Electrochromic devices and methods may employ the addition of a defect-mitigating insulating layer which prevents electronically conducting layers and/or electrochromically active layers from contacting layers of the opposite polarity and creating a short circuit in regions where defects form. In some embodiments, an encapsulating layer is provided to encapsulate particles and prevent them from ejecting from the device stack and risking a short circuit when subsequent layers are deposited. The insulating layer may have an electronic resistivity of between about 1 and 10.sup.8 Ohm-cm. In some embodiments, the insulating layer contains one or more of the following metal oxides: aluminum oxide, zinc oxide, tin oxide, silicon aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, tungsten oxide, nickel tungsten oxide, and oxidized indium tin oxide. Carbides, nitrides, oxynitrides, and oxycarbides may also be used.

A method for manufacturing an aluminum alloy sheet may include melting aluminum alloy composition containing silicon (Si), iron (Fe), copper (Cu) and manganese (Mn) in weight% on the basis of remainder of aluminum (Al) to make cast alloy having a constant initial thickness; rolling the cast alloy to allow the initial thickness to be reduced, whereby the cast alloy is elongated to aluminum alloy sheet; and performing heat treatment on the aluminum alloy sheet.

A part includes a base material, a colored layer, an intermediate layer, and a water-repellent-surface layer. The colored layer contains 35 at % to 99 at % of C, 0 at % to less than 40 at % of Cr, 0 at % to less than 15 at % of N, and more than 0 at % to less than 15 at % of O. The intermediate layer contains at least one metal atom selected from Cr, Zr, and Si; and an oxygen atom. The intermediate layer exhibits a sputtering time of 0.5 minutes or more to 9 minutes or less

An epitaxy substrate and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The epitaxy substrate includes a silicon substrate and a silicon carbide layer. The silicon substrate has a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other, and the first surface is an epitaxy surface. The silicon carbide layer is located in the silicon substrate, and a distance between the silicon carbide layer and the first surface is between 100 angstroms (Å) and 500 angstroms.

Provided is a coloring pattern structure. The coloring pattern structure includes: a substrate; a light-transmitting dielectric layer formed on at least one surface of the substrate; and a composite material layer disposed on an upper surface of the light-transmitting dielectric layer and formed of a metal and a first material not having a thermodynamic solid solubility in the metal, wherein the metal included in the composite material layer has a pattern coated only on portions of the upper surface of the light-transmitting dielectric layer, and the first material is coated on the remaining area where the metal is not coated.

A brake disk including carbon steel, stainless steel or a ceramic composite material and coated with a coating material that is wear and corrosion resistant and when applied properly allows for the coated surface to have a variety of “textured” appearances. For example, the coated surface can be made to look like woven carbon fiber. The aesthetically pleasing, wear and corrosion resistant coating overlays wear surfaces and portions of the brake disk that will be, in many cases, visible when the brake disk is installed on the vehicle. The coating includes a first layer of a metal, such as a pure titanium metal, and a second layer that can include a Nitride, Boride, Carbide or Oxide of the metal used in the first layer. The coating can be applied using a physical vapor deposition source such as a cathodic arc source with a controlled gas atmosphere.

A wire grid polarizer (WGP) can have a conformal-coating to protect the WGP from at least one of the following: corrosion, dust, and damage due to tensile forces in a liquid on the WGP. The conformal-coating can include a silane conformal-coating with chemical formula (1), chemical formula (2), or combinations thereof: ##STR00001##
A method of applying a conformal-coating over a WGP can include exposing the WGP to Si(R.sup.1).sub.d(R.sup.2).sub.e(R.sup.3).sub.g. In the above WGP and method, X can be a bond to the ribs; each R.sup.1 can be a hydrophobic group; each R.sup.3, if any, can be any chemical element or group; d can be 1, 2, or 3, e can be 1, 2, or 3, g can be 0, 1, or 2, and d+e+g=4; R.sup.2 can be a silane-reactive-group; and each R.sup.6 can be an alkyl group, an aryl group, or combinations thereof.

A metal foil including on at least one of its sides a layer of a material including: a metal or a metal alloy, carbon, hydrogen, and optionally oxygen, the atomic percentage of the metal or of the metals of the alloy in the material ranging from 10 to 60%, the atomic percentage of carbon in the material ranging from 35 to 70%, the atomic percentage of hydrogen in the material ranging from 2 to 20%, and the atomic percentage of oxygen if present in the material being less than or equal to 10%. The metal foil can be used in the manufacture of a cathode of a lithium-ion electrochemical cell. The deposition of this layer reduces the internal resistance of the cell.

A valve component comprising a substrate with a sliding surface, the sliding surface being designed to be subjected to sliding against another surface during operation of the valve, wherein at least a portion of the sliding surface is coated with a coating comprising an under-layer comprising tungsten and an upper-layer deposited atop the under-layer, said upper-layer comprising diamond-like-carbon, wherein the under-layer comprises carbon and has a layer thickness of at least 11 micrometers, and the upper-layer has a lower coefficient of friction than the under-layer and has a layer thickness of at least 1.5 micrometers.

A crystal raw material loading device and a crystal growth device includes a plurality of bearing units which are arranged adjacent to each other horizontally in turn, and the multiple bearing units include a first bearing unit arranged at one end of a small plane far away from the seed crystal bearing device. Along the direction from one end of the small plane far away from the seed crystal to one end of the small plane close to the seed crystal, from the first bearing unit to the bearing unit on the side of the small plane close to the seed crystal, the height of the raw material that can be carried by each bearing unit is reduced in turn.