Coated articles with light-altering features and methods for the production thereof

1. A coated article comprising:

a transparent substrate having a major surface;

an optical coating disposed on the major surface of the transparent substrate and forming an air-side surface, the optical coating comprising one or more layers of deposited material and at least one light-altering feature which reduces oscillations in the reflectance spectrum of the coated article by scattering reflective waves from the coated article;

wherein the coated article exhibits a maximum hardness of about 8 GPa or greater as measured on the air-side surface by a Berkovich Indenter Hardness Test along an indentation depth of about 50 nm or greater;

wherein the coated article has an average photopic transmittance of about 50% or greater; and

wherein the article transmittance color coordinates in the L*a*b* colorimetry system under an International Commission on Illumination illuminant of the coated article exhibits an angular color shift of less than about 10 from an reference illumination angle in the range of 0-10 degrees to an incident illumination angle in the range of 30-60 degrees relative to the air-side surface, where the angular color shift is defined by √((a* 2 −a* 1 ) 2 +(b* 2 −b* 1 ) 2 ), wherein a* 1 , and b* 1 represent the a* and b* coordinates when viewed at a reference illumination angle in the range of 0-10 degrees, and a* 2 , and b* 2 represent the a* and b* coordinates when viewed at an incident illumination angle in the range of 30-60 degrees.

2. The coated article of claim 1 , wherein the at least one light-altering feature comprises at least one of:

a rough interface between two adjacent layers in the optical coating;

a rough interface between a layer of the optical coating and the substrate; and

a rough air-side surface.

3. The coated article of claim 2 , wherein the roughness is characterized by the arithmetic average roughness (R a ) of 5 nm or greater.

4. The coated article of claim 2 , wherein the roughness is characterized by the root mean squared roughness (R q ) of 5 nm or greater.

5. The coated article of claim 1 , wherein the at least one light-altering feature comprises light-scattering members disposed between two adjacent layers in the optical coating or between the optical coating and the substrate.

6. The coated article of claim 1 , wherein at least one light-altering feature comprises light-scattering members disposed in a layer of the optical coating.

7. The coated article of claim 6 , wherein the light-scattering members have an average maximum dimension of from about 1 nm to about 1 micron.

8. The coated article of claim 5 , wherein at least some of the light-scattering members are solid particles.

9. The coated article of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises an amorphous substrate or a crystalline substrate.

10. The coated article of claim 1 , wherein the article transmittance color coordinates in the L*a*b* colorimetry system at normal incidence under an International Commission on Illumination illuminant exhibits a reference point color shift of less than about 10 from a reference point as measured at the air-side surface, the reference point comprising the color coordinates (a*=0, b*=0), (a*=−2, b*=−2), or the transmittance color coordinates of the substrate, wherein:

when the reference point is the color coordinates (a*=0, b*=0), the color shift is defined by √((a* article +(b* article ) 2 );

when the reference point is the color coordinates (a*=−2, b*=−2), the color shift is defined by √(a* article +2) 2 +(b* article +2) 2 ); and

when the reference point is the color coordinates of the substrate, the color shift is defined by √((a* article −a* substrate ) 2 +(b* article −b* substrate ) 2 ).

11. The coated article of claim 1 , wherein the coated article has a haze value of about 50% or less.