3m Innovative Properties Company

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company

Charles David Hoyle

Andrew John Ouderkirk

Michael F Weber

Timothy J Nevitt

John Allen Wheatley

Rolf W Biernath

David G Freier

William Blake Kolb

Gilles J Benoit

Timothy J Hebrink

Michael Benton Free

Encai Hao

Douglas Scott Dunn

Scott Melvyn Tapio

Leland Ray Whitney

Charles A Marttila

David Adams Ender

Brian W Ostlie

Fei Lu

Charles E Boyer, Iii

Robert J Devoe

Jaime B Willoughby

Kenneth A Epstein

Olester Benson, Jr

Adam D Haag

William D Coggio

Michael L Steiner

David C Windorski

Kui Chen-Ho

Kristopher J Derks

Lan Hong Liu

Robert F Kamrath

Donald J McClure

Wade D Kretman

Kyung H Moh

Wayne K Darvell

Soemantri Widagdo

Timothy J Clemens

Lynette M Miles

Tanya M Laine

Thomas F Serbus

Matthew T Scholz

Audrey A Sherman

Naiyong Jing

Joel D Oxman

Shandon Dee Hart

Michael Alan Meis

Brant Ulrick Kolb

Scott D Gullicks

Gary Timothy Boyd

Raymond Patrick Johnston

Robert L Brott

Matthew S Stay

Charles L Bruzzone

Zhaohui Yang

Joseph Clark Carls

Keith Michael Kotchick

Eric Wayne Nelson

Kevin W Gotrik

Stephen P Maki

David T Yust

Haiyan Zhang

Rui Zhang

Jaewon Kim

Mark D Weigel

David Jon Lundin

Timothy M Dietz

Robert A Sainati

Jie Zhou

Robert R Kieschke

Seth M Kirk

Michael E Griffin

Richard J Kuo

Byung-Soo Ko

Daniel R Fronek

Kenneth A P Meyer

John T Cowher

John F Van Derlofske, Iii

Yuji Saito

David J Lamb

Onur Sinan Yordem

John J Sullivan

Xianneng Peng

Yasuyuki Daigo

Ronald W Seemann

Gregory L Abraham

Justin M Mazzoni

Xingpeng Yang

Chideuk Kim

Youngsoo Park

Ji-young Choi

Hui Ren

Seo-Hern Lee

Anna C Hamlin

Zhachui Yang

Joseph H Verkinderen

Eric J Borchers

Matthew C Messina

Min-Young Ji

A patterned article includes a unitary polymeric layer and a plurality of electrically conductive elements embedded at least partially in the unitary polymeric layer. Each electrically conductive element includes a conductive seed layer having a top major surface and an opposite bottom major surface in direct contact with the unitary polymeric layer, and includes a metallic body disposed on the top major surface of the conductive seed layer. The metallic body has a bottom major surface and at least one sidewall. The bottom major surface contacts the conductive seed layer. Each sidewall is in direct contact with the unitary polymeric layer and extends from the bottom major surface of the metallic body toward or to, but not past, a top major surface of the unitary polymeric layer. The conductive elements may be electrically isolated from one another. Processes for making the patterned article are described.

Patterned article including electrically conductive elements

Multilayer optical film comprising at least a plurality of alternating first and second optical layers. Embodiments of the multilayer optical film are useful, for example, in UV-C shield, UV-C light collimator, and UV-C light concentrator applications.

Multilayer optical films and articles comprising the same

Optical constructions are disclosed. A disclosed optical construction includes a reflective polarizer layer, and an optical film that is disposed on the reflective polarizer layer. The optical film has an optical haze that is not less than about 50%. Substantial portions of each two neighboring major surfaces in the optical construction are in physical contact with each other. The optical construction has an axial luminance gain that is not less than about 1.2.

Optical construction and display system incorporating same

Optical film is disclosed. The optical film includes a binder, a plurality of particles, and a plurality of interconnected voids. The volume fraction of the plurality of interconnected voids in the optical film is not less than about 20%. The weight ratio of the binder to the plurality of the particles is not less than about 1:2.

Optical film

An optical film including a collimating reflective polarizer and a structured layer disposed on a major surface of the collimating reflective polarizer. The structured layer includes a plurality of three-dimensional structures on an outer major surface of the structured layer facing away from the collimating reflective polarizer. The three-dimensional structures have a surface normal having an angle relative to a plane of the optical film that is in a range of about 35 degrees to about 55 degrees over at least 50 percent of a surface area of the three-dimensional structures.

Optical film including collimating reflective polarizer and structured layer

A multilayer film capacitor having a composite stack disposed between two electrodes where the composite stack includes at least one thermoplastic conductive layer and at least one thermoplastic insulating layer. The total thickness of the conductive layers is at least 3 times the total thickness of the insulating layers. The conductive layers may include a thermoplastic polymer blended with conductive particles at a concentration higher than a percolation threshold.

Multilayer film capacitor

A light guide having a first major surface, a second major surface, an input edge and an opposing edge, where at least one of the first major surface and the second major surface includes a plurality of multiplets. Each multiplet includes two or more extraction features having an indented geometry.

Light guide

A backlight includes a light source and one or more light recycling films. The light source generates light that exits the light source with an angular exit distribution. The light recycling films are oriented in relation to the light source so that the prism peaks of the recycling films are oriented away from the light source. The recycling films have a range of optimal incident angles that allow light to pass through the recycling films without recycling. The components of the light source, the characteristics of the recycling films, or both, are configured to control the overlap between the exit distribution of the light source and the optimal incident angle range of the recycling films.

Systems and methods for controlling backlight output characteristics

A laminated display unit having a light guide, an LCD panel laminated to a major surface of the light guide and a high modulus layer laminated to the light guide opposite the LCD panel. A first material having refractive index nis disposed immediately adjacent a first major surface of the light guide and a second material having a refractive index nis disposed immediately adjacent a second major surface of the light guide. The light guide has a refractive index nwhich is greater than about 1.05 times nwhere nis the larger of nand n. At least one of the first major surface and the second major surface includes a plurality of multiplets where each multiplet includes two or more extraction features.

Laminated display unit

Light guides comprising light extraction structure arrays and articles comprising such light guides are described.

Process for making light guides with extraction structures and light guides produced thereby

A recycling cavity such as used in a backlight or similar extended area source includes a front and back reflector, the front reflector being partially transmissive to provide an output illumination area. The recycling cavity also includes a component that provides the cavity with a balance of specular and diffuse characteristics so as to balance cavity efficiency and brightness uniformity over the output area. The component can be characterized by a transport ratio of greater than 15% for a 15 degree incidence angle, and less than 95% for a 45 degree incidence angle.

Recycling backlights with semi-specular components

A front and back reflector are arranged to form a hollow light recycling cavity having an output region, and one or more light sources (e.g. LEDs) are disposed to emit light into the cavity. In one aspect, the back reflector has a design characterized by a first and second parameter. The first design parameter is a ratio of the collective emitting area of the light sources Aemit to the area of the output region Aout, and Aemit/Aout is preferably from 0.0001 to 0.1. The second design parameter is SEP/H, where H is the depth of the recycling cavity, and SEP is an average plan view source separation associated with the light sources. Other aspects of the disclosed extended area light sources are also described.

Thin hollow backlights with beneficial design characteristics

A hollow light-recycling backlight has a 'semi-specular' component providing a balance of specularly and diffusely reflected light improving the uniformity of the light output. The component may be arranged on the reflectors (), () or inside the cavity (). This balance is achieved by designing the component's 'transport ratio' defined by (F&#x2212;B)/(F+B), (F and B are the amounts of incident light scattered forwards and backwards respectively by the component in the plane of the cavity) to lie in a certain range. Furthermore, the product of the front and back reflector &#x201c;hemispherical&#x201d; reflectivities should also lie in a given range. Alternatively, the &#x201c;cavity transport value&#x201d;, a measure of how well the cavity can spread injected light from the injection point to distant points in the cavity should lie in a further range and the &#x201c;hemispherical&#x201d; reflectivity of the back reflector should be &#x3e;0.7.

An edge-lit backlight comprises a front and back reflector forming a hollow light recycling cavity having a cavity depth H and an output region of area Aout, and one or more light sources disposed proximate a periphery of the backlight to emit light into the light recycling cavity. The light sources have an average plan view source separation of SEP collectively having an active emitting area Aemit, wherein a first parameter equals Aemit/Aout and a second parameter equals SEP/H. The first parameter is in a range from 0.0001 to 0.1, and by the second parameter is in a range from 3 to 10. The front reflector has a hemispherical reflectivity for unpolarized visible light of R, and the back reflector has a hemispherical reflectivity for unpolarized visible light of R, and R*Ris at least 0.70.

Growing community of inventors

Stillwater, MN, United States of America

Charles David Hoyle