Back to results
US 12,360,425 B2Granted
Particle removal during fabrication of electrochromic devices
AssigneeView Operating Corporation
InventorRobert T. Rozbicki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Electrochromic devices are fabricated using a particle removal operation that reduces the occurrence of electronically conducting layers and/or electrochromically active layers from contacting layers of the opposite polarity and creating a short circuit in regions where defects form. In some embodiments, the particle removal operation is not a lithiation operation. In some embodiments, the particle removal operation is performed at an intermediate stage during the deposition of either an electrochromic layer or a counter electrode layer.
Claims40
A method of fabricating an electrochromic device, the method comprising:
- providing a substrate having a first transparent electronically conductive layer comprising a first transparent electronically conductive material;
- forming an electrochromic stack over the substrate having the first transparent electronically conductive layer, wherein forming the electrochromic stack comprises:
- forming an electrochromic layer comprising an electrochromic material, and
- forming a counter electrode layer comprising a counter electrode material;
- forming a second transparent electronically conductive layer over the electrochromic stack, the second transparent electronically conductive layer comprising a second transparent electronically conductive material,
- wherein the first transparent electronically conductive layer and the second transparent electronically conductive layer sandwich the electrochromic stack;
- and
- performing a particle-removal operation on a partially-formed electrochromic device to reduce the number of defects in the formed electrochromic device,
- wherein the particle-removal operation is performed at any time before both the electrochromic layer and the counter electrode layer are fully-formed,
- wherein the particle-removal operation is performed after the electrochromic layer is formed but before starting to form the counter electrode layer, and
- wherein the particle-removal operation is performed after starting to form the electrochromic layer but before the electrohromic layer is fully formed.
8 more elements
A method of fabricating an electrochromic device, the method comprising:
- providing a substrate having a first transparent electronically conductive layer comprising a first transparent electronically conductive material;
- forming an electrochromic stack over the substrate having the first transparent electronically conductive layer, wherein forming the electrochromic stack comprises:
- forming an electrochromic layer comprising an electrochromic material, and
- forming a counter electrode layer comprising a counter electrode material;
- forming a second transparent electronically conductive layer over the electrochromic stack, the second transparent electronically conductive layer comprising a second transparent electronically conductive material,
- wherein the first transparent electronically conductive layer and the second transparent electronically conductive layer sandwich the electrochromic stack;
- and
- performing a particle-removal operation on a partially-formed electrochromic device to reduce the number of defects in the formed electrochromic device,
- wherein the particle-removal operation is performed at any time before both the electrochromic layer and the counter electrode layer are fully-formed,
- wherein the particle-removal operation is performed after the counter electrode layer is formed but before starting to form the electrochromic layer, and
- wherein the particle-removal operation is performed after starting to form the counter electrode layer but before the counter electrode layer is fully formed.
8 more elements
A method of fabricating an electrochromic device, the method comprising:
- providing a substrate having a first transparent electronically conductive layer comprising a first transparent electronically conductive material;
- forming an electrochromic stack over the substrate having the first transparent electronically conductive layer, wherein forming the electrochromic stack comprises:
- forming an electrochromic layer comprising an electrochromic material, and
- forming a counter electrode layer comprising a counter electrode material;
- forming a second transparent electronically conductive layer over the electrochromic stack, the second transparent electronically conductive layer comprising a second transparent electronically conductive material,
- wherein the first transparent electronically conductive layer and the second transparent electronically conductive layer sandwich the electrochromic stack;
- and
- performing a particle-removal operation on a partially-formed electrochromic device to reduce the number of defects in the formed electrochromic device,
- wherein the particle-removal operation is performed at any time before both the electrochromic layer and the counter electrode layer are fully-formed,
- wherein the electrochromic material of the electrochromic layer is a cathodically-coloring electrochromic material,
- wherein the counter electrode material of the counter electrode layer is an anodically-coloring electrochromic material,
- wherein the electrochromic layer is formed before forming the counter electrode layer, and
- wherein the particle-removal operation is performed after starting to form the electrochromic layer but before the electrochromic layer is fully formed.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.