Patents by Inventor Zhi WEN

Zhi WEN 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).

  • Patent number: 9518319
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and apparatus for forming low emissivity panels. A first dielectric layer is disposed over a substrate and includes a bi-metal oxide having tin and bismuth or niobium. A seed layer is disposed directly on the first dielectric layer. A reflective layer including silver is disposed directly on the seed layer. A barrier layer is disposed above the reflective layer. The barrier layer includes one of a nickel chromium titanium aluminum alloy or a nickel chromium titanium aluminum oxide. The nickel chromium titanium aluminum alloy or the nickel chromium titanium aluminum oxide includes between about 5% and about 10% by weight nickel, between about 25% and about 30% by weight chromium, between about 30% and about 35% by weight titanium, and between about 30% and about 35% by weight aluminum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2016
    Assignees: Intermolecular, Inc., Guardian Industries Corp.
    Inventors: Guowen Ding, Jeremy Cheng, Tong Ju, Minh Huu Le, Daniel Schweigert, Zhi-Wen Sun, Yongli Xu, Guizhen Zhang
  • Patent number: 9496429
    Abstract: Systems and methods for fabricating a photovoltaic structure are provided. During fabrication, a patterned mask is formed on a first surface of a multilayer body of the photovoltaic structure, with openings of the mask corresponding to grid line locations of a first grid. Subsequently, a core layer of the first grid is deposited in the openings of the patterned mask, and a protective layer is deposited on an exposed surface of the core layer. The patterned mask is then removed to expose the sidewalls of the core layer. Heat is applied to the protective layer such that the protective layer reflows to cover both the exposed surface and sidewalls of the core layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: SolarCity Corporation
    Inventors: Christoph G. Erben, Zhi-Wen Sun
  • Patent number: 9448345
    Abstract: A method for making low emissivity panels, including control the composition of a barrier layer formed on a thin conductive silver layer. The barrier structure can include an alloy of a first element having high oxygen affinity with a second element having low oxygen affinity. The first element can include Ta, Nb, Zr, Hf, Mn, Y, Si, and Ti, and the second element can include Ru, Ni, Co, Mo, and W, which can have low oxygen affinity property. The alloy barrier layer can reduce optical absorption in the visible range, can provide color-neutral product, and can improve adhesion to the silver layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignees: Intermolecular, Inc., Guardian Industries Corp.
    Inventors: Mohd Fadzli Anwar Hassan, Brent Boyce, Guowen Ding, Minh Huu Le, Zhi-Wen Wen Sun, Yu Wang, Yongli Xu
  • Patent number: 9441119
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention generally relate to methods and compositions for forming conformal coatings on textured substrates. More specifically, embodiments of the invention generally relate to sol-gel processes and sol-gel compositions for forming low refractive index conformal coatings on textured transparent substrates. In one embodiment a method of forming a conformal coating on a textured glass substrate is provided. The method comprises coating the textured glass substrate with a sol-gel composition comprising a solidifier. It is believed that use of the solidifier expedites the sol-gel transition point of the sol-gel composition leading to more conformal deposition of coatings on textured substrates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: Intermolecular, Inc.
    Inventors: Nikhil D. Kalyankar, Nitin Kumar, Zhi-Wen Sun
  • Patent number: 9431569
    Abstract: Embodiments provided herein describe methods for forming cadmium-manganese-telluride (CMT), such as for use in photovoltaic devices. A substrate including a material with a zinc blend crystalline structure is provided. CMT is formed above the substrate. During the formation of the CMT, cation-rich processing conditions are maintained. The resulting CMT may be more readily provided with p-type dopants when compared to conventionally-formed CMT.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2016
    Assignee: First Solar, Inc.
    Inventors: Sergey Barabash, Amir Bayati, Dipankar Pramanik, Zhi-Wen Sun
  • Patent number: 9405046
    Abstract: Embodiments provided herein describe low-e panels and methods for forming low-e panels. A transparent substrate is provided. A reflective layer is formed above the transparent substrate. An over-coating layer is formed above the reflective layer. The over-coating layer includes first, second, and third sub-layers. The second sub-layer is between the first and third sub-layers, and the first and third sub-layers include the same material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: Intermolecular, Inc.
    Inventors: Guowen Ding, Jeremy Cheng, Minh Huu Le, Daniel Schweigert, Zhi-Wen Sun, Guizhen Zhang
  • Patent number: 9408303
    Abstract: Coated articles are disclosed. The coated articles include a doped or alloyed silver layer sandwiched between two layers of transparent conductive oxide such as indium tin oxide (ITO). The doped silver or silver alloy layer can be thin, such as between 1. 5 to 20 nm and thus can be transparent. The doped silver or silver alloy can provide improved ductility property, allowing the conductive stack to be bendable. The transparent conductive oxide layers can also be thin, allowing the conductive stack can have improved ductility property.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: Intermolecular, Inc.
    Inventors: Mohd Fadzli Anwar Hassan, Guowen Ding, Minh Huu Le, Minh Anh Nguyen, Zhi-Wen Sun, Guizhen Zhang
  • Publication number: 20160197420
    Abstract: A power adapter comprises a cover and a printed circuit board module received in the cover. The cover has a base and an upper cover covering the base, the base has a bottom wall and a plurality of side walls surrounding the bottom wall, the bottom wall and the side walls form a receiving space for receiving the printed circuit board module. The cover has a plurality of latching members at the top of the side wall, the latching members are on both ends of the cover, the latching members are defined above the upper cover and extend to each other. The side walls comprise a first side wall with a rotatablely movable block, the latching member is defined at the top of the movable block, the latching member moves outward with the movable block rotating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 5, 2016
    Publication date: July 7, 2016
    Inventors: ZHI-WEN ZHU, LING-JIE MENG, QI-SHENG ZHENG, CHUN-MING YU
  • Patent number: 9365450
    Abstract: Low emissivity coated panels can be fabricated using a base layer having a low refractive index layer on a high refractive index layer. The low refractive index layer can have refractive index less than 1.5, and can include MgF2, CaF2, SiO2, or BO. The high refractive index layer can have refractive index greater than 2.3, and can include TiOx, NbOx, or BiOx. The multilayer base structure can allow color tuning with enhanced transmission, for example, as compared to similar structures having single layer base layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2016
    Assignees: Intermolecular, Inc., Guardian Industries, Corp.
    Inventors: Guowen Ding, Brent Boyce, Muhammad Imran, Minh Huu Le, Zhi-Wen Sun, Yu Wang, Yongli Xu
  • Patent number: 9321676
    Abstract: A bi-layer seed layer can exhibit good seed property for an infrared reflective layer, together with improved thermal stability. The bi-layer seed layer can include a thin zinc oxide layer having a desired crystallographic orientation for a silver infrared reflective layer disposed on a bottom layer having a desired thermal stability. The thermal stable layer can include aluminum, magnesium, or bismuth doped tin oxide (AlSnO, MgSnO, or BiSnO), which can have better thermal stability than zinc oxide but poorer lattice matching for serving as a seed layer template for silver (111).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2016
    Assignee: Intermolecular, Inc.
    Inventors: Mohd Fadzli Anwar Hassan, Brent Boyce, Guowen Ding, Muhammad Imran, Minh Huu Le, Zhi-Wen Wen Sun, Yu Wang, Yongli Xu
  • Patent number: 9315414
    Abstract: Embodiments provided herein describe a low-e panel and a method for forming a low-e panel. A transparent substrate is provided. A metal oxide layer is formed over the transparent substrate. The metal oxide layer includes a first element, a second element, and a third element. A reflective layer is formed over the transparent substrate. The first element may include tin or zinc. The second element and the third element may each include tin, zinc, antimony, silicon, strontium, titanium, niobium, zirconium, magnesium, aluminum, yttrium, lanthanum, hafnium, or bismuth. The metal oxide layer may also include nitrogen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignees: Intermolecular, Inc., Guardian Industries Corp.
    Inventors: Mohd Fadzli Anwar Hassan, Richard Blacker, Guowen Ding, Jingyu Lao, Minh Huu Le, Yiwei Lu, Minh Anh Nguyen, Zhi-Wen Sun
  • Patent number: 9296651
    Abstract: A transparent dielectric composition comprising tin, oxygen and one of aluminum or magnesium with preferably higher than 15% by weight of aluminum or magnesium offers improved thermal stability over tin oxide with respect to appearance and optical properties under high temperature processes. For example, upon a heat treatment at temperatures higher than 500 C, changes in color and index of refraction of the present transparent dielectric composition are noticeably less than those of tin oxide films of comparable thickness. The transparent dielectric composition can be used in high transmittance, low emissivity coated panels, providing thermal stability so that there are no significant changes in the coating optical and structural properties, such as visible transmission, IR reflectance, microscopic morphological properties, color appearance, and haze characteristics, of the as-coated and heated treated products.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2016
    Assignees: Intermolecular, Inc., Guardian Industries Corp.
    Inventors: Mohd Fadzli Anwar Hassan, Richard Blacker, Guowen Ding, Muhammad Imran, Jingyu Lao, Minh Huu Le, Yiwei Lu, Zhi-Wen Wen Sun
  • Patent number: 9297938
    Abstract: A method for making low emissivity panels, comprising forming a patterned layer on a transparent substrate. The patterned layers can offer different color schemes or different decorative appearance styles for the coated panels, or can offer gradable thermal efficiency through the patterned layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2016
    Assignees: Intermolecular, Inc., Guardian Industries Corp.
    Inventors: Minh Huu Le, Brent Boyce, Guowen Ding, Mohd Fadzli Anwar Hassan, Zhi-Wen Wen Sun
  • Publication number: 20150327366
    Abstract: Methods for making conducting stacks includes forming a doped or alloyed silver layer sandwiched between two layers of transparent conductive oxide such as indium tin oxide (ITO). The doped silver or silver alloy layer can be thin, such as between 1.5 to 20 nm and thus can be transparent. The doped silver or silver alloy can provide improved ductility property, allowing the conductive stack to be bendable. The transparent conductive oxide layers can also be thin, allowing the conductive stack can have improved ductility property.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2015
    Publication date: November 12, 2015
    Inventors: Mohd Fadzli Anwar Hassan, Guowen Ding, Minh Huu Le, Minh Anh Anh Nguyen, Zhi-Wen Wen Sun, Guizhen Zhang
  • Patent number: 9178145
    Abstract: Resistive switching memory elements are provided that may contain electroless metal electrodes and metal oxides formed from electroless metal. The resistive switching memory elements may exhibit bistability and may be used in high-density multi-layer memory integrated circuits. Electroless conductive materials such as nickel-based materials may be selectively deposited on a conductor on a silicon wafer or other suitable substrate. The electroless conductive materials can be oxidized to form a metal oxide for a resistive switching memory element. Multiple layers of conductive materials can be deposited each of which has a different oxidation rate. The differential oxidization rates of the conductive layers can be exploited to ensure that metal oxide layers of desired thicknesses are formed during fabrication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: Intermolecular, Inc.
    Inventors: Nitin Kumar, Tony P. Chiang, Chi-I Lang, Zhi-Wen Wen Sun, Jinhong Tong
  • Patent number: 9121100
    Abstract: Methods for making conducting stacks includes forming a doped or alloyed silver layer sandwiched between two layers of transparent conductive oxide such as indium tin oxide (ITO). The doped silver or silver alloy layer can be thin, such as between 1.5 to 20 nm and thus can be transparent. The doped silver or silver alloy can provide improved ductility property, allowing the conductive stack to be bendable. The transparent conductive oxide layers can also be thin, allowing the conductive stack to have an improved ductility property.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: Intermolecular, Inc.
    Inventors: Mohd Fadzli Anwar Hassan, Guowen Ding, Minh Huu Le, Minh Anh Anh Nguyen, Zhi-Wen Wen Sun, Guizhen Zhang
  • Publication number: 20150232378
    Abstract: Embodiments provided herein describe a low-e panel and a method for forming a low-e panel. A transparent substrate is provided. A metal oxide layer is formed over the transparent substrate. The metal oxide layer includes a first element, a second element, and a third element. A reflective layer is formed over the transparent substrate. The first element may include tin or zinc. The second element and the third element may each include tin, zinc, antimony, silicon, strontium, titanium, niobium, zirconium, magnesium, aluminum, yttrium, lanthanum, hafnium, or bismuth. The metal oxide layer may also include nitrogen.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2015
    Publication date: August 20, 2015
    Inventors: Mohd Fadzli Anwar Hassan, Richard Blacker, Guowen Ding, Jingyu Lao, Minh Huu Le, Yiwei Lu, Minh Anh Anh Nguyen, Zhi-Wen Wen Sun
  • Publication number: 20150232376
    Abstract: A bi-layer seed layer can exhibit good seed property for an infrared reflective layer, together with improved thermal stability. The bi-layer seed layer can include a thin zinc oxide layer having a desired crystallographic orientation for a silver infrared reflective layer disposed on a bottom layer having a desired thermal stability. The thermal stable layer can include aluminum, magnesium, or bismuth doped tin oxide (AlSnO, MgSnO, or BiSnO), which can have better thermal stability than zinc oxide but poorer lattice matching for serving as a seed layer template for silver (111).
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 1, 2015
    Publication date: August 20, 2015
    Inventors: Mohd Fadzli Anwar Hassan, Brent Boyce, Guowen Ding, Muhammad Imran, Minh Huu Le, Zhi-Wen Wen Sun, Yu Wang, Yongli Xu
  • Patent number: 9109121
    Abstract: Methods and compositions for forming porous low refractive index coatings on substrates are provided. The method comprises coating a substrate with a sol-formulation comprising silica based nanoparticles and an alkyltrialkoxysilane based binder. Use of the alkyltrialkoxysilane based binder results in a porous low refractive index coating having bimodal pore distribution including mesopores formed from particle packing and micropores formed from the burning off of organics including the alkyl chain covalently bonded to the silicon. The mass ratio of binder to particles may vary from 0.1 to 20. Porous coatings formed according to the embodiments described herein demonstrate good optical properties (e.g. a low refractive index) while maintaining good mechanical durability due to the presence of a high amount of binder and a close pore structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2015
    Assignees: Intermolecular, Inc., Guardian Industries Corporation
    Inventors: Nikhil D. Kalyankar, Zhi-Wen Sun, Jeroen Van Duren, Mark Lewis, Liang Liang
  • Patent number: 9099582
    Abstract: The present disclosure includes a texture formulation that includes an aliphatic diol, an alkaline compound and water which provides a consistent textured region across a silicon surface suitable for solar cell applications. The current invention describes silicon texturing formulations that include at least one high boiling point additive. The high boiling point additive may be a derivative compound of propylene glycol or a derivative compound of ethylene glycol. Processes for texturing a crystalline silicon substrate using these formulations are also described. Additionally, a combinatorial method of optimizing the textured surface of a crystalline silicon substrate is described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: Intermolecular, Inc.
    Inventors: Zhi-Wen Sun, Nikhil Kalyankar, Nitin Kumar, Minh Anh Nguyen, Sagar Vijay