Metal accretion bus bars

Abstract

Electrochromic devices such as electrochromic windows may employ accretively deposited bus bars. Forming bus bars by accretive deposition rather than by conductive inks can reduce fabrication time and costs. Accretive deposition processes may be implemented with high throughput to create highly conductive pure metal and/or alloy features that have good surface adhesion to a substrate such as glass or a transparent conducting layer. Accretive deposition may be used to mechanically and/or electrically bond a wire to a bus bar. In some processes, deposition is primarily ballistic, and particles ejected from a nozzle are deposited by mechanical or metallurgical bonding upon impact. In some cases, particles are heated via a gas or plasma before impacting a substrate.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.