The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 23, 1999
Filed:
May. 09, 1997
Laurence A Gea, Knoxville, TN (US);
Lynn A Boatner, Oak Ridge, TN (US);
Abstract
A method for forming crystallographically coherent precipitates of vanadium dioxide in the near-surface region of sapphire and the resulting product is disclosed. Ions of vanadium and oxygen are stoichiometrically implanted into a sapphire substrate (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3), and subsequently annealed to form vanadium dioxide precipitates in the substrate. The embedded VO.sub.2 precipitates, which are three-dimensionally oriented with respect to the crystal axes of the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 host lattice, undergo a first-order monoclinic-to-tetragonal (and also semiconducting-to-metallic) phase transition at .about.77.degree. C. This transformation is accompanied by a significant variation in the optical transmission of the implanted region and results in the formation of an optically active, thermally 'switchable' surface region on Al.sub.2 O.sub.3.