Southwall Technologies Inc.

Chris H Stoessel

Lee Campbell Boman

Roland Claus Thielsch

Julius G Kozak

Richard Thomas Wipfler

Matthew Coda

Andrew Wahl

Thomas Boehme

Ronald Thielsch

Andre Wahl

Lee Boman

'Corrosion' performance of an optical filter is enhanced when a relatively thick zinc-based film functions as a seed layer for a subsequently formed silver-based film. At least two pairs of dielectric and metallic layers are included within the optical filter, where the zinc-based film is a second film of the dielectric layer and where the silver-based film is the metallic layer. The zinc-based film has a zinc content of at least 80 percent and has a thickness of at least 15 nm. In order to further improve the corrosion performance, gold may be incorporated into the silver-based film.

Robust optical filter utilizing pairs of dielectric and metallic layers

An optical filter is formed of a layer stack that includes metallic layers and dielectric layers, with at least one dielectric layer being defined by more than one zinc-based film. These zinc-based films have different percentages of zinc. The selections of the percentages are based upon the positions of the films within the dielectric layer. An unexpectedly low sheet resistance is available if the zinc-based film that immediately precedes forming a metallic layer has a percentage of zinc in the range of 80 percent to next to 100 percent. Process stabilization and manufacturing cost are provided by placing the percentage of the lower zinc-based film closer to 50 percent (25-75). Process stabilization is further enhanced by providing an indium-based film within the dielectric layer adjacent to the metallic layer.

Zinc-based film manipulation for an optical filter

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Santa Rosa, CA, United States of America

Chris H Stoessel