View, Inc.

View Operating Corporation

Novellus Systems Incorporated

Soladigm, Inc.

Corning Incorporated

Anshu A Pradhan

Robert T Rozbicki

Sridhar Karthik Kailasam

Gordon E Jack

Dhairya Shrivastava

Stephen Clark Brown

Disha Mehtani

Robin Friedman

Dane Thomas Gillaspie

Abhishek Anant Dixit

Zhongchun Wang

Todd William Martin

Ronald M Parker

David Walter Groechel

Vinod Khosla

Rao P Mulpuri

Fabian Wilbur Strong

Yashraj K Bhatnagar

Eric William Kurman

Mark Kozlowski

Mike Scobey

Jeremy A Dixon

Zhiwei Cai

Ronald Allan Powell

Namrata Vora

Deepika Khowal

Alexander Dulkin

Ronald L Kinder

Gordon Jack

Douglas Dauson

Roey Shaviv

Sanjay Gopinath

Alexander Rumer

Douglas Brenton Hayden

Peter John Holverson

Martin John Neumann

Kaustubh Nadkarni

Que Anh Song Nguyen

Trevor Frank

Frank Greer

Jason Satern

John Gordon Halbert Mathew

Asit Rairkar

Luis Vidal Ponce Cabrera

Kaustubh Yatindra Nadkarni

Eithan Ritz

Dane Gillaspie

Yashraj Bhatnagar

Gordan Jack

This disclosure provides configurations, methods of use, and methods of fabrication for a bus bar of an optically switchable device. In one aspect, an apparatus includes a substrate and an optically switchable device disposed on a surface of the substrate. The optically switchable device has a perimeter with at least one corner including a first side, a second side, and a first vertex joining the first side and the second side. A first bus bar and a second bus bar are affixed to the optically switchable device and configured to deliver current and/or voltage for driving switching of the device. The first bus bar is proximate to the corner and includes a first arm and a second arm having a configuration that substantially follows the shape of the first side, the first vertex, and the second side of the corner.

Angled bus bar

Thin-film devices, for example, multi-zone electrochromic windows, and methods of manufacturing are described. In certain cases, a multi-zone electrochromic window comprises a monolithic EC device on a transparent substrate and two or more tinting zones, wherein the tinting zones are configured for independent operation.

Multi-zone EC windows

Controllers and control methods apply a drive voltage to bus bars of a thin film optically switchable device. The applied drive voltage is provided at a level that drives a transition over the entire surface of the optically switchable device but does not damage or degrade the device. This applied voltage produces an effective voltage at all locations on the face of the device that is within a bracketed range. The upper bound of this range is associated with a voltage safely below the level at which the device may experience damage or degradation impacting its performance in the short term or the long term. At the lower boundary of this range is an effective voltage at which the transition between optical states of the device occurs relatively rapidly. The level of voltage applied between the bus bars is significantly greater than the maximum value of the effective voltage within the bracketed range.

Driving thin film switchable optical devices

Thin-film devices, for example electrochromic devices for windows, and methods of manufacturing are described. Particular focus is given to methods of patterning optical devices. Various edge deletion and isolation scribes are performed, for example, to ensure the optical device has appropriate isolation from any edge defects. Methods described herein apply to any thin-film device having one or more material layers sandwiched between two thin film electrical conductor layers. The described methods create novel optical device configurations.

Thin-film devices and fabrication

Methods, systems, apparatuses, and media for controlling optical transitions are provided. In some embodiments, a method comprises: (a) applying a drive voltage having a preset magnitude to an optically switchable device to cause the optically switchable device to transition from an initial optical state toward a target optical state; (b) measuring an open circuit voltage (Voc) of the optically switchable device and/or an amount of charge that has been delivered to the optically switchable device; (c) comparing characteristics of the measured Voc and/or the amount of charge to at least one parameter indicative of a target duration of time for the optically switchable device to transition from the initial optical state to the target optical state; (d) modifying the drive voltage to have a modified magnitude, wherein the modified magnitude is determined based at least in part on the comparison; and (e) repeating (a) and (b) until the target optical state is reached.

Controlling transitions in optically switchable devices

Aspects of this disclosure concern controllers and control methods for applying a drive voltage to bus bars of optically switchable devices such as electrochromic devices. Such devices are often provided on windows such as architectural glass. In certain embodiments, the applied drive voltage is controlled in a manner that efficiently drives an optical transition over the entire surface of the electrochromic device. The drive voltage is controlled to account for differences in effective voltage experienced in regions between the bus bars and regions proximate the bus bars. Regions near the bus bars experience the highest effective voltage. In some cases, feedback may be used to monitor an optical transition. In these or other cases, a group of optically switchable devices may transition together over a particular duration to achieve approximately uniform tint states over time during the transition.

Methods, apparatus, and systems for mitigating pinhole defects in optical devices such as electrochromic windows. One method mitigates a pinhole defect in an electrochromic device by identifying the site of the pinhole defect and obscuring the pinhole to make it less visually discernible. In some cases, the pinhole defect may be the result of mitigating a short-related defect.

Pinhole mitigation for optical devices

Electrochromic devices with multi-layer conductors including one or more of a defect mitigation insulating layer, a color tuning layer and metal layer pair, and a transparent conductive oxide layer.

Faster switching low-defect electrochromic windows

Prior electrochromic devices frequently suffer from high levels of defectivity. The defects may be manifest as pin holes or spots where the electrochromic transition is impaired. This is unacceptable for many applications such as electrochromic architectural glass. Improved electrochromic devices with low defectivity can be fabricated by depositing certain layered components of the electrochromic device in a single integrated deposition system. While these layers are being deposited and/or treated on a substrate, for example a glass window, the substrate never leaves a controlled ambient environment, for example a low pressure controlled atmosphere having very low levels of particles. These layers may be deposited using physical vapor deposition.

Fabrication of low defectivity electrochromic devices

Networks of electrochromic windows and methods of commissioning the windows on such networks are described. The commissioning may involve determining where each electrochromic window is installed and/or which controller is associated with which electrochromic window. In various cases, a number of windows may be simultaneously commissioned.

Method of commissioning electrochromic windows

Methods are provided for fabricating electrochromic devices that mitigate formation of short circuits under a top bus bar without predetermining where top bus bars will be applied on the device. Devices fabricated using such methods may be deactivated under the top bus bar, or may include active material under the top bus bar. Methods of fabricating devices with active material under a top bus bar include depositing a modified top bus bar, fabricating self-healing layers in the electrochromic device, and modifying a top transparent conductive layer of the device prior to applying bus bars.

Mitigating defects in an electrochromic device under a bus bar

Electrochromic device () having at least one multi-layer conductor () with a metal layer () between a first transparent conductive oxide layer () and a second transparent conductive oxide layer () and optionally having one or more tuning layers adjacent the metal layer.

Faster switching electrochromic devices

The embodiments herein relate to methods for controlling an optical transition in an optically switchable device, and optically switchable devices configured to perform such methods. In various embodiments, non-optical (e.g., electrical) feedback is used to help control an optical transition. The feedback may be used for a number of different purposes. In many implementations, the feedback is used to control an ongoing optical transition.

Growing community of inventors

Collierville, TN, United States of America

Anshu A Pradhan