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AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
InventorsC. Edwin Tracy, David K. Benson
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A protective diffusion barrier for metalized mirror structures is provided by a layer or coating of silicon nitride which is a very dense, transparent, dielectric material that is impervious to water, alkali, and other impurities and corrosive substances that typically attack the metal layers of mirrors and cause degradation of the mirrors' reflectivity. The silicon nitride layer can be deposited on the substrate before metal deposition thereon to stabilize the metal/substrate interface, and it can be deposited over the metal to encapsulate it and protect the metal from corrosion or other degradation. Mirrors coated with silicon nitride according to this invention can also be used as front surface mirrors. Also, the silver or other reflective metal layer on mirrors comprising thin, lightweight, flexible substrates of metal or polymer sheets coated with glassy layers can be protected with silicon nitride according to this invention.
A mirror, comprising:
The mirror of claim f2, wherein said metal layer comprises silver and said first silicon nitride diffusion barrier is in contact with the entire surface of the silver that faces said substrate and said second silicon nitride diffusion barrier covers the entire surface of the silver that faces opposite the substrate such that the entire silver layer is sealed in silicon nitride and not exposed directly to either the substrate or the environment.
A mirror comprising a flexible sheet substrate, a thin diffusion barrier layer of silicon nitride deposited on the substrate, and a thin film of reflective metal deposited on the silicon nitride layer.
In a reflective metallic mirror, wherein a layer of reflective metal deposited on a substrate comprising an amorphous material forms a reflective surface, the improvement comprising:
A method for fabricating a long-lasting mirror capable of long-term use as an effective reflector in solar collector applications, said method comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.