Techniques, processes and structures are disclosed for providing markings on products, such as electronic devices. For example, the markings can be formed using physical vapor deposition (PVD) processes to deposit a layer of material. The markings or labels may be textual and/or graphic. The markings are deposited on a compliant layer that is disposed on a surface to be marked. The compliant layer is arranged to isolate the surface to be marked from the layer of material deposited using the PVD process.

An electronic device may include electrical components and other components mounted within a housing. The device may have a display on a front face of the device and may have a glass layer that forms part of the housing on a rear face of the device. The glass layer and other glass structures in the electronic device may be provided with coatings. An interior coating on a glass layer may include multiple layers of material such as an adhesion promotion layer, thin-film layers of materials such as silicon, niobium oxide and other metal oxides, and metals to help adjust the appearance of the coating. A metal layer may be formed on top of the coating to serve as an environmental protection layer and opacity enhancement layer. In some configurations, the coating may include four layers.

An electronic device may include electrical components and other components mounted within a housing. The device may have a display on a front face of the device and may have a glass layer that forms part of the housing on a rear face of the device. The glass layer and other glass structures in the electronic device may be provided with coatings. An interior coating on a glass layer may include multiple layers of material such as an adhesion promotion layer, thin-film layers of materials such as silicon, niobium oxide and other metal oxides, and metals to help adjust the appearance of the coating. A metal layer may be formed on top of the coating to serve as an environmental protection layer and opacity enhancement layer. In some configurations, the coating may include four layers.

The invention relates to an almost opaque decorative glass panel comprising a substrate made of a vitreous material bearing a multilayer stack including at least one light-absorbing functional layer and transparent dielectric coatings such that the light-absorbing functional layer is enclosed between dielectric coatings. The light-absorbing functional layer has a geometric thickness comprised between 25 and 140 nm, and an extinction coefficient k of at least 1.8. The multilayer stack in addition comprises at least one attenuating layer placed between the substrate and the light-absorbing functional layer, having a thickness comprised between 1 and 50 nm, having a refractive index n higher than 1 and an extinction coefficient k of at least 0.5. Furthermore, a transparent dielectric coating the optical thickness of which is comprised between 30 and 160 nm, and the refractive index n of which is higher than 1.5, is placed adjacent to the attenuating layer on the side opposite the light-absorbing functional layer. The invention provides a decorative panel offering a pleasant aesthetic effect.

An electronic device may have transparent housing structures such as walls formed of glass or sapphire. Housing structures such as transparent housing structures may have a colored coating. The colored coating may include an absorptive layer and a metal layer. The coating may exhibit a color that can be adjusted by adjusting the thickness of the thin absorptive layer. A colored layer such as a layer of colored polymer may be incorporated into the colored coating to further adjust the color of the coating. The colored coating may be formed on an inner or outer housing structure surface. The surface may have a texture to provide the coating with a matte appearance. When formed on an outer surface, a diamond-like carbon layer may protect the colored coating. When formed on an inner surface, a passivation layer may be used to prevent oxidation of the metal layer.

The invention relates to a method for partially coating a surface of an object, comprising the following steps: (a) optional hydrophobization of the surface of the object; (b) partial application of (b1) a liquid and subsequent application of a powderous or granular substance or (b2) a solution or suspension of said powderous or granular substance in a liquid; (c) drying the surface to form spatially-delimited salt or powder crusts; (d) coating the surface with at least one layer of a metal or a metal compound; and (e) removing the salt or powder crusts that have been produced. The invention also relates to products that have been produced according to the claimed method.

A process for obtaining a decorative mirror includes reflective regions forming a pattern and non-reflective regions, the process including providing a sheet of soda-lime-silica glass coated with a reflective coating on the entirety of one of the faces thereof, then applying a composition including a phosphate salt to the reflective coating, solely in application regions, the application regions being intended to become the non-reflective regions, then tempering the glass sheet, in which the glass sheet is subjected to a temperature of at least 550? C., causing the reflective coating to dissolve in the application regions so as to form the non-reflective regions in which the glass sheet is not coated.

Certain embodiments of this invention relates to a writable window (e.g., IG window unit), where images (e.g., advertisements, logos, designs, pictures and/or words) can be selectively written into the window and are designed to be viewed by humans and/or animals. A substrate (e.g., glass substrate) supports a solar coating such as a low emissivity (low-E) coating which may include at least one infrared (IR) reflecting layer of or including silver that is located on and directly contacting a contact/seed layer of or including a material such as zinc oxide and/or zinc stannate. A radiation source (e.g., laser(s) and/or lamp(s)) may be used to selectively expose certain areas of the coating to radiation (e.g., UV radiation). The exposed area(s) of the coating, after being exposed and heated, have different optical characteristic(s) (e.g., higher visible transmission) than the area(s) of the coating not exposed to the radiation, so that following the laser exposure the exposed area(s) form an image(s) designed to be viewed by humans and/or animals.

In a method for embodying a hotplate for a hob, at least one metallic layer and a further layer under the metallic layer are formed on an underside of the hotplate. After applying the at least one metallic layer and the further layer, at least one region of the metallic layer is changed by a laser light of a laser beam so that the further layer is recognized when viewing the hob on a topside.

A mirror to be tempered includes a glass substrate, a stack of thin layers deposited on one face of the substrate, the stack including a chromium-based or niobium-based metal layer, a coating layer above the stack of thin layers with reference to the glass substrate, in which the coating layer is a layer of mineral paint includes a mixture of an alkaline silicate and at least one white, colored or black pigment.