Methods and equipment for depositing coatings having sequenced structures

• US 20060105103A1
• Filed: 11/15/2005
• Published: 05/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cardinal CG Company (Cardinal Glass Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Cardinal CG Company (Cardinal Glass Industries Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hartig, Klaus
• Granted Patent: US 7,534,466 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 427/209
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/002 for flat glass, e.g. float glass
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/3417 all coatings being oxide coatings
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/36 at least one coating being a metal
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/3626 one layer at least containing a nitride, oxynitride, boronitride or carbonitride
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/3644 the metal being silver
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/3652 the coating stack containing at least one sacrificial layer to protect the metal from oxidation
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 2217/71 Photocatalytic coatings
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 2218/365 Coating different sides of a glass substrate
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/568 Transferring the substrates through a series of coating stations C23C14/562 takes precedence

Abstract

Methods and equipment are provided for processing sheet-like substrates. The methods and equipment are useful for depositing coatings on both major surfaces of a sheet-like substrate. Also provided are substrates with coatings on both major surfaces. Preferably, the coatings on the opposed major surfaces of a substrate have different structures, yet share a common structural sequence of at least two film regions, and in some embodiments at least three film regions.

Claims

1. A method for depositing sequenced coatings on opposite sides of a sheet-like substrate, the method comprising:

a) providing a coater having downward coating equipment, upward coating equipment, and a substrate support defining a path of substrate travel extending through the coater, the downward coating equipment being mounted above the path of substrate travel, and the upward coating equipment being mounted below the path of substrate travel;

b) conveying a glass sheet along the path of substrate travel in a generally horizontal orientation wherein a top major surface of the glass sheet is oriented upwardly and a bottom major surface of the glass sheet is oriented downwardly;

c) operating the downward coating equipment to deposit upon the top major surface of the glass sheet a first coating having a structure that comprises a sequence of film regions characterized by, moving away from the top major surface of the glass sheet, a first film region comprising a first film material and a second film region comprising a second film material; and

d) operating the upward coating equipment to deposit upon the bottom major surface of the glass sheet a second coating having a structure that is different from the structure of the first coating, the structure of the second coating comprising a sequence of film regions characterized by, moving away from the bottom major surface of the glass sheet, a primary film region comprising said first film material and a secondary film region comprising said second film material;

wherein the first film region of the first coating and the primary film region of the second coating are deposited simultaneously in a shared chamber of the coater, and the second film region of the first coating and the secondary film region of the second coating are deposited simultaneously in a shared chamber of the coater.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said coater is a vacuum coater, said downward coating equipment comprises at least one downward vacuum-coating apparatus, and said upward coating equipment comprises at least one upward vacuum-coating apparatus.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said downward coating equipment comprises a plurality of downward vacuum-coating apparatuses, and said upward coating equipment comprises a plurality of upward vacuum-coating apparatuses.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second coatings are deposited upon the glass sheet in a single pass of the glass sheet through the coater.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the glass sheet is a large-area substrate having a major dimension of at least about 0.5 meter.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the glass sheet is on the substrate support during said conveyance, and wherein other sheets of glass are also on the substrate support during said conveyance, such sheets of glass being spaced-apart from one another on the substrate support and conveyed in such a spaced-apart configuration.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the substrate support comprises a plurality of spaced-apart transport rollers, the method comprising rotating at least one of the transport rollers to facilitate said conveyance of the glass sheet, such that the bottom major surface of the glass sheet comes into direct physical contact with the rollers during said conveyance.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said first and second film materials are different materials.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the first coating is a low-emissivity coating.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the second coating is a photocatalytic coating.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said second film material is titania, such that the second film region of the first coating and the secondary film region of the second coating both comprise titania.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said first material is silica, such that the first film region of the first coating and the primary film region of the second coating both comprise silica.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein said first film material is zirconia, such that the first film region of the first coating and the primary film region of the second coating both comprise zirconia.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the first coating includes a third film region between said first film region and the top major surface of the glass sheet, and wherein the second coating includes a tertiary film region between the primary film region and the bottom major surface of the glass sheet, the third film region of the first coating and the tertiary film region of the second coating both comprising a third film material, the third film region of the first coating and the tertiary film region of the second coating being deposited simultaneously in a shared chamber of the coater.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said first and second film materials are different materials, said first and third film materials are different materials, and said second and third film materials are different materials.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein said third film material is silica, such that the third film region of the first coating and the tertiary film region of the second coating both comprise silica.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said first film material is zirconia, such that the first film region of the first coating and the primary film region of the second coating both comprise zirconia, and wherein said second film material is titania, such that the second film region of the first coating and the secondary film region of the second coating both comprise titania.