Patent ID: 7534466

Claim:
A method for depositing sequenced coatings on opposite sides of a sheet-like substrate, each of the coatings including a shared sequence of film regions and yet being different coatings from each other, the method comprising: a) providing a coater having downward coating equipment, upward coating equipment, and a substrate support defining a path of substrate travel extending through the coater, the downward coating equipment being mounted above the path of substrate travel, and the upward coating equipment being mounted below the path of substrate travel; b) conveying a glass sheet along the path of substrate travel in a generally horizontal orientation wherein a top major surface of the glass sheet is oriented upwardly and a bottom major surface of the glass sheet is oriented downwardly; c) operating the downward coating equipment to deposit upon the top major surface of the glass sheet a first coating having a structure that comprises the shared sequence of film regions and is characterized by, moving away from the top major surface of the glass sheet, a first film region comprising a first film material and a second film region comprising a second film material; and d) operating the upward coating equipment to deposit upon the bottom major surface of the glass sheet a second coating having a structure that is different from the structure of the first coating in that one or both of the first and second coatings includes at least one film region in addition to those film regions that are part of the shared sequence, the structure of the second coating comprising the shared sequence of film regions and being characterized by, moving away from the bottom major surface of the glass sheet, a primary film region comprising said first film material and a secondary film region comprising said second film material; wherein the first film region of the first coating and the primary film region of the second coating are deposited simultaneously in a shared chamber of the coater, and the second film region of the first coating and the secondary film region of the second coating are deposited simultaneously in a shared chamber of the coater.