Glass, glass-ceramic and ceramic articles with protective coatings having hardness and toughness

Abstract

An article is described herein which includes: a transparent substrate having a primary surface; and a protective film disposed on the primary surface, such that each of the substrate and the protective film have an optical transmittance of 20% or more in the visible spectrum, and such that the protective film includes at least one of: (1) a hardness of greater than 13 GPa, as measured by a Berkovich nanoindenter, or (2) an effective fracture toughness (Kc) of greater than 2.5 MPa·m1/2, as measured by indentation fracture at a depth of greater than 1 μm.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An article, comprising:
 a transparent substrate comprising a primary surface; and   a protective film disposed on the primary surface,   wherein the protective film comprises at least one of:
 (1) a hardness of greater than 13 GPa, as measured by a Berkovich nanoindenter, 
 (2) an effective fracture toughness (Kc) of greater than 2.5 MPa·m 1/2 , or 
 (3) an optical extinction coefficient (k) equal to or less than 1×10 −2 , measured at 400 nm wavelength. 
   
     
     
         2 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein the protective film comprises a strain-to-failure of greater than 0.7%, as measured by a ring-on-ring test. 
     
     
         3 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein the protective film comprises a thickness in a range of 1.0 μm to 50 μm. 
     
     
         4 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein the protective film comprises both (1) and (2). 
     
     
         5 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein the protective film comprises a compressive film stress greater than 50 MPa. 
     
     
         6 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein the protective film comprises an optical transmittance of 50% or more in the visible spectrum. 
     
     
         7 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein the protective film comprises a refractive index (n) of at least 2.0, measured at 550 nm wavelength. 
     
     
         8 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein each of the substrate and the protective film comprises an optical transmittance of 20% or more in the visible spectrum. 
     
     
         9 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein the protective film comprises a coating failure stress of greater than 800 MPa. 
     
     
         10 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein the protective film comprises a composition having greater than 80% ZrO 2 , by molar concentration or volume. 
     
     
         11 . The article according to  claim 10 , wherein the protective film comprises tetragonal ZrO 2 , monoclinic ZrO 2 , or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein the protective film comprises an inorganic material, wherein the material is polycrystalline or semi-polycrystalline and comprises an average crystallite size of less than 1 micron. 
     
     
         13 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein the substrate further comprises a compressive stress region, the compressive stress region extending from the primary surface to a first selected depth in the substrate. 
     
     
         14 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein the protective film comprises a multilayer optical coating selected from at least one of: anti-reflective film, dielectric mirror film, infrared blocking film, ultraviolet blocking film, wavelength-selective bandpass film, or notch filter. 
     
     
         15 . The article according to  claim 14 , wherein the multilayer optical coating comprises at least one ZrO 2 -based film having a refractive index of n1, and at least one lower refractive index material film having a refractive index of n2, wherein n1 is greater than n2. 
     
     
         16 . A consumer electronic product, comprising:
 a housing comprising front, back and side surfaces;   electrical components that are at least partially inside the housing; and   a display at or adjacent to the front surface of the housing,   wherein the article of  claim 1  is at least one of disposed over the display and disposed as a portion of the housing.   
     
     
         17 . A vehicle display system, comprising:
 a housing comprising front, back and side surfaces;   electrical components that are at least partially inside the housing; and   a display at or adjacent to the front surface of the housing,   wherein the article of  claim 1  is at least one of disposed over the display and disposed as a portion of the housing.   
     
     
         18 . A device comprising the article of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         19 . The device of  claim 18 , comprising a camera lens cover, an optical sensor cover, or an infrared (IR) sensor cover. 
     
     
         20 . An article, comprising:
 a transparent substrate comprising a primary surface; and   a protective film disposed on the primary surface,   wherein the protective film comprises:
 (1) a hardness of greater than 13 GPa, as measured by a Berkovich nanoindenter, 
 (2) an effective fracture toughness (Kc) of greater than 2.5 MPa·m 1/2 , and 
 (3) an optical extinction coefficient (k) equal to or less than 1×10 −2 , measured at 400 nm wavelength; 
   wherein the protective film comprises a strain-to-failure of greater than 0.7%, as measured by a ring-on-ring test;   wherein the protective film comprises a thickness in a range of 1.0 μm to 50 μm;   wherein the protective film comprises a compressive film stress greater than 50 MPa;   wherein the protective film comprises an optical transmittance of 50% or more in the visible spectrum;   wherein the protective film comprises a refractive index (n) of at least 2.0, measured at 550 nm wavelength;   wherein each of the substrate and the protective film comprises an optical transmittance of 20% or more in the visible spectrum; and,   wherein the protective film comprises a coating failure stress of greater than 800 MPa.   
     
     
         21 . A consumer electronic product, comprising:
 a housing comprising front, back and side surfaces;   electrical components that are at least partially inside the housing; and   a display at or adjacent to the front surface of the housing,   wherein the article of  claim 20  is at least one of disposed over the display and disposed as a portion of the housing.