Patent ID: 7754106

Claim:
A process for producing a conductive coating, comprising the following steps: (a) flash evaporating a release material in a vacuum chamber to produce a vapor, said release material being selected from the group consisting of polyethylene oligomers, poly(-methylstyrene) oligomers, polycycloaliphatic oligomers, fluorocarbon oligomers, and silicone-based oligomer; (b) cryocondensing the vapor to produce a solid film of said release material having a thickness not greater than 1 micron; (c) sputtering or reactive electron-beam depositing indium tin oxide (ITO) to form a layer thereof on said film of release material; wherein said steps (a)-(c) are carried out continuously in said vacuum chamber to form a multi-layer structure of at least 1,000 layers of said ITO; (d) crushing said layers of ITO to produce conductive flakes; (e) isolating said conductive flakes from the release material; and (f) dispersing the conductive flakes produced in step (e) in a binder to produce a conductive coating having the following composition: about 25% by weight ITO, about 45% by weight polyurethane, and about 30% by weight ethyl acetate.