Coated article with oxidation graded layer proximate IR reflecting layer(s) and corresponding method
AssigneesCentre Luxembourg de Recherches pour le Verre et al Ceramique S. A. (C.R.V.C.), Guardian Industries Corp.
InventorsJens-Peter Muller, Vijayen S Veerasamy
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Abstract
A coated article is provided that may be heat treated in certain example embodiments. A graded layer (e.g., contact layer or other suitable layer) is formed by initially sputter-depositing a layer, and thereafter ion beam treating the sputter-deposited layer with at least reactive gas ions in order to form a graded layer. In certain example embodiments, the result is a coated article that has improved visible transmission and/or durability, without sacrificing optional heat treatability.
Claims45
A method of making a coated article, the method comprising:
- providing a glass substrate;
- sputtering a layer comprising silver on the glass substrate;
- sputter-depositing a layer comprising NiCr on the substrate over the layer comprising silver, so that the layer comprising NiCr contacts the layer comprising silver;
- after the entire layer comprising NiCr has been sputter-deposited on the substrate, ion beam treating at least an upper surface of the layer comprising NiCr with an ion beam comprising at least oxygen ions so that following said ion beam treating the layer comprising NiCr is more oxidized at a location further from the layer comprising silver than at a location closer to the layer comprising silver, wherein the ion beam comprising at least oxygen ions is generated by an ion source, and wherein an ion energy of the ion source is utilized to cause a majority of said oxygen ions to make their way only part-way through the layer comprising NiCr, resulting in an oxygen-graded layer;
- and
- following said ion beam treating, sputtering at least a dielectric layer over the layer comprising NiCr.
A method of making a coated article, the method comprising:
- providing a glass substrate;
- sputtering an IR reflecting layer on the glass substrate;
- sputter-depositing a layer comprising Ni and/or Cr on the glass substrate over the IR reflecting layer;
- and
- after sputter-depositing the entire layer comprising Ni and/or Cr on the glass substrate, ion beam treating at least an upper surface of the layer comprising Ni and/or Cr with an ion beam comprising at least oxygen so that following said ion beam treating the layer comprising Ni and/or Cr is more oxidized at a location further from the IR reflecting layer than at a location closer to the IR reflecting layer, wherein the ion beam comprising at least oxygen ions is generated by an ion source, and wherein an ion energy of the ion source is utilized to cause a majority of said oxygen ions to make their way only part-way through the layer comprising Ni and/or Cr, resulting in an oxygen-graded layer.
A method of making a coated article, the method comprising:
- providing a substrate;
- forming a layer comprising at least one metal on the substrate;
- after the entire layer comprising the at least one metal has been deposited, ion beam treating at least an upper surface of the layer comprising the at least one metal so that following said ion beam treating the layer is more oxidized at a location further from the substrate than at a location closer to the substrate, wherein the ion beam is generated by an ion source, and wherein an ion energy of the ion source is utilized to cause a majority of said ions to make their way only part-way through the layer comprising at least one metal.
A method of making a coated article, the method comprising:
- providing a glass substrate;
- sputtering a layer on the glass substrate;
- after the entire layer has been sputter-deposited on the glass substrate, ion beam treating at least an upper surface of the layer on the glass substrate with at least one reactive gas so as to modify a stoichiometry thereof using an ion beam comprising at least oxygen ions, wherein the ion beam is generated by an ion source, and wherein an ion energy of the ion source is utilized to cause a majority of said oxygen ions to make their way only part-way through the layer that has been ion beam treated, resulting in an oxygen-graded layer;
- and
- following said ion beam treating, sputtering at least another layer over the layer that has been ion beam treated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.