Patents by Inventor Lijie Bao

Lijie Bao has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20240076504
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with conductive structures such as conductive housing structures. A visible-light-reflecting coating may be formed on the conductive structures. The coating may have adhesion and transition layers, an opaque coloring layer on the adhesion and transition layers, and a three-layer thin-film interference filter on the opaque coloring layer. The three-layer thin-film interference filter may have an uppermost SiC layer, a lowermost SiCrCN layer, and a CrC layer interposed between the SiC layer and the SiCrCN layer. The opaque color layer may be a CrSiCN layer. The coating may exhibit a light violet color that has a relatively uniform visual response even when the underlying conductive structures have a three-dimensional shape.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2023
    Publication date: March 7, 2024
    Inventors: Lijie Bao, Brian S. Tryon, Jozef M. Matlak, Shinjita Acharya
  • Publication number: 20240027654
    Abstract: An electronic device can include a housing, a display positioned within the housing; and a cover glass disposed over the display and attached to the housing. The cover glass can include a glass sheet; a hard coat layer disposed on the glass sheet, having a hardness greater than a hardness of the glass sheet; and a gradient layer deposited on the hard coat layer and having a composition that transitions from a first composition at the hard coat layer to a second composition at a top surface of the gradient layer. The first composition can be predominantly a composition of the hard coat layer and the second composition is different than the first composition. The second composition can be predominantly SiO2. The hard coat layer can include SiON. The cover glass can include an intermediate gradient layer disposed between the glass sheet and the hard coat layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2023
    Publication date: January 25, 2024
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Lijie Bao, Que Anh S. Nguyen, Tyler R. Roschuk, Ralf Hofmann, Matthew S. Rogers
  • Patent number: 11739425
    Abstract: An electronic device may include conductive structures having a visible-light-reflecting coating. The coating may include a seed layer, transition layers, a neutral-color base layer, and an uppermost layer that forms a single-layer interference film. The neutral-color base layer may be opaque to visible light. The interference film may include silicon and may have an absorption coefficient between 0 and 1. The interference film may include, for example, CrSiN or CrSiCN. The composition of the interference film, the thickness of the interference film, and/or the composition of the base layer may be selected to provide the coating with a desired color near the middle of the visible spectrum (e.g., at green wavelengths). The color may be relatively stable even if the thickness of the coating varies across its area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Brian S. Tryon, Lijie Bao, Martin Melcher, Sonja R. Postak
  • Patent number: 11719865
    Abstract: An electronic device may include conductive structures having a visible-light-reflecting coating. The coating may include a seed layer, transition layers, a neutral-color base layer, and an uppermost layer that forms a single-layer interference film. The neutral-color base layer may be opaque to visible light. The interference film may include silicon and may have an absorption coefficient between 0 and 1. The interference film may include, for example, CrSiCN or CrSiC. The composition of the interference film, the thickness of the interference film, and/or the composition of the base layer may be selected to provide the coating with a desired color in the visible spectrum (e.g., at blue or purple wavelengths). The color may be relatively stable even if the thickness of the coating varies across its area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Brian S. Tryon, Lijie Bao, Martin Melcher, Sonja R. Postak
  • Publication number: 20220350062
    Abstract: An electronic device may include conductive structures with a light-reflecting coating. The coating may have a two or four-layer thin-film interference filter. The two-layer filter may have a CrN layer and an SiCrN layer. The four-layer filter may have two CrN layers and two SiCrN layers. The two-layer filter may be used to coat relatively small conductive components. The four-layer filter may be used to coat a conductive housing sidewall. Both types of interference filter may produce a relatively uniform light blue color despite variations in coating thickness produced on account of the geometry of the underlying conductive structure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2021
    Publication date: November 3, 2022
    Inventors: Lijie Bao, Jiayun Liu, Fei Tong, Jozef M. Matlak, Sonja R. Postak, Brian S. Tryon
  • Publication number: 20220066397
    Abstract: An electronic device may include conductive structures such as conductive housing structures. A high-brightness, visible-light-reflecting coating may be formed on the conductive structures. The coating may have adhesion and transition layers and an uppermost coloring layer on the adhesion and transition layers. At least the uppermost coloring layer may be deposited using a high impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) process. The uppermost coloring layer may include a TiCrN film, a TiCrCN film, a TiCN film, or a metal nitride film that contains Ti, Zr, Hf, or Cr. The coating may exhibit a high-brightness gold color.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2021
    Publication date: March 3, 2022
    Inventors: Jozef M. Matlak, Brian S. Tryon, Lijie Bao, Maruwada Sukanya Sharma, Shiva K. Mandepudi, Sonja R. Postak
  • Publication number: 20210388507
    Abstract: An electronic device such as a wristwatch may include a conductive housing. A corrosion-resistant coating may be deposited on the conductive housing. The coating may include transition layers and an uppermost alloy layer. The transition layers may include a chromium seed layer on the conductive housing and a chromium nitride layer on the chromium seed layer. The uppermost alloy layer may include TiCrCN or other alloys and may provide the coating with desired optical reflection and absorption characteristics. The transition layers may include a minimal number of coating defects, thereby eliminating potential sites at which visible defects could form when exposed to salt water. This may allow the electronic device to exhibit a desired color and to be submerged in salt water without producing undesirable visible defects on the conductive housing structures.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2021
    Publication date: December 16, 2021
    Inventors: Brian S. Tryon, Isabel Yang, Todd Mintz, Jeremy Li, Brian Gable, Lijie Bao, Yi Chen, Christopher D. Prest, James Yurko
  • Patent number: 11136672
    Abstract: An electronic device such as a wristwatch may include a conductive housing. A corrosion-resistant coating may be deposited on the conductive housing. The coating may include transition layers and an uppermost alloy layer. The transition layers may include a chromium seed layer on the conductive housing and a chromium nitride layer on the chromium seed layer. The uppermost alloy layer may include TiCrCN or other alloys and may provide the coating with desired optical reflection and absorption characteristics. The transition layers may include a minimal number of coating defects, thereby eliminating potential sites at which visible defects could form when exposed to salt water. This may allow the electronic device to exhibit a desired color and to be submerged in salt water without producing undesirable visible defects on the conductive housing structures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Brian S. Tryon, Isabel Yang, Todd Mintz, Jeremy Li, Brian Gable, Lijie Bao, Yi Chen, Christopher D. Prest, James Yurko
  • Publication number: 20210286112
    Abstract: An electronic device may include conductive structures having a visible-light-reflecting coating. The coating may include a seed layer, transition layers, a neutral-color base layer, and an uppermost layer that forms a single-layer interference film. The neutral-color base layer may be opaque to visible light. The interference film may include silicon and may have an absorption coefficient between 0 and 1. The interference film may include, for example, CrSiCN or CrSiC. The composition of the interference film, the thickness of the interference film, and/or the composition of the base layer may be selected to provide the coating with a desired color in the visible spectrum (e.g., at blue or purple wavelengths). The color may be relatively stable even if the thickness of the coating varies across its area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 16, 2021
    Publication date: September 16, 2021
    Inventors: Brian S. Tryon, Lijie Bao, Martin Melcher, Sonja R. Postak
  • Publication number: 20210048565
    Abstract: An electronic device may include conductive structures having a visible-light-reflecting coating. The coating may include a seed layer, transition layers, a neutral-color base layer, and an uppermost layer that forms a single-layer interference film. The neutral-color base layer may be opaque to visible light. The interference film may include silicon and may have an absorption coefficient between 0 and 1. The interference film may include, for example, CrSiN or CrSiCN. The composition of the interference film, the thickness of the interference film, and/or the composition of the base layer may be selected to provide the coating with a desired color near the middle of the visible spectrum (e.g., at green wavelengths). The color may be relatively stable even if the thickness of the coating varies across its area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 17, 2020
    Publication date: February 18, 2021
    Inventors: Brian S. Tryon, Lijie Bao, Martin Melcher, Sonja R. Postak
  • Publication number: 20200071838
    Abstract: An electronic device such as a wristwatch may include a conductive housing. A corrosion-resistant coating may be deposited on the conductive housing. The coating may include transition layers and an uppermost alloy layer. The transition layers may include a chromium seed layer on the conductive housing and a chromium nitride layer on the chromium seed layer. The uppermost alloy layer may include TiCrCN or other alloys and may provide the coating with desired optical reflection and absorption characteristics. The transition layers may include a minimal number of coating defects, thereby eliminating potential sites at which visible defects could form when exposed to salt water. This may allow the electronic device to exhibit a desired color and to be submerged in salt water without producing undesirable visible defects on the conductive housing structures.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2019
    Publication date: March 5, 2020
    Inventors: Brian S. Tryon, Isabel Yang, Todd Mintz, Jeremy Li, Brian Gable, Lijie Bao, Yi Chen, Christopher D. Prest, James Yurko
  • Patent number: 7981741
    Abstract: Deposited thin-film dielectrics having columnar grains and high dielectric constants are formed on heat treated and polished metal foil. The sputtered dielectrics are annealed at low oxygen partial pressures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2011
    Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
    Inventors: Lijie Bao, Zhigang Rick Li, Damien Reardon, James F. Ryley, Cengiz A. Palanduz
  • Publication number: 20090035913
    Abstract: Deposited thin-film dielectrics having columnar grains and high dielectric constants are formed on heat treated and polished metal foil. The sputtered dielectrics are annealed at low oxygen partial pressures.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 2, 2007
    Publication date: February 5, 2009
    Applicant: E.I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY
    Inventors: Lijie Bao, Zhigang Rick Li, Damien F. Reardon, James F. Ryley, Cengiz Ahmet Palanduz