Patent ID: 6077569
Filing Date: 2000-06-20
Classification: B05D,B29C,C08J,C23C,G02B,Y10T

Abstract:
A method for depositing onto a plastic lens substrate an abrasion-resistant material and a dielectric material which comprises:(a) chemically cleaning the surface of said substrate to remove contaminants;(b) mounting said substrate in a deposition vacuum chamber and evacuating the air from said chamber;(c) etching the surface of said substrate with a material selected from the group consisting of energetic ions, reactive species and mixtures thereof to further remove residual contaminants, and to activate the surface;(d) plasma ion beam depositing using precursor gases onto the surface of said substrate an intermediate layer of said abrasion-resistant material consisting of carbon, hydrogen, silicon and oxygen by exposing said substrate to a deposition flux of carbon, hydrogen, silicon and oxygen and using a gridless ion source having a plasma chamber therein, wherein a plasma is generated in the plasma chamber and a gas stream containing at least a portion of said precursor gases is introduced outside of the ion source and into the plasma ion beam, and wherein said deposition flux is activated by said plasma and said substrate is bombarded by energetic ions during the deposition to coat said substrate;(e) depositing onto the abrasion-resistant coated substrate at least one layer of said dielectric material by bombarding said coated substrate with energetic atoms or said energetic ions or other energetic ions;(f) increasing the pressure in said vacuum chamber to atmospheric pressure; and(g) recovering a product coated with said abrasion-resistant material having the properties of Nanoindentation hardness in a range of about 2 to about 5 GPa, a strain to microcracking greater than 1.5% and less than 3.5%, and an abrasion resistance greater than or equal to the abrasion resistance of plate glass, and said dielectric material.