Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Composite – Of inorganic material
Patent
1995-11-06
1999-10-26
Turner, Archene
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Composite
Of inorganic material
2041921, 20419215, 20419229, 20429801, 20429802, 20429812, 20429813, 429226, 252518, 4284111, 428412, 4284259, 428432, 428414, 428480, 428522, 428523, 428524, 428699, 428701, 428702, C23C 1408, H01B 108
Patent
active
059725273
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a transparent electrically conductive layer, an electrically conductive substrate formed of the transparent electrically conductive layer, and an electrically conductive material suitable as a material for obtaining the above transparent electrically conductive layer.
TECHNICAL BACKGROUND
A liquid crystal display apparatus can be decreased in weight and thickness and actuated at a low voltage, and it is therefore actively introduced to office automation machines and equipment such as a personal computer, a word processor, etc. And, a liquid crystal display apparatus having the above advantages is inevitably designed toward a larger screen, an increase in the number of picture element pixels and higher preciseness, and there is desired a high-quality liquid crystal display apparatus free of display defects.
A liquid crystal display device has a sandwich structure in which a liquid crystal is sandwiched between mutually opposing two transparent electrodes, and the transparent. electrodes constitute one important element for obtaining a high-quality liquid crystal display device. The transparent electrode is fabricated, for example, by patterning a transparent electrically conductive layer formed on a transparent glass substrate, to a predetermined form by photolithography. In recent years, for further decreasing the weight of a display apparatus, it is under way to make attempts to substitute polymer films for the transparent glass substrate.
At present, an ITO electrode is the mainstream as a transparent electrode. An ITO layer which constitutes the base of the ITO electrode is formed by a sputtering method using ITO as a sputtering target. It is because an ITO layer not only has high transparency and low resistance but also has excellent etching properties (etching rate) and excellent adhesion to a substrate that a large number of ITO electrodes are used.
Generally, however, it is required to set the substrate temperature at 200-300.degree. C. for obtaining an ITO layer having a low electric resistance and high transparency. When an ITO layer is formed in this manner, the ITO layer is crystallized. As a result, the etching properties are good, but cannot be said to be excellent. Further, when a polymer film or a resin substrate is used as a substrate, it is difficult to set the substrate temperature at 200-300.degree. C., and it is therefore difficult to form an ITO layer having a low electric resistance and high transparency. The ITO layer can be improved in the etching properties by preparing the ITO layer as an amorphous one (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,291), while the amorphous ITO layer has a problem in that the electrical conductivity decreases. Further, since an ITO layer has relatively low resistance to moist heat, an ITO electrode obtained by shaping this ITO layer into a predetermined form has a problem in that the electrical conductivity and the light transmittance is liable to decrease with time while it is used. It markedly appears particularly in an amorphous ITO film that the resistance to moist heat is low so that the electrical conductivity and the light transmittance decrease with time.
The present invention has been made to provide a novel transparent electrically conductive layer which can replace the ITO layer having the above problems, and a novel electrically conductive transparent substrate which can replace an electrically conductive transparent substrate formed of the ITO layer. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transparent electrically conductive layer which has practically sufficient electrical conductivity and light transmittance and is excellent in resistance to moist heat and etching properties, and an electrically conductive transparent substrate formed of this transparent electrically conductive layer. It is another object of the present invention to provide an electrically conductive material suitable as a material for obtaining the above transparent electrically conductive layer.
The present inventors ha
REFERENCES:
patent: 4849252 (1989-07-01), Arfsten et al.
patent: 5105291 (1992-04-01), Matsumoto et al.
patent: 5206089 (1993-04-01), Vilato et al.
patent: 5510173 (1996-04-01), Pass et al.
An English Language Excerpt (Abstract) of JP 61-205619, Transparent Electrically-Conductive Film Of Heat-Resistant Zinc Oxide, Japanese Appln. No. 60-46782 (Sep. 11, 1986).
Inoue Kazuyoshi
Kaijou Akira
Ohyama Masashi
Shibata Masatoshi
Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd.
Turner Archene
LandOfFree
Transparent electrically conductive layer, electrically conducti does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Transparent electrically conductive layer, electrically conducti, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Transparent electrically conductive layer, electrically conducti will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-761765