Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Electronic devices with sapphire-coated substrates
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Application No.: US15042453Application Date: 2016-02-12
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Publication No.: US09843014B2Publication Date: 2017-12-12
- Inventor: Tingjun Xu , Xianwei Zhao , Wookyung Bae , Sunggu Kang , John Z. Zhong
- Applicant: Apple Inc.
- Applicant Address: US CA Cupertino
- Assignee: Apple Inc.
- Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
- Current Assignee Address: US CA Cupertino
- Agency: Treyz Law Group, P.C.
- Agent Kendall W. Abbasi
- Main IPC: B05D5/12
- IPC: B05D5/12 ; H01L51/52 ; C23C14/08 ; C23C14/58 ; G02F1/1333

Abstract:
An electronic device may have a display that is protected by a transparent cover layer. The transparent cover layer may include a laser-annealed sapphire coating on the outer surface of a glass substrate or other transparent substrate. The sapphire coating may provide the display with a hard, scratch-resistant outer surface. The sapphire coating may be formed by coating a glass substrate with a thin film of amorphous aluminum oxide. The aluminum oxide thin film may be locally heated to transform the amorphous aluminum oxide into alpha-phase aluminum oxide (sapphire). Local heating may be achieved by laser annealing the aluminum oxide coating with a carbon dioxide laser. The laser may produce laser light having a wavelength that is absorbed in the aluminum oxide coating without being absorbed by the glass substrate so that the glass substrate is not damaged during the laser annealing process.
Public/Granted literature
- US20160248051A1 Electronic Devices with Sapphire-Coated Substrates Public/Granted day:2016-08-25
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