Multilayer plastic substrates
A multilayer plastic substrate. The substrate comprises a plurality of thin film layers of at least one polymer, the plurality of thin film layers being adjacent to one another and having sufficient strength to be self-supporting, wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has an average visible light transmittance of greater than about 80%.
1. A multilayer plastic substrate consisting essentially of:
a plurality of flash evaporated thin film layers of at least one polymer, the plurality of thin film layers being adjacent to one another and having sufficient strength to be self-supporting, wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has an average visible light transmittance of greater than about 80%, wherein the multilayer plastic substrate comprises at least about 50 thin film layers, and wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has a surface roughness of less than about 10 nm.
2. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 wherein the average visible light transmittance is greater than about 85%.
3. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 wherein the average visible light transmittance is greater than about 90%.
4. The multi layer plastic substrate of claim 1 wherein the peak visible light transmittance is greater than about 85%.
5. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 wherein the peak visible light transmittance is greater than about 90%.
6. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate comprises at least about 100 thin film layers.
7. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 6 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate comprises at least about 500 thin film layers.
8. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 7 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate comprises at least about 1000 thin film layers.
9. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate is at least about 0.001 inches thick.
10. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate is at least about 0.004 inches thick.
11. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein each thin film layer is less than about 50 μm thick.
12. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein each thin film layer is less than about 5 μm thick.
13. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein each thin film layer is in the range of about 0.05 to about 2 μm thick.
14. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein each thin film layer is in the range of about 0.2 to about 0.3 μm.
15. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein the at least one polymer is selected from (meth)acrylates, polystyrenes, methyl styrene-containing polymers, fluorinated polymers, polycarbonates, polysulfones, polyethersulfones, polyimides, polyamides, and polyether naphthalenes, and combinations thereof.
16. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein the glass transition temperature of the at least one polymer is greater than about 150° C.
17. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein the glass transition temperature of the at least one polymer is greater than about 200° C.
18. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has a surface roughness of less than about 2 nm.
19. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has a refractive index of greater than about 1.5.
20. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has a refractive index of greater than about 1.4.
21. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate is flexible.
22. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate is rigid.
23. The multilayer plastic substrate of claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has a surface roughness of less than about 5 nm.