Method of making coated article having low-E coating with ion beam treated and/or formed IR reflecting layer
View Patent ↗A coated article is provided that may be used as a vehicle windshield, insulating glass (IG) window unit, or the like. An ion beam is used during at least part of forming an infrared (IR) reflecting layer(s) of such a coated article. Advantageously, this has been found to improve sheet resistance (R s ) properties, solar control properties, and/or durability of the coated article. Other layers may also be ion beam treated in certain example embodiments.
1. A method of making a coated article, the method comprising:
providing a glass substrate;
forming at least one dielectric layer on the substrate;
forming an infrared (IR) reflecting layer comprising silver on the substrate over at least the first dielectric layer, where said forming of the IR reflecting layer comprises (a) sputter-depositing without using an ion beam a first layer portion, or seed layer, comprising silver; and (b) using a simultaneous combination of an ion beam and material moving toward the substrate from a sputtering target to form a second layer portion immediately over and contacting the first layer portion; and
forming at least one additional dielectric layer on the substrate over at least the IR reflecting layer.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said at least one dielectric layer comprises at least one of silicon nitride and zinc oxide.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said additional dielectric layer comprises at least one of tin oxide and silicon nitride.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said ion beam in (b) consists essentially of ions from an inert gas used in an ion source(s).
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said ion beam in (b) is substantially free of oxygen ions.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ion beam in (b) is utilized in a manner so as to cause the IR reflecting layer to have compressive stress.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming at least a layer comprising NiCr on the substrate over at least the IR reflecting layer.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ion beam in (b) is utilized in a manner sufficient to cause a sheet resistance (R s ) of the IR reflecting layer to be at least 5% less than if the ion beam in (b) had not been used.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ion beam in (b) is utilized in a manner sufficient to cause a sheet resistance (R s ) of the IR reflecting layer to be at least 10% less than if the ion beam in (b) had not been used.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ion beam in (b) is utilized in a manner sufficient to cause a sheet resistance (R s ) of the IR reflecting layer to be at least 15% less than if the ion beam in (b) had not been used.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising heat treating the coated article in a manner sufficient for at least one of tempering and heat bending, so that following said heat treating the coated article has a visible transmission of at least 70% and a sheet resistance (R s ) of no greater than 5.0 ohms/square.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising heat treating the coated article in a manner sufficient for at least one of tempering and heat bending, so that following said heat treating the coated article has a visible transmission of at least 75% and a sheet resistance (R s ) of no greater than 3.0 ohms/square.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein prior to any optional heat treating, the coated article in monolithic form has a visible transmission of at least 70% and a sheet resistance (R s ) of no greater than 5.0 ohms/square.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a layer comprising zinc oxide on the glass substrate in a position so that the IR reflecting layer is formed directly on and contacting the layer comprising zinc oxide.
15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming another IR reflecting layer comprising silver in accordance with (a) and (b).
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the first layer portion and the second layer portion is substantially metallic.
17. A method of making a coated article, including forming an infrared (IR) reflecting layer on a glass substrate, where said forming of the IR reflecting layer comprises:
sputter-depositing a first layer portion, or seed layer, of the IR reflecting layer without using an ion beam from an ion source, and
using a simultaneous combination of an ion beam and material moving toward the substrate from a sputtering target to form a second layer portion immediately over and contacting the first layer portion; and
forming at least one additional layer on the substrate over at least the IR reflecting layer.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein said ion beam consists essentially of argon ions.
19. The method of claim 17 , wherein said ion beam is substantially free of oxygen ions.
20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the ion beam is utilized in a manner so as to cause the IR reflecting layer to have compressive stress.
21. The method of claim 17 , further comprising forming at least a layer comprising NiCr on the substrate over at least the IR reflecting layer.
22. The method of claim 17 , wherein the ion beam is utilized in a manner sufficient to cause a sheet resistance (R s ) of the IR reflecting layer to be at least 5% less than if the ion beam had not been used.
23. The method of claim 17 , wherein the ion beam is utilized in a manner sufficient to cause a sheet resistance (R s ) of the IR reflecting layer to be at least 10% less than if the ion beam had not been used.
24. The method of claim 17 , wherein the ion beam is utilized in a manner sufficient to cause a sheet resistance (R s ) of the IR reflecting layer to be at least 15% less than if the ion beam had not been used.
25. The method of claim 17 , further comprising heat treating the coated article in a manner sufficient for at least one of tempering and heat bending, so that following said heat treating the coated article has a visible transmission of at least 70% and a sheet resistance (R s ) of no greater than 5.0 ohms/square.
26. The method of claim 17 , wherein prior to any optional heat treating, the coated article in monolithic form has a visible transmission of at least 70% and a sheet resistance (R s ) of no greater than 5.0 ohms/square.
27. The method of claim 17 , further comprising forming a layer comprising zinc oxide on the glass substrate in a position so that the IR reflecting layer is formed directly on and contacting the layer comprising zinc oxide.
28. The method of claim 17 , wherein each of the first layer portion and the second layer portion is substantially metallic.
29. The method of claim 17 , wherein the IR reflecting layer comprises Ag and/or Au.
30. The method of claim 17 , wherein the IR reflecting layer is graded with respect to argon content, so that an upper portion of the IR reflecting layer has a higher argon concentration than does a lower portion of the IR reflecting layer.
31. The method of claim 1 , wherein the IR reflecting layer is graded with respect to argon content, so that an upper portion of the IR reflecting layer has a higher argon concentration than lower portion of the IR reflecting layer.
32. A method of making a coated article, the method comprising:
providing a glass substrate;
forming at least one dielectric layer on the substrate;
forming at least part of an infrared (IR) reflecting layer using a simultaneous combination of an ion beam and material moving toward the substrate from a sputtering target to form the at least part of the IR reflecting layer, and during formation of the at least part of the IR reflecting layer increasing voltage applied to an ion source used to generate the ion beam; and
forming at least one additional dielectric layer on the substrate over at least the IR reflecting layer.
33. The method of claim 32 , wherein the voltage applied to the ion source is increased in a step-like manner.
34. The method of claim 32 , wherein the voltage applied to the ion source is increased in a progressive manner.
35. The method of claim 32 , wherein said at least one dielectric layer comprises at least one of silicon nitride and zinc oxide.
36. The method of claim 32 , wherein said additional dielectric layer comprises at least one of tin oxide and silicon nitride.
37. The method of claim 32 , wherein said ion beam consists essentially of ions from an inert gas used in an ion source(s).
38. The method of claim 32 , wherein said ion beam is substantially free of oxygen ions.
39. The method of claim 32 , wherein the ion beam is utilized in a manner so as to cause the IR reflecting layer to have compressive stress.