Protected item including a protective coating

Abstract

There is disclosed a protected item including an item that needs protection and a protective coating having a hardness of at least about 8 on the Mohs scale. The protected item includes a light transmission in part or all of the visible wavelength of at least about 60% and a light reflection in the visible wavelength of about 4% or less.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A protected item comprising:
 an item that needs protection; and   a protective coating having a hardness of at least about 8 on the Mohs scale,   wherein the protected item includes a light transmission in part or all of a visible wavelength of at least about 60% and a light reflection in the visible wavelength of about 4% or less.   
     
     
         2 . The protected item of  claim 1 , wherein the item that needs protection includes a substrate and an optical filter. 
     
     
         3 . The protected item of  claim 2 , wherein the substrate comprises glass, silicon, polymer, or wafers. 
     
     
         4 . The protected item of  claim 3 , wherein the wafers comprise sapphire windows, a photodiode, a photodiode array, complementary metal-oxide semiconductor sensors, and charge-coupled device sensors. 
     
     
         5 . The protected item of  claim 2 , wherein the optical filter exhibits at least one of an anti-reflection property, an infrared blocking property, and a bandpass filter property. 
     
     
         6 . The protected item of  claim 2 , wherein the optical filter includes at least one layer of at least one of Si, SiO 2 , Si 3 N 4 , Al 2 O 3 , ZrO 2 , Y 2 O 3 , Ta 2 O 5 , Nb 2 O 5 , NbTa 2 O 5 , NbTiO x , SiC, and TiO 2 , wherein x is an integer from 1-6. 
     
     
         7 . The protected item of  claim 2 , wherein the optical filter exhibits an anti-reflection property and includes alternating layers of SiO 2  and NbTa 2 O 5 . 
     
     
         8 . The protected item of  claim 2 , wherein the optical filter exhibits an anti-reflection property and includes alternating layers of Si 3 N 4  and SiO 2 . 
     
     
         9 . The protected item of  claim 2 , wherein the optical filter exhibits an anti-reflection property and includes alternating layers of NbTiO x  and SiO 2 , wherein x is an integer from 1-6. 
     
     
         10 . The protected item of  claim 2 , wherein the optical filter exhibits an infrared blocking property and includes alternating layers of NbTa 2 O 5  and SiO 2 . 
     
     
         11 . The protected item of  claim 2 , wherein the optical filter exhibits a bandpass filter property and includes alternating layers of Ta 2 O 5  and SiO 2 . 
     
     
         12 . The protected item of  claim 1 , wherein the protective coating comprises at least one of silicon carbide, titanium carbide, boron, boron nitride, rhenium diboride, stishovite, titanium diboride, diamond, diamond-like carbon, and carbonado. 
     
     
         13 . The protected item of  claim 1 , wherein the protective coating comprises silicon carbide. 
     
     
         14 . The protected item of  claim 1 , wherein the protective coating includes a thickness of from about 3 nanometers to about 20 nanometers. 
     
     
         15 . The protected item of  claim 1 , wherein the protective coating is annealed to the item that needs protection. 
     
     
         16 . A method for making a protected item comprising:
 providing an item that needs protection; and   depositing a protective coating having a hardness of at least about 8 on the Mohs scale onto the item that needs protection to form a protected item;   wherein the protected item includes a light transmission in part or all of a visible wavelength of at least about 60% and a light reflection in the visible wavelength of about 4% or less.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising providing a substrate; and depositing an optical filter onto the substrate to form an item that needs protection. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the protective coating is deposited at a thickness of from about 3 nanometers to about 20 nanometers. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising annealing the deposited protective coating to the item that needs protection. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the step of depositing a protective coating is performed using a sputtering deposition technique and includes the addition of hydrogen.