Wire grid polarizer with protective coating

A wire grid polarizer (WGP) comprising:

• ribs over a surface of a transparent substrate, the ribs being elongated and arranged in a substantially parallel array, and a material of an exterior surface of the ribs having solubility in water of at least 0.015 grams per liter at 25° C.;
• a conformal-coating located over the ribs, the conformal-coating including a barrier-layer and a hydrophobic-layer, the barrier-layer being sandwiched between the hydrophobic-layer and the ribs, the hydrophobic-layer being a distal layer of the conformal coating;
• the barrier-layer including aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, silicon carbide, hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, or combinations thereof;
• the hydrophobic-layer including chemical formula (1), chemical formula (2), chemical formula (3), or combinations thereof:
• where r is a positive integer;
• each R1 independently is a hydrophobic group;
• each X and Z is a bond to the ribs;
• and each R3 and R5 is independently a chemical element or a group.

A wire grid polarizer (WGP) comprising:

• ribs located over a surface of a transparent substrate, the ribs being elongated and arranged in a substantially parallel array, and a material of an exterior surface of the ribs has solubility in water of at least 0.015 grams per liter at 25° C.;
• gaps between at least a portion of the ribs;
• a conformal-coating located over the ribs, the conformal-coating including a hydrophobic-layer as an outermost layer of the conformal coating, the hydrophobic-layer forms a superhydrophobic surface, capable of keeping water on a surface of the ribs in a Cassie-Baxter state, the hydrophobic-layer including chemical formula (1), chemical formula (2), or combinations thereof:
• where:
• r is a positive integer;
• each R1 independently is a hydrophobic group including a CF3(CF2)n(CH2)m, where n and m are integers within the boundaries of:
• 1≤n≤3 and 1≤m≤5;
• X is a bond to the ribs, and R3 is a chemical element or a group.