Transparent substrate comprising an antireflection coating

• US 6,387,515 B1
• Filed: 12/21/1999
• Issued: 05/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Saint-Gobain Vitrage
• Original Assignee: Saint-Gobain Vitrage
• Inventors: Lebellac, David, Maurer, Marc, Joret, Laurent
• Primary Examiner(s): Jones, Deborah
• Assistant Examiner(s): PIZIALI, ANDREW T
• Application Number:
  US09/468,093
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• Field of Search: 428/216, 428/428, 428/432, 428/433, 428/434, 428/336, 428/697, 428/698, 428/699
• US Class Current: 428/432
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 17/10036 comprising two outer glass sheets
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 17/10174 Coatings of a metallic or dielectric material on a constituent layer of glass or polymer
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 17/10229 Metallic layers sandwiched by dielectric layers
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 17/10761 containing vinyl acetal
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/225 Nitrides
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/23 Oxides C03C17/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/3417 all coatings being oxide coatings
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/3435 comprising a nitride, oxynitride, boronitride or carbonitride
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/36 at least one coating being a metal
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/3694 one layer having a composition gradient through its thickness
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 2217/732 made of a single layer
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 2217/734 comprising an alternation of high and low refractive indexes
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 2217/91 Coatings containing at least one layer having a composition gradient through its thickness
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24975 No layer or component greater than 5 mils thick
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/265 1 mil or less

Abstract

A transparent substrate according to the invention, especially made of glass, provided on at least one of its faces with an antireflection coating, which includes a single thin layer formed from at least two materials of different refractive index, the composition of which thin layer varies continously through its thickness e.

Claims

1. Transparent substrate provided on at least one of its faces with an antireflection coating A that is exposed to the external environment, wherein the antireflection coating consists of a single thin layer formed from at least two materials of different refractive indices, the composition of which thin layer is based on either SiO_xN_y or on Si_zTi_l-zO₂ and varies continuously through its thickness.

2. Substrate according claim 1, wherein the thin layer has a thickness of between 100 and 400 nm.

3. Substrate according to claim 1, wherein the thin layer is formed only from two materials of different refractive index.

4. Substrate according to claim 3, wherein the thin layer is based on SiO_xN_y where x and y vary continuously through its thickness from 0 to 2 to 1.33, respectively.

5. Substrate according to claim 4, wherein, in a region of the layer which lies close to the interface with the ambient environment, x varies in a strictly increasing manner from 0 to 2 and y varies in a strictly decreasing manner from 1.33 to 0.

8. Substrate according to claim 1, wherein the refractive index of the thin layer lies between 1.35 and 1.75 in that region which lies at a distance of between 0 and 10 nanometers from the interface with the ambient environment.

9. Substrate according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is provided on that face not having the antireflection coating with a stack of thin layers including at least one silver layer.

10. Substrate according to claim 9, wherein the thickness of the silver layer is between 20 and 25 nanometers.

11. Substrate according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the stack of thin layers has the following sequence:

12. Laminated glazing which includes at least one substrate according to claim 1.

13. Glazing according to claim 12, wherein the glazing includes two transparent substrates joined together by a thermoplastic insert comprising at least one sheet of polyvinyl butyral, and wherein the transparent substrate not having the antireflection coating A itself includes, on at least one of its faces, an antireflection coating A′

.

14. Glazing according to claim 13, wherein the antireflection coating A′

has the following sequence;

15. Glazing according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the antireflection coatings A and A′

are provided on each outer face of each transparent substrate at each outer edge of the stack.

16. A motor vehicle windscreen comprising the laminated glazing according to claim 12.

17. An image protection device for paintings or photographs comprising the laminated glazing according to claim 12.

18. The transparent substrate of claim 1, wherein the thin layer has a first region wherein the refractive index of the first region increases and a second region wherein the refractive index of the second region decreases.

19. The transparent substrate of claim 18, wherein the refractive index of the first region increases from a first value of between about 1.45 and 1.65 to a second value of greater than 2 and the refractive index of the second region decreases from the second value to a third value of between about 1.45 and 1.65.

20. The transparent substrate of claim 19, wherein the second value is from 2.1 to 2.4.

21. The transparent substrate of claim 19, further comprising an intermediate region having a relatively constant refractive index between the first region and the second region.

22. The transparent substrate of claim 21, wherein the refractive index of the first region increases from a first value of between about 1.45 and 1.65 to a second value of greater than 2, the refractive index of the intermediate region is the second value, and the refractive index of the second region decreases from the second value to a third value of between about 1.45 and 1.65.

6. Transparent substrate provided on a least one of its faces with an antireflection coating A, wherein the antireflection coating consists of a single thin layer formed from at least two materials of different refractive indices, the composition of which thin layer is based on Si_zTi_1-zO₂ where z varies in a strictly continuous manner through its thickness from 0 to 1.

7. Substrate according to claim 6, wherein, in a region of the layer which lies close to the interface with the ambient environment, z varies in a strictly increasing manner from 0 to 1.