Opaque color stack for electronic device
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsNaoto Matsuyuki, Douglas J. Weber
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An opaque cover for a capacitive sensor is provided. The cover includes a transparent substrate and a black color stack disposed adjacent the transparent substrate. The black color stack includes a pigment stack having a first dielectric layer, a second dielectric layer, and a first light absorbing layer positioned between the first and second dielectric layers. The first dielectric layer has a first refractive index. The second dielectric layer has a second refractive index different from the first refractive index. The black color stack also includes a plurality of second light absorption layers interleaved with a plurality of third dielectric layers.
Claims28
An electronic device, comprising:
- a capacitive sensor;
- a transparent substrate;
- and
- a black color stack disposed on the transparent substrate, wherein the black color stack absorbs all incident light and completely overlaps the capacitive sensor, wherein capacitive coupling occurs through the black color stack when the capacitive sensor receives touch input, and wherein the black color stack comprises:
- a pigment stack comprising:
- a first dielectric layer comprising a first material;
- a second dielectric layer comprising a second material different from the first material;
- and
- a first light absorption layer comprising an absorbing material positioned between the first and second dielectric layers, wherein:
- the first dielectric layer has a first refractive index;
- and
- the second dielectric layer has a second refractive index different from the first refractive index;
- and
- a plurality of second light absorption layers interleaved with a plurality of third dielectric layers;
- wherein:
- the second light absorption layers comprise the absorbing material;
- and
- the third dielectric layers comprise the first material.
A method for forming a black color stack over a capacitive sensor, wherein the black color stack absorbs all incident light, the method comprising:
- depositing a pigment stack on a transparent substrate, comprising:
- depositing, on the substrate, a first dielectric layer comprising a first material having a first refractive index;
- depositing, on the first dielectric layer, a first light absorption layer comprising an absorbing material;
- depositing, on the first light absorption layer, a second dielectric layer comprising a second material different from the first material and having a second refractive index different from the first refractive index;
- and
- depositing a non-conductive light-absorbing stack on the pigment stack, comprising interleaving a plurality of second light absorption layers with a plurality of third dielectric layers, wherein the second light absorption layers comprise the absorbing material and the third dielectric layers comprise the first material;
- and
- positioning the capacitive sensor adjacent to the light-absorbing stack, wherein capacitive coupling occurs through the black color stack when the capacitive sensor receives touch input and wherein the black color stack completely overlaps the capacitive sensor.
A button assembly, comprising:
- a transparent substrate;
- a non-conductive color stack disposed on the transparent substrate and having at least 20 layers occupying a combined thickness less than about 2 μm, wherein the non-conductive color stack absorbs all incident light, the non-conductive color stack comprising:
- a pigment stack comprising:
- a first dielectric layer;
- a second dielectric layer having a refractive index different from the first dielectric layer;
- and
- a first light absorbing layer positioned between the first and second dielectric layers;
- and
- a light absorbing stack comprising a plurality of third dielectric layers interleaved with a plurality of second light absorbing layer;
- and
- a capacitive sensor below the non-conductive color stack, wherein capacitive coupling occurs through the non-conductive color stack when the capacitive sensor receives touch input and wherein the non-conductive color stack completely overlaps the capacitive sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.