VISIBLE-LIGHT-REFLECTING COATINGS FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICES

• Main Authors: TRYON, Brian S, BAO, Lijie, MELCHER, Martin, POSTAK, Sonja
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 15.09.2021
• Subjects: CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; CHEMISTRY; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATIONOR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY IONIMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION INGENERAL; METALLURGY; OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS, OR APPARATUS; OPTICS; PHYSICS; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THESURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION

An electronic device may include conductive structures having a visible-light-reflecting coating. The coating may include a seed layer, transition layers, a neutral-color base layer, and an uppermost layer that forms a single-layer interference film. The neutral-color base layer may be opaque to visible light. The interference film may include silicon and may have an absorption coefficient between 0 and 1. The interference film may include, for example, CrSiCN or CrSiC. The composition of the interference film, the thickness of the interference film, and/or the composition of the base layer may be selected to provide the coating with a desired color in the visible spectrum (e.g., at blue or purple wavelengths). The color may be relatively stable even if the thickness of the coating varies across its area.