The improvement of all-solid-state electrochromic devices fabricated with the reactive sputter and cathodic arc technology

Abstract

The all-solid-state electrochromic device (ECD) with the one substrate structure fabricated by the reactive dc magnetron sputtering (DCMS) and cathodic vacuum arc plasma (CVAP) technology has been developed for smart electrochromic (EC) glass application. The EC layer and ion conductor layer were deposited by reactive DCMS and CVAP technology, respectively. The ion conductor layer Ta2O5 deposited by the CVAP technology has provided the better porous material structure for ion transportation and showed 1.76 times ion conductivity than devices with all sputtering process. At the same time, the EC layer WO3 and NiO deposited by the reactive DCMS have also provided the high quality and uniform characteristic to overcome the surface roughness effect of the CVAP ion conductor layer in multilayer device structure. The all-solid-state ECD with the CVAP ion conductor layer has demonstrated a maximum transmittance variation (ΔT) of 55% at 550nm and a faster-switching speed. Furthermore, the lower equipment cost and higher deposition rate could be achieved by the application of CVAP technology.