the application of the optical coating and ETC coating. After post-treating the article to create strong chemical bonding between the ETC coating and the optical coating deposited on the substrate, and cross-linking between ETC molecules, the article has an average water contact angle of at least 70° after 5,500 abrasion cycles using with #0 steel wool and 1kg weight load on a 1cm2 surface area.

Description

PROCESS FOR MAKING OF GLASS ARTICLES WITH OPTICAL

AND EASY-TO-CLEAN COATINGS

Priority

[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 61/565024 filed on November 30, 2011 the content of which is relied upon and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Field

[0002] This disclosure is directed to an improved process for making glass articles having an optical coating and an easy-to clean coating thereon. In particular, the disclosure is directed to a process in which the application of the optical coating and the easy-to-clean coating can be sequentially applied using the same apparatus.

Background

[0003] Glass, and in particular chemically strengthen glass, has become the material of choice for the view screen of many, is not most, consumer electronic products, and glass is particularly favored for "touch" screen products whether they be small items such as cell phones, music players, e-book readers and electronic notepads, or larger items such as computers, automatic teller machines, airport self-check-in machines and other such electronic items. Many of these items require the application of

antireflective ("AR") coatings on the glass in order to reduce the reflection of visible light from the glass in order to improve contrast and readability, particularly when the device is used in direct sunlight. However, one of the drawbacks of the AR coating is its sensitivity to surface contamination and poor anti-scratch reliability. Fingerprints and stains on an AR coating are very noticeable on an AR coating surface. As a result, it is highly desirable that the glass surface of any touch device be easy to clean. As a result many devices have an easy-to-clean ("ETC") coating applied to the glass surface.

[0004] The current processes for making glass articles having both antire flection and easy-to-clean coatings requires that the coatings be applied using different equipment and consequently separate manufacturing runs. The basic procedure is to provide a glass article; apply the antireflection ("AR") coating using, for example, a chemical vapor ("CVD") or physical vapor deposition ("PVD") method.

[0005] In current, state-of-the-art processes, optical coated (such as AR coated) articles from the coating apparatus will be transferred to another apparatus to apply the ETC coating on top of the AR coating. While these processes can produce articles that have both an AR and an ETC coating, they require separate runs and have higher yield losses due to the extra handling that is required. And they may also result in poor reliability of the final product as a result of contamination arising from the extra handling between the AR coating and ETC coating procedures. Further, in a state-of-the-art 2-step coating process of ETC over an optical coating results in a coating that is easily scratched in touch applications where the user typically uses a finger to access and use an application on a device, and then wants to use a cloth to wipe off finger oils and moisture that create haze on the touch surface. While the AR coated surface can be cleaned before applying the ETC coating, this involves addition work. All the additional steps result in higher product costs. Consequently, it is highly desirable to find a process in which both coatings can be applied using the same basic procedure and equipment, thus reducing manufacturing costs.

Summary

[0006] The present disclosure is directed to a process in which both an optical coating, for example, an AR coating, and an ETC coating can be applied to a glass substrate article in sequential steps of the optical coating first and the ETC coating second, using substantially the same procedure without exposing the article to the atmosphere at any time during the application of the optical coating and the ETC coating. A reliable ETC coating provides lubrication to the surface of glass, transparent conductive coatings (TCO), and optical coatings. Abrasion resistance of glass and optical coatings will be more than 10 times better than state-of-the-art 2-step coating process or 100-1000 times better than AR coating without ETC coatings by in-situ one-step process. In addition, the ETC coating is considered as part of optical coating during the design phase and is engineered so that it will not change optical performance. [0007] Optical coatings includes antireflection coatings (ARC), band-pass filter, edge neutral mirrors and beam splitters, multi-layer high-reflectance coatings, edge filters and coatings for other optical purposes (see "Thin Film Optical Filter ", 3^rd edition, H. Angus Macleod. Institute of Physics Publishing Bristol and Philadelphia, 2001].

Optical coatings can be used for displays, camera lenses, telecommunication

components, medical and scientific instruments, and also in photochromic and electrochromic application, photovoltaic devices, and in other elements and devices. The ETC coating can be applied over optical coating in the same chamber as the optical coating, or it can applied in a separate chamber with a vacuum lock or isolation valve separating the optical coating chamber from the ETC coating chamber(s).

[0008] Another embodiment of an in-situ coating process is a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method, where the ARC is deposited on a substrate to form, for example without limitation, a "Si0₂/Ti0₂/Si0₂/Ti0₂/substrate" article where the substrate is sequentially coated with tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) precursor for S1O₂ and titanium isopropoxide (TIPT) precursor for T1O₂ in the order indicated, the S1O₂ layer being the last layer. {Deposition of S1O₂ and T1O₂ thin films by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition for antireflection coating, C. Martinet, V. Paillard, A. Gagnaire, J. Joseph, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Volume 216, 1 August 1997, Pages 77-82). An ETC coating is applied on top of S1O₂ cap layer of ARC, for example, using Dow-Corning DC2634 and Daikin DSX with solvent as precursor after finishing the ARC.

[0009] TCO coatings includes ITO (indium tin oxide), AZO (Al doped zinc oxide), IZO (Zn stabilized indium oxides), Ι¾0₃, and other binary and ternary oxide compounds known in the art.

[0010] Optical coatings are composed of high, medium, and low refractive index materials. Exemplary high index materials (n= 1.7-3.0) are: Zr0₂, Hf0₂, Ta₂0₅, ¾0₅, Ti0₂, Y₂0₃, Si₃N₄, SrTi0₃, W0₃. An exemplary middle index material (n=1.6-1.7) is Al₂0₃. Exemplary low index materials (n=1.3-1.6) are S1O₂, MgF₂, YF₃, YbF₃. The optical coating must compose at least one coating period to provide selected optical function, for example without limitation, anti-reflection properties. In an embodiment the optical coating consists of a plurality of periods, each period consisting of one high index material and one low or middle index material. While it is usually the case that the same materials are used in each period, it is also possible to use different materials in different periods. For example, in a two period AR coating, the first period could be Si0₂ only and the second period could be TiCVSiC^. This ability can be used to design a complicated optical filter, including an ARC. In some cases the ARC can be deposited using a single materials, for example, magnesium fluoride at a thickness of greater than 50nm.

[0011] One of the major advantage of PVD coating (sputtered or IAD-EB coated ARC with thermal evaporation of ETC) is that it is a "cold" process where the substrate temperature is under 100 °C, with the result that there is no degradation of the strength of a chemically tempered glass. The term "IAD" mean "ion-assisted deposition" meaning ions from an ion source bombards the coating as it is being deposited. The ions can also be used to clean the substrate surface prior to coating.

[0012] In one aspect the disclosure is directed to a process for making glass articles having an optical coating on the glass articles and an easy-to-clean, ETC, coating on top of the optical coating, the process comprising

providing a coating apparatus having at least one chamber for the deposition of an optical coating and ETC coating.

providing within said at least one chamber at least one source material(s) for the optical coating and a source material for the ETC coating, wherein when a plurality of source materials are required for making the optical coating, each of the plurality of materials is provided in a separate source material container;

providing a substrate to be coated, the substrate having a length, a width and a thickness and at least one edge between the surfaces of the glass defined by the length and width (or diameter(s)m for circular or oval substrates);

evacuating the chamber to a pressure of 10^"4 Torr or less;

depositing the at least one optical coating material on the substrate to form an optical coating;

ceasing the deposition of the optical coating; following the deposition of the optical coating, depositing the ETC coating on top of the optical coating;

ceasing the deposition of the ETC coating, and removing the substrate having an optical coating and an ETC coating from the chamber to thereby provide a glass article having optical coating and an ETC coating; and

post-treating the article at a temperature in the range of 60-200 °C for a time in the range of 5-60 minutes in air or humid environment with relative humidity RH in the range of 40% < RH < 100% to create strong chemical bonding between the ETC coating and the substrate and crossing between ETC molecules. The optical coating is a multilayer coating consisting of alternating layers of a high refractive index material H having a refractive index in the range of 1.7-3.0, and one from the group consisting of (i) a low refractive index material L having a refractive index in the range of 1.3 -1.6 oxide and (ii) a medium refractive index material having a refractive index in the range of 1.6 -1.7, laid down in the order H(L or M) or (L or M)H, and each H(L or M) or (L or M)H pair of layers is deemed to be a coating period; and the thickness of the H layer and the L(or M) layer in each individual period is in the range of 5nm to 200nm. In another embodiment the optical coating is a single material, for example magnesium fluoride, deposited to a selected thickness, for example greater than 50nm. After the post-treating the article have an AR coating and an ETC coating can be wiped to remove excess, unbonded ETC material. The thickness of the ETC coating chemically bonded to the optical coating is in the range of lnm to 20nm. In addition, after post-treating to create strong chemical bonding between the ECT coating and the AR coating, the articles has an average water contact angle of at least 70° after 5,500 abrasion cycles using #8 steel wool and a 1kg weight load on a 1cm² surface area.

[0013] In one embodiment the optical coating is a multilayer coating consisting of alternating layers of a high refractive index material and a low (or medium) refractive index material, and each high/low(or medium) index pair of layers is deemed to be a coating period. The number of periods is in the range of 1-500. In an embodiment the number of periods is in the range of 2-200. In a further embodiment the number of periods is in the range of 2-100. In an additional embodiment the number of periods is in the range of 2-20. The multilayer coating has a thickness in the range of 1 OOnm to 2000nm. The high refractive index material is selected from the group consisting of Zr0₂, Hf0₂, Ta₂0₅, Nb₂0₅, Ti0₂, Y₂0₃, Si₃N₄, SrTi0₃ and W0₃. The low refractive index material is selected from the group consisting of silica, fused silica and fluorine doped fused silica, MgF₂, CaF₂, YF and YbF₃, and the medium refractive index material is A1₂0₃. The ETC material is a perfluoroalkyl silane of formula (RF)_ySiX₄__y, where Rf is a linear C₆-C₃o perfluoroalkyl group, X = CI or -OCH₃, and y = 2 or 3. The perfluoroalkyl group has a carbon chain length in the range of 3nm to 50nm. In an embodiment of the process the optical coating and the ETC coating are sequentially deposited in a single chamber, the ETC coating being deposited on top of the optical coating. In another embodiment of the process the optical coating is deposited in a first chamber and the ETC coating is deposited on top of the optical coating in a second chamber, the two chambers being connected by a vacuum seal/isolation-lock for transferring the substrate with the optical coating thereon from the first chamber to the second chamber without exposing the substrate/coating to the atmosphere. In a further embodiment the first chamber is divided into an even number of optical coating sub-chambers are used, the number being in the range of 2-10 sub-chambers, wherein the odd numbered sub-chambers are used to deposit either the high refractive index material or the low refractive index material and the even numbered sub-chambers are used to deposit the other of the high refractive index material or the low refractive index material.

[0014] The substrate that is being coated can be selected from the group consisting of borosilicate glass, alumino silicate glass, soda-lime glass, chemically strengthened borosilicate glass, chemically strengthened alumino silicate glass and chemically strengthened soda-lime glass, the glass having a thickness in the range of 0.2mm to 1.5mm, and a selected length and width, or diameter. In one embodiment the substrate is a chemically strengthened alumino silicate glass having a compressive stress of greater than 150 MPa and a depth of layer greater than 14μιη. In another embodiment the substrate is a chemically strengthened alumino silicate glass having a compressive stress of greater than 400 MPa and a depth of layer greater than 25μιη.

[0015] The disclosure is also directed to a glass article having an optical coating on a glass substrate and an easy-to-clean ETC coating on top of the optical coating, the glass having a length, a width and at least one edge between the surfaces of the glass defined by the length and width (or diameter); and the optical coating consisting of a plurality of periods H (L or M) or (L or M)H consisting of a layer of a high refractive index material H having a refractive index in the range of 1.7-3.0 and a layer of a material selected from the group consisting of a low refractive index materials L having a refractive index in the range of 1.3-1.6 and a medium refractive index material M; and an ETC coating on top of the optical coating, the ETC coating being one of formula ( (R_F)_ySiX₄-_y, where R_F is a linear C6-C30 perfluoroalkyl group, X = CI or -OCH₃, and y = 2 or 3. In an embodiment the ETC coating is deposited on top of an Si0₂ layer. When the last layer of the last period of the optical coating is not Si0₂, a Si0₂ capping layer having a thickness in the range of 20-200nm is on top the last coating period and the ETC coating is deposited on top of the Si0₂ capping layer. The number of periods is in the range of 2-1000, and the thickness of the H layer and the L or M layer in each individual period is in the range of 5nm to 200nm. The optical coating on the substrate has a thickness in the range of lOOnm to 2000nm. The perfluoroalkyl Rp has a carbon chain length in the range of 3nm to 50nm; and the thickness of the bonded ETC coating is in the range of 4nm to 25nm.

[0016] Optical coating density also is important in the reliability of the coating and also its abrasion resistance. Consequently, in an embodiment the optical coating is densified during the coating process by use of an ion or plasma source. The ions or plasma impact the coating during deposition and/or after a coating layer has been applied to densify the layer. A densified layer will have at least double the abrasion reliability or abrasion resistance.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0017] Figure 1 a-c is a schematic representation of the perfluoroalkyl silane grafting reaction with glass or an oxide A coating.

[0018] Figure 2 is a drawing illustrating the inside of an IAD-EB box containing both an e-beam evaporation source 20 for deposition of the antireflection coating and a thermal evaporation source 14 for deposition of the ETC coating.

[0019] Figure 3 illustrates the AR optical coating layers that would underlie the ETC coating provide barrier to isolate glass surface chemistry and contamination and further to provide a lower activation energy site for perfluoroalkyl silanes to chemically bond to the AR optical coating with maximum coating density as well as cross linking over coated surface to providing best abrasion reliability.

[0020] Figure 4 is a schematic illustrating an inline PVD coating system having a single process chamber 26 for depositions both AR and ETC coating, substrate carrier 22, and load- lock chambers 25,27 on either side of a PVD process chamber 26 for loading or unloading of uncoated articles, vacuum seals or isolation valves 29, substrate moving direction 33 which can be in either direction depending on how the system is set up, and the loading/unloading at 20 of articles to be coated or that have been coated.

[0021] Figure 5 is a diagram of an inline coating system having separate PVD coating chamber 36 and ETC coating chamber 37, load-lock chamber 35 with vacuum seals 34, and substrate carriers 32, with the process direction being indicated by the arrows 30, 33, and 31.

[0022] Figure 6 is an illustration of an inline sputter coater combining optical coating using a plurality of sputter chambers 56 with ETC coating in chamber 54 on one deposition path 53, the coater also having substrate carriers 52 that load at 50 and unload at 51. The ETC process can be evaporation or chemical vapor deposition (CVD). In the CVD process, fluorinated material is carried by inert gas, for example argon. CVD is more suitable for continuous supply of perfluoroalkyl silane material through a valve control for each piece of glass. In the evaporation process, the continuous material supply and uniformity control is a challenge.

[0023] Figure 7 is an illustration of an inline system having a CVD/PECVD coating chamber 66 for multilayer optical coating, an ETC coating chamber 68 using either CVD or thermal evaporation, load/lock chambers 65,67, vacuum/isolation seals 69, and arrows 63 indicating the direction of the process flow.

[0024] Figure 8 is an illustration on an inline system using ALD in chamber 76 for the formation of a multilayer optical coating and an ETC coating on top of the optical coating in chamber 78, load/lock chambers 75,77, vacuum/isolation seals 79, and arrows 73 indicating the direction of the process flow. The system is capable of placing the optical coating and the ETC coating on both sides of the substrate.

[0025] Figure 9 is a picture of an ion-exchanged glass substrate having both a multilayer optical coating and an ETC coating after 5.5K abrasions using #0 steel wool, lkg applied force on a 1cm² surface area. The writing In Figure 9 is an identification number.

[0026] Figure 10 is an illustration 200 of AR-ETC coated GRIN lenses 212 with optical fibers 210 and some of uses of the combination, for example connecting an optical fiber to a laptop or tablet as in 202 or connecting to a media dock as in 204.

[0027] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of important CVD steps during deposition.

Detailed Description

[0028] Alternating layers of high and low refractive index materials can be used to form optical coatings such as antireflective or anti-glare coatings for ultraviolet ("UV"), visible ("VIS") and infrared ("IR") applications. The optical coatings can be deposited using a variety of methods including plasma vapor deposition ("PVD"), electron beam deposition ("e-beam" or "EB"), ion-assisted deposition-EB ("IAD-EB"), laser ablation, vacuum arc deposition, thermal evaporation, sputtering, and other methods as may be known in the art....). Herein the PVD method is used as an exemplary method. The optical coating consists of at least one layer of a high index material ("H") and a low index material ("L"); and a medium index material ("M") can be used in place of a low index material in all or some of the low index layers. Multilayer coatings consist of a plurality of alternating high and low layers, for example, HL,HL,HL. . . , etc., or LH,LH,LH . . ., etc., (with the provision that a medium index layer M can replace at least one of the L layers). One pair of HL or LH layers is also termed a "period" or a "coating period." In a multilayer coating the number of periods is in the range of 2-20 periods. An optional final capping layer of Si0₂ can also be deposited on top of the AR coating as a final layer. Typically, when used, the capping layer is added when the final layer of the last A coating period is not Si0₂ and the capping layer has a thickness of less than 20nm. If the last optical coating layer, or the last layer of the last period, is an Si0₂ layer, then the capping layer is optional. The ETC coating material can be deposited on top of the optical coating by thermal evaporation, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or atomic layer deposition (ALD).

[0029] In an embodiment the present disclosure is directed to a process in which in a first step a multilayer optical coating is deposited on a glass substrate followed by a second step which the thermal evaporation and deposition of the ETC coating is carried out in the same chamber. In one embodiment a multilayer optical coating is deposited on a glass substrate in one chamber followed by the thermal evaporation and deposition of the ETC coating on top of the multilayer coating in a second chamber, with the provision that the transfer of the multilayer coated substrate from the first chamber to the second chamber is carried out inline in a manner such the substrate is not exposed to air between the application of the two functions coatings, the multilayer coating and the ETC coating. When the application of the optical coating and the ETC coating are carried out in separate chambers, the coating chambers are connected by a vacuum lock so that the substrate being coated can be moved from one chamber to the other without exposure to the atmosphere; the load/unload chambers on the substrate in/out sides are connected to the coating chambers by a vacuum lock on the connection side and by a lock that opens to the other side. In this manner, uncoated substrate can be loaded and/or unloaded while vacuum is maintained in the coating chambers.

Regarding the deposition of the optical coating, variations the manner of its deposition can be used. In one variation separate coating chambers may be used for each optical coating material being coated. This variation requires a larger number of chambers depending on the number of periods of required for the optical coating particularly for a multi-period coating, and may be desirable only when coating very large substrates, for example, those larger 0.4 meter in one dimension. In another variation, in a

multi-period coating in which each period consists of a high refractive index material and a low refractive index material, each period is applied in a separate chamber, the advantage of the second variation being that the number of chambers is minimized when a multi-period optical coating is being applied and the material progresses through the system more rapidly. In another embodiment all coatings are applied to the substrate out in a single chamber. The processes can be applied to PVD, CVD/PECVD, and ALD coating systems. Depending on the size of the chamber or chambers and the size of the substrates being coated, one or a plurality of substrates can simultaneously be coated within a chamber.

[0030] In an embodiment the easy-to-clean (" ETC) coating materials are silanes of selected types containing perfluorinated groups, for example, perfluoroalkyl silanes of formula (R_F)_ySiX₄-_y, where RF is a linear C6-C₃₀ perfluoroalkyl group, X = CI, acetoxy, -OCH₃, and -OCH₂CH₃, and y = 2 or 3. The perfluoroalkyl silanes can be obtained commercially from many vendors including Dow-Corning (for example fluorocarbons 2604 and 2634), 3MCompany (for example ECC-1000 and ECC-4000), and other fluorocarbon suppliers such as Daikin Corporation, Ceko (South Korea), Cotec-GmbH ( DURALON UltraTec materials) and Evonik. Figure 1 a-c schematic representation of an exemplary silane grafting reaction with glass or an oxide AR coating using a (RF)_ySiX₄__y moiety. Figure lc, illustrates that when a perfluoroalkyl-trichlorosilane was grafted to the glass the silane silicon atom can be either (1) triply bonded (three Si-0 bonds) to the a glass substrate or the surface of a multilayer oxide coating on the substrate or (2) doubly bonded to a glass substrate and have one Si-O-Si bond to an adjacent RpSi moiety.

[0031] As described in Figures 2-8, the ETC coating process can be the last step and combined into optical coating chamber, or as a separate process in a following chamber after optical coating has been applied in an inline system. The ETC coating process time is very short and provides a cured coating thickness in the range of l-20nm of perfluoroalkyl silane coating material over the fresh optical coatings without breaking vacuum.

[0032] The ETC coating method the comprises the step of applying an easy-to -clean ("ETC") coating on top of optical coating, the ETC coating being selected from the group consisting of fluoroalkylsilanes, perfluoropolyether alkoxy silanes,

perfluoroalkyl alkoxy silanes, fluoroalkylsilane-(non-fluoroalkylsilane) copolymers, and mixtures of fluoroalkylsilanes; and curing the applied coating to thereby bond the ETC coating to the optical coating by a Si-0 bond between the optical coating and ETC coating. The ETC coating material can be obtained from commercial sources such as those listed above. The ETC coating as applied has a thickness in the range of lOnm to 50nm to cover the entire optical coating surface and to provide for a dense ETC coverage. In one embodiment the ETC coating is a perfluoroalkyl silane of formula (RF)y-SiX₄-yY, where y = 1 or 2, the RF group is a perfluoroalkyl group having a carbon chain length in the range of 6-130 carbon atoms from the silicon atom to the end of the chain at its greatest length, and X is -CI, acetoxy, -OCH₃ or OCH₂H₃. In another embodiment the ETC coating bonded to the optical coating is a perfluoropolyether silane of formula [CF3-CF₂CF₂0)_a]_y_SiX₄-y where a is in the range of 5-10, y = 1 or 2, and X is -CI, acetoxy, -OCH₃ or OCH₂H₃, wherein the total perfluoropolyether chain length is in the range of 6-130 carbon atoms from the silicon atom to the end of the chain at its greatest length. Herein, the length of the carbon chain in nanometers ("nm") is the product of the number of carbon-carbon bonds along the greatest length of the chain times the carbon-carbon single bond length of 0.154nm, and ranges from lnm to 20nm. In a further embodiment the ETC coating bonded optical coating is a perfluoroalkyl-alkyl-alkoxy silane of formula [RF-(CH₂)_b]y-SiX₄_y where RF is a perfluoroalkyl group having a carbon chain length in the range of 10-16 carbon atoms, -(CH₂)_b- is an alkyl group and b is in the range of 14-20, y = 2 or 3, and X is - CI, acetoxy, -OCH₃ or OCH₂CH₃. The ETC coating must be applied to a thickness in the range of lOnm to 50nm to cover the whole optical coating surface and to provide for a dense coverage and better reliability. However, after "naturally curing" at room temperature, approximately 18-30°C, or at elevated temperature as specified herein in air, only one mono layer is chemically bonded to the optical coating and the extra, unbonded ETC can be can be removed to improve the optical clarity, for example by wiping. The final thickness of the ETC coating chemically bonded to optical coating is in the range of 1-20 nm depending on molecule weight of ETC material. The relative humidity for "natural curing" is at least 40%. While the "natural curing" method is inexpensive, it typically requires 3-6 days for adequate curing to occur. Consequently, it is desirable to cure the ETC coating at temperature above 50°C. For example, curing can be carried out at a temperature in the range of 60-200 °C for a time in the range of 5-60 minutes in air or humid environment with relative humidity RH in the range of 40% < RH < 100%. In one embodiment the relative humidity is in the range of 60% < RH < 95. [0033] In the PVD process, a small amount of condensed ETC material is thermally evaporated from a boat or crucible and a thin 10-50 nm, uniform ETC coating is condensed on the freshly prepared top of the optical coating on the substrates. A Si0₂ layer is usually final layer of the optical coating or it is applied as the cap layer for optical coating as it provides the highest surface density and also provides for crosslinking of fluorinated groups because layers were deposited at high vacuum (10^~4- 10^"6 Torr) without the presence of free OH. Free OH, for example, a thin layer of water on the glass or AR surface) is detrimental because it prevents the fluorinated groups from bonding with metal oxides or silicon oxide surfaces. When the vacuum in the deposition apparatus is broken, that is, the apparatus is opened to the atmosphere, air from the environment, which contains water vapor, is admitted and the perfluoroalkyl silane moiety present on the a Si0₂ or the top AR optical coating layer, whether it is Si0₂ or other metal oxide, will react with moisture and the coating surface to create a chemical bond with Si+4 on a Si0₂ cap layer final optical layer surface, or other metal oxide layer, and release alcohol or acid once exposed to air. The PVD deposited surface is pristine and has a reactive surface. For example, in a PVD deposited Si0₂ cap layer, of the final layer of the optical coating, the binding reaction has a much lower activation energy as is illustrated in Figure 3 than on glass which has complicated surface chemistry

[0034] In an inline sputter system such as illustrated in Figure 6, the number of coating layers is limited and controlled by the number of targets in the linear motion direction. It is suitable for mass production of a fixed optical coating design, for example without limitation, a 2, 4 or 6 layer AR coating. The ETC material can be coated on top of the AR coating by either thermal evaporation or CVD. Using the CVD method the ETC will be deposited on both sides of the substrate. In most of cases, only the optical coating side requires the ETC coating.

[0035] Ion-assisted electron-beam deposition can also be used and provides a unique advantage for coating small and medium size glass substrates, for example those having facial dimensions in the range of approximately 40mm x 60mm to

approximately 180mm x 320mm depending on chamber size. The advantages are: • There is a freshly deposited A optical coating on the glass surface that has a low surface activation energy with regard to the applying an ETC coating since there is no surface contamination (water or other environmental) that might impact to ETC coating adhesion, performance and reliability. The application of the ETC coating directly after completion of the optical coating improves crosslinking between fluorocarbon functional groups, improves wear resistance, and improves contact angle performance (higher oleophobic and oleophobic contact angles) after thousands of wipes.

• Greatly reduces coating cycle time to enhance coater utilization and throughput.

• No post heat treatment or UV curing is required due to lower activation energy of the optical coating surface which makes the process compatible with post ETC processes in which heating is not allowed.

• Using the PVD process, ETC can be coated on only selected regions to avoid contamination to other locations of substrate.

[0036] The only disadvantage is volume and size. Figure 4 provided an inline process to solution to enhance throughput. Parts loading/unloading time is minimized. Two ring-type large deposition sources and a continuous feeding thermal evaporation source can be used for up to 10-20 runs without breaking vacuum. Thermal evaporation of the ETC material can be easily combined with other PVD processes in the same chamber, or it can be carried out in another adjacent chamber if the optical coating chamber does not permit the use of the ETC coating material for any reason, for example, to avoid ETC material vapor contamination of the chamber.

Example 1:

[0037] A 4-layer substrate/Si0₂/Nb20₅/Si02/Nb205 AR optical coating was deposited on sixty (60) pieces of Gorilla™ Glass (commercially available from Corning

Incorporated) whose size (Length, Width, Thickness) was approximately 115mm L x 60mm W x 0.7mm T. The coating was deposited using the PVD method and had a thickness of approximately 600nm. (AR coating thickness can be in the range of lOOnm to 2000nm depending on the intended use of the coated article. In one embodiment the AR coating thickness can be in the range of 400nm to 1200nm.) After deposition of the AR coating, the ETC coating was applied on top of the AR coating by thermal evaporation using perfluoroalkyl trichlorosilanes having a carbon chain length in the range of 5nm to 20nm (Optool™ fluoro coating, Daikin Industries). The deposition of the AR and ETC coatings were carried out in a single chamber, as illustrated in Figure 2, in which the after the AR coating was deposited on the glass substrate the AR coating source material(s) was shut off and the ETC material was thermally evaporated and deposited on the AR coated glass. The coating cycle time for the coating process was 73 minutes including parts loading/unloading.

Subsequently, water contact angles were determined for three (3) samples before and after the surface was abraded after various abrasion cycles as indicated in Table 1. The abrasion was conducted with #0 steel wool and 1kg weight load on a 1cm² surface area for 3.5, 4.5 and 5.5 thousand (K) cycles. The data in Table 1 indicates that this sample has very good wear and hydrophobic properties.

Table 1. Water Contact Angle -Abrasion Test Results For Three Samples

Example 2:

[0038] In this Example the same perfluoroalkyl silane trichloride coating used in Example 1 was coated on GRIN-lens for optical connectors as is illustrated in Figure 10 that are used with optical fibers for connecting to laptop computers and other devices. [0039] The ETC coating can also be deposited by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) method in which each layer is deposited by feeding in different precursor at elevated temperature or energetic environment (such as plasma). CVD involves the

dissociation and/or chemical reactions of gaseous reactants in an activated (heat, light, plasma) environment, followed by the formation of a stable solid product. The deposition involves homogeneous gas phase reactions and/or heterogeneous chemical reactions which occur on/near the vicinity of a heated surface leading to the formation of powders or films, respectively. Figure 11 illustrates the three main sections of the system which are the vapor precursor feed system 300, the deposition chamber/reactor 302 and the effluent gas treatment system 304; and Figure 11 further describes the seven key steps of a CVD process, enumerated in Figure 11 within parentheses (1) to (7), which steps are:

(1) Generation of active gaseous reactant species in the vapor precursor feed system 300.

(2) Transport of the gaseous species into the reaction chamber .

(3) Gaseous reactants undergo gas phase reactions forming intermediate

species, black circle ·; and

(a) At a high temperature above the decomposition temperatures of intermediate species inside the reactor, a homogeneous gas phase reaction 310 can occur where the intermediate species (3 a) undergo subsequent decomposition and/or chemical reaction, forming powders 312 and volatile by-products 313 in the gas phase. The powder will be collected on a substrate 308 heated surface and may act as crystallization centers 312a, and the by-products are transported away from the deposition chamber. The deposited film may have poor adhesion.

(b) At temperatures below the dissociation of the intermediate phase, diffusion/convection of the intermediate species (3b) across the boundary layer 306 (a thin layer close to the substrate surface) occurs. These intermediate species subsequently undergo steps (4)-(7).

(4) Absorption of gaseous reactants onto the heated substrate 308, and the heterogeneous reaction 322 occurs at the gas-solid interface (i.e. heated substrate) which also produces the deposited species and by-product species. 5) The deposits will diffuse along the heated substrate surface as 322 forming the crystallization center 312a (along with powder 312) and then growth 318 of the crystallization center will occur to form the coating film shown as 326.

(6) Gaseous by-products are removed from the boundary layer through

diffusion or convection.

(7) The unreacted gaseous precursors and by-products will be transported away from the deposition chamber.

[0040] In the CVD process, diluted fluorinated ETC material is carried by an inert gas, for example, N₂ or argon and deposited in chamber. The ETC coating can be deposited in the same reactor used for deposition of the optical coating or in next reactor inline connected to optical coating reactor if cross contamination or process compatibility is a concern. Figures 5, 6 and 7 illustrate systems that use a plurality of coating chambers, including the use of a plurality of chambers for the deposition of the optical coating and a separate chamber for the deposition of the ETC coating. ETC deposition by CVD or thermal evaporation can also be combined with CVD optical coating stack as shown in Figure 6.

[0041] The ETC coating can also be combined with atomic layer deposition (ALD) process as is illustrated in Figure 8. The ALD method relies on alternate pulsing of the precursor gases and vapors onto the substrate surface and subsequent chemi-sorption or surface reaction of the precursors. The reactor is purged with an inert gas between the precursor pulses. With a proper adjustment of the experimental conditions the process proceeds via saturative (saturation) steps. Under such conditions the growth is stable and the thickness increase is constant in each deposition cycle. The self-limiting growth mechanism facilitates the growth of conformal thin films with accurate thickness on large areas. The growth of different multilayer structures is also straightforward. These advantages make the ALD method attractive for the

microelectronics industry for manufacturing of future generation integrated circuits. ALD is a layer-by- layer process, thus it is very well suited to the application of an ETC coating. Following the formation of the optical coating stack, perfluoroalkyl silane pulse is evaporated and carried by N₂, and condense onto the article or substrates. This is followed by a pulse of water that will react with perfluoroalkyl silane to form a strong chemical bonding with top oxide layer of the article. The by-product is alcohol or acid, which will be pumped away the reaction chamber. ALD ETC coating can be deposited in the same reactor as is the optical layer stack, or it can be deposited in a different inline reactor following the formation of the optical coating. ETC deposition by either CVD or thermal evaporation can also be combined with ALD optical coating as shown in Figure 7.

[0042] The AR/ETC coating described herein can be utilized by many commercial articles. For example, the resulting coating can be used to make televisions, cell phone, electronic tablets and book readers and other devices readable in sunlight. The AR ETC coating also have utility antirefiection beamsplitters, prisms, mirrors and laser products; optical fibers and components for telecommunication; optical coatings for use in biological and medical applications, and for anti-microbial surfaces.

[0043] While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims.

Claims

We claim:

1. A process for making glass articles having an optical coating in the glass articles and an easy-to-clean, ETC, coating on top of the optical coating, the process comprising

providing within said chamber source materials for the optical coating and source materials for the ETC coating, wherein when a plurality of source materials are required for making the optical coating, each of the plurality of materials is provided in a separate source container;

providing a substrate to be coated, the substrate having a length, a width and a thickness and at least one edge between the surfaces of the glass defined by the length and width;

evacuating the chamber to a pressure of 10^~4 Torr or less;

depositing the optical coating materials on the substrate to form an optical coating;

ceasing the deposition of the optical coating

following the deposition of the optical coating, depositing the ETC coating on top of the optical coating;

ceasing the deposition of the ETC coating;

removing the substrate from the chamber to thereby provide a glass article having optical coating and an ETC coating; and

post-treating the article at a temperature in the range of 60-200 °C for a time in the range of 5-60 minutes in air or humid environment with relative humidity RH in the range of 40% < RH < 100% to create strong chemical bonding between the ETC coating and the optical coating deposited on the substrate, and cross-linking between ETC molecules;

wherein the optical coating is a multilayer coating consisting of alternating layers of a high refractive index material H having a refractive index in the range of 1.7-3.0, and

one from the group consisting of (i) a low refractive index material L having a refractive index in the range of 1.3 -1.6 oxide and (ii) medium refractive index material having a refractive index in the range of 1.6 -1.7, laid down in the order H(L or M) or (L or M)H, and each H(L or M) or (L or M)H pair of layers is deemed to be a coating period; and

the thickness of the H layer and the L(or M) layer, independently of each other, in each individual period is in the range of 5nm to 200nm.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein the number of periods in the multilayer optical coating is in the range of 2- 20, and the multilayer coating has a thickness in the range of lOOnm to 2000nm.

3. The process according to claim 1, wherein the high refractive index material is selected from the group consisting of Zr0₂, HfO₂, Ta₂0₅, Nb₂0₅, Ti0₂, Y₂0₃, Si₃N₄, SrTi0₃, W0₃.

4. The process according to claim 1, wherein the low refractive index material is selected from the group consisting of silica, fused silica and fluorine doped fused silica, MgF₂, CaF₂, YF and YbF₃, and the medium refractive index material is A1₂0₃

5. The process according to claim 1, wherein the ETC coating material is selected from the group consisting of:

a perfluoroalkyl silane of formula (RF)_ySiX₄__y, where RF is a linear

perfluoroalkyl having a carbon chain length in the range of 6-130 carbon atoms from the silicon atom to the end of the chain at its greatest length, X = CI, acetoxy, -OCH₃ or -OCH₂H₃ and y = 1 or 2; and

a perfluoropolyether silane of formula [CF₃-CF₂CF₂0)_a]_y_SiX₄__y where a is in the range of 5-10, y = 1 or 2, and X is -CI, acetoxy, -OCH₃ or -OCH₂H₃, wherein the total perfluoropolyether chain length is in the range of 6-130 carbon atoms from the silicon atom to the end of the chain at its greatest length.

6. The process according to claim 5, wherein the thickness of the ETC coating chemically bonded to the optical coating is in the range of lnm to 20nm.

7. The process according to claim 1, wherein the optical coating is deposited in a first chamber and the ETC coating is deposited in a second chamber, the two chambers being connected by a vacuum seal/isolation-lock for transferring the substrate from the first chamber to the second chamber without exposing the substrate to the atmosphere.

8. The process according to claim 6, wherein the first chamber is divided into an even number of sub-chambers in the range of 2-10, and a period of the multilayer optical coating is applied in and odd/even pair of sub-chambers;

wherein the odd numbered sub-chambers are used to deposit either the high refractive index material or the low refractive index material and the even numbered chambers are used to deposit the other of the high refractive index material or the low refractive index material; and

if the last layer of the last period of the optical coating is high refractive index layer, a capping layer of Si0₂ only is applied over the high refractive index layer.

9. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate is selected from the group consisting of borosilicate glass, alumino silicate glass, soda-lime glass, chemically strengthened borosilicate glass, chemically strengthened aluminosilicate glass and chemically strengthened soda-lime glass, the glass having a thickness in the range of 0.2mm 1 to 1.5mm.

10. The process according to claim 1, wherein the glass is an aluminosilicate glass having a compressive stress of greater than 400 MPa and a depth of layer greater than 14μιη.

11. The process according to claim 1 , wherein after post-treating the article to create strong chemical bonding between the ETC coating and the optical coating deposited on the substrate, and cross-linking between ETC molecules, the article has an average water contact angle of at least 70° after 5,500 abrasion cycles using with #0 steel wool and 1kg weight load on a 1cm² surface area.