Diamonex, Incorporated

Monsanto Company

Norman Donald Galvin

Fred M Kimock

Bradley J Knapp

Rudolph Hugo Petrmichl

Leonard Joseph Mahoney

Brian Kenneth Daniels

Ray Hays Venable Iii

Ion beam process for deposition of highly abrasion-resistant coatings

An abrasion-resistant dielectric composite product is described comprising a substrate and an abrasion wear resistant coating material comprising carbon, hydrogen, silicon, and oxygen and a dielectric material. An improved method is provided for the deposition of highly durable and abrasion-resistant multilayer dielectric antireflective coatings and reflective colored mirror coatings onto plastic lenses such as ophthalmic lenses, safety lenses, sunglass lenses, and sports optics. An adhesion-enhancing polymer layer may be deposited onto the plastic substrate prior to deposition of the abrasion-resistant first coating layer. The multilayer dielectric coating structure consists of a transparent, highly abrasion-resistant first coating, and a second dielectric coating composed of at least one layer of dielectric material. The abrasion-resistant first coating layer is deposited by ion-assisted plasma deposition from mixtures of organosiloxane or organosilazane precursor gases and oxygen, and has the properties of Nanoindentation hardness in the range of about 2 GPa to about 5 GPa, a strain to microcracking greater than about 1.5% and less than about 3.5%, a transparency greater than 85% throughout the visible spectrum, and an abrasion resistance greater than or equal to the abrasion resistance of glass. The preferred method for deposition of the abrasion-resistant first coating layer is plasma ion beam deposition using an organosiloxane precursor gas and oxygen. Optimum abrasion-resistance is obtained when the first coating layer thickness is in the range of about 5 microns to about 20 microns. The thickness, refractive index, and number of the dielectric layers in the second coating are chosen to produce the desired optical effects of either antireflection, or reflected color. Optimum environmental durability and abrasion-resistance is obtained by producing highly dense dielectric coatings by ion beam assisted electron beam evaporation, magnetron sputtering, ion beam assisted magnetron sputtering, ion beam sputtering, and ion-assisted plasma deposition, including plasma ion beam deposition, from precursor gases.

Highly durable and abrasion-resistant dielectric coatings for lenses

An ion beam deposition method is provided for manufacturing a coated substrate with improved wear-resistance, and improved lifetime. The substrate is first chemically cleaned to remove contaminants. Secondly, the substrate is inserted into a vacuum chamber onto a substrate holder, and the air therein is evacuated via pump. Then the substrate surface is bombarded with energetic ions from an ion beam source supplied from inert or reactive gas inlets to assist in removing residual hydrocarbons and surface oxides, and activating the surface. After sputter-etching the surface, a protective, wear-resistant coating is deposited by plasma ion beam deposition where a portion of the precursor gases are introduced into the ion beam downstream of the ion source, and hydrogen is introduced directly into the ion source plasma chamber. The plasma ion beam-deposited coating may contain one or more layers. Once the chosen coating thickness is achieved, deposition is terminated, vacuum chamber pressure is increased to atmospheric and the coated substrate products having wear-resistance greater than glass are removed from the chamber. These coated products may be ceramics, architectural glass, analytical instrument windows, automotive windshields, and laser bar code scanners for use in retail stores and supermarkets.

Ion beam process for deposition of highly wear-resistant optical coatings

An ion beam deposition method is provided for manufacturing a coated substrate with improved abrasion resistance, and improved lifetime. According to the method, the substrate is first chemically cleaned to remove contaminants. In the second step, the substrate is inserted into a vacuum chamber, and the air in said chamber is evacuated. In the third step, the substrate surface is bombarded with energetic ions to assist in the removal of residual hydrocarbons and surface oxides, and to activate the surface. Alter the substrate surface has been sputter-etched, a protective, abrasion-resistant coating is deposited by ion beam deposition. The ion beam-deposited coating may contain one or more layers. Once the chosen thickness of the coating has been achieved, the deposition process on the substrates is terminated, the vacuum chamber pressure is increased to atmospheric pressure, and the coated substrate products having improved abrasion-resistance are removed from the vacuum chamber. The coated products of this invention have utility as plastic sunglass lenses, ophthalmic lenses, bar codes scanner windows, and industrial wear parts that must be protected from scratches and abrasion.

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Easton, PA, United States of America

Norman Donald Galvin