The embodiments herein relate to electrochromic stacks, electrochromic devices, and methods and apparatus for making such stacks and devices. In various embodiments, an anodically coloring layer in an electrochromic stack or device is fabricated to include a heterogeneous structure, for example a heterogeneous composition and/or morphology. Such heterogeneous anodically coloring layers can be used to better tune the properties of a device.

Disclosed are a method for producing an optical thin film having a low refractive index, a thin film forming material, an optical thin film, and an optical member. The method for producing an optical thin film includes forming a vapor deposition film by depositing a thin film forming material on an object in a non-oxidizing atmosphere by a physical vapor deposition method; and bringing the vapor deposition film into contact with a first acidic solution comprising an acidic substance in a range of pH 2.5 or more and pH 3.5 or less to obtain a first thin film having voids, wherein the thin film forming material is a mixture comprising indium oxide and silicon oxide, in which the indium oxide is in a range of 0.230 mol or more and 0.270 mol or less with respect to 1 mol of the silicon oxide.

An optical component with improved degradation resistance is provided. The optical component includes an optical material and a coating. The optical material has a native surface that is susceptible to degradation processes. The coating is a layer of an inorganic material and is applied so as to be substantially contiguous so that there are no continuous paths between fluid surrounding the optical component and the optical material.

A processing system for forming an optical coating on a substrate is provided, wherein the optical coating including an anti-reflective coating and an oleophobic coating, the system comprising: a linear transport processing section configured for processing and transporting substrate carriers individually and one at a time in a linear direction; at least one evaporation processing system positioned in the linear transport processing system, the evaporation processing system configured to form the oleophobic coating; a batch processing section configured to transport substrate carriers in unison about an axis; at least one ion beam assisted deposition processing chamber positioned in the batch processing section, the ion beam assisted deposition processing chamber configured to deposit layer of the anti-reflective coating; a plurality of substrate carriers for mounting substrates; and, means for transferring the substrate carriers between the linear transport processing section and the batch processing section without exposing the substrate carrier to atmosphere.

Various embodiments of smart devices are determined herein. A smart device can include a housing and an electronic display. The smart device can further include a cover, housed by the housing, through which the electronic display is visible. The cover can include a glass layer, wherein the glass layer is the outermost layer of the cover that is adjacent an ambient environment of the smart home device. The cover can further include an optical coating layer, deposited directly onto a surface of the glass layer, that comprises a plurality of sublayers. The optical coating layer can include alternating non-metallic oxide layers having different refractive indexes. The sublayers can vary in thickness such that the optical coating layer reflects light from the ambient environment through the glass layer.

At least one composite workpiece includes: a substrate body including at least one first surface and at least one second surface, the at least one first surface of the substrate body being shaped convexly at least in areas and the at least one second surface of the substrate body being shaped concavely at least in areas, and the at least one composite workpiece has a bow with an absolute value of between 0.1 μm and 50 μm due to the curved shape of the at least one first surface and the at least one second surface; and at least one first coating, at least the at least one first surface of the substrate body being coated at least in areas with the first coating.

The present invention is directed to a method for preparing a coated optical article including providing a non-conductive substrate; forming a conductive coating layer over the substrate; electrodepositing a first electrodepositable coating composition over the conductive coating layer to form a first electrodeposited inorganic coating layer; and electrodepositing a second electrodepositable coating composition over the first electrodeposited coating layer to form a second electrodeposited inorganic coating layer thereover, thereby forming a multi-layer antireflective inorganic coating over the conductive coating layer. Each of the first electrodepositable coating composition and the second electrodepositable coating composition is different one from the other, and each includes a sol prepared from a composition of a metal oxide precursor and protic acid such that each coating composition is hydrolyzed. Coated optical articles are also provided.

A method of forming an optical component includes depositing slurry that includes glass powder material onto a facesheet and fusing the glass powder material to a facesheet to form a first core material layer on the facesheet. The method also includes successively fusing glass powder material in a plurality of additional core material layers to build a core material structure on the facesheet. The method can include selectively depositing slurry including glass powder material over only a portion of at least one of the facesheet, the first core material layer, and/or the one of the additional core material layers. Depositing the slurry can include extruding the slurry from an extruder.

A coated glass article includes a glass substrate and an anti-reflective coating formed over a first major surface of the glass substrate. The anti-reflective coating includes a color suppression interlayer and a first coating layer deposited over the color suppression interlayer. The first coating layer includes tin oxide and a dopant. The dopant includes antimony, molybdenum, or iron. A second coating layer is deposited over the first coating layer. The second coating layer includes an oxide of silicon. The coated glass article exhibits a total visible light transmittance of 70% or more and a film side visible light reflectance of less than 6.0%.

A process for protecting a glass substrate coated with an electrochromic stack, includes depositing a temporary protective layer on the electrochromic stack, the temporary protective layer including an organic polymeric matrix and having a thickness of between 1 μm and 30 μm, and the temporary protective layer being removable by heat treatment at a temperature of between 300° C. and 500° C., fora period of between 180 s and 240 s.