Anti-Reflective (AR) Tablet Screen Coatings

Delivering the very best in rugged, adaptable tablets is our goal. To do that, we leverage the best technologies, including glass coatings that optimize performance.

Delivering the very best in rugged, adaptable tablets is our goal. To do that, we leverage the best technologies, including glass coatings that optimize performance. Below, learn more about the tablet glass coating technologies that go into every Estone Tech tablet and panel device – to make sure our technology works for you. We want to offer the most durable tablets around, and it all starts with durable, functional tablet glass.

Why We Offer Anti-Reflective Coatings

Anti-Reflective (AR) coating on tablet screenFor sensitive jobs, picture clarity is a must. Estone Technology offers tablets for jobs as specialized as radiology reading, with DICOM 3.14 certified screens. While glare is mostly a product of outdoor or other bright, direct lighting, reflections can occur anywhere, limiting visibility, clarity, and readability. Anti-Reflective Coatings improve visibility in all lighting conditions and are essential to some uses.

What is Anti-Reflective Glass

As opposed to glare reduction, Anti-Reflective coatings work in a different way, on both internal and external sources of light. As light passes through the various layers of a modern touchscreen display, some of it is reflected, both from the inside and the outside, creating a “washed-out” look that requires additional screen brightness to overcome. Quality Anti-Reflective treatments can increase glass light transmission to well over 99%. Reflection rates of as little as 2% can begin to affect image clarity, so light transmission makes a big difference.

Principles of Anti-Reflective Glass Coatings

Anti-Reflective (AR) Screen CoatingsWhen light is passes through a standard pane of glass, a portion of the light will be reflected back and the light will experience what is termed a “half-wave” loss. Half of the wave is reflected back the direction it came. As light passes through multiple layers of a screen, this loss grows. The light reflected by the coated surface exactly matches this half-wave loss, effectively cancelling out any reflections from either side of the glass.

The Anti-Reflective Coating can be single-layer or multi-layer, though single layer solutions are the most simple and cost effective. Ideally, a coating layer will be 1/4 the thickness of a light wavelength, so that it effectively doubles to ½ as light passes through, and this may be difficult to achieve with single layers. When light loss of less than 1% due to reflection is required, a multi-layer anti-reflective coating is necessary. These coatings are often termed BBARs (Broadband Anti-Reflectives), as they work across a broad light spectrum.

Anti-Reflective Glass Coating Process

The process for applying anti-reflective coating to a glass screen substrate may be added by three different processes; Vacuum Sputter Coating, Vapor Deposition, and Spray coating.

As previously discussed, the process of Vacuum Sputter Coating typically involves a cathode and anode deposit process, using electromagnetic energy to direct ions of a particular gas into a target surface. The ions impact the surface (often gold) in a uniform layer, in a process known as “Sputtering”. The omni-directional deposit is useful for laying down nanometer thin layers of a particular coating material.

Chemical vapor deposition is a chemical technology that mainly uses one or several gas compounds to form a micro-thin film of material on the surface of glass or a substrate. Materials are generally exposed to the gasses in a clean environment under specific atmospheric circumstances, causing the gas to build up on the surface.

The Anti-Reflective Spray Coating process works similarly as to the Anti-Fingerprint Spray Coating process. The glass or substrate will be carefully cleaned before a coating is sprayed onto the surface, and cured and tempered in an oven.

Anti-Reflective Coating Method

Almost any electronic screen used in any environment may benefit from an anti-reflective (AR) coating – especially televisions, monitors, public information displays, instrumentation, imaging products, and medical tools. Anti-Reflective coatings are often used in touchscreens and other types of displays whether they’ll be exposed to intense light sources or not.

Anti-Reflective coatings are available on most Estone Tech tablet and panel PCs including the MD-100, MR-100, MJ-100, MJC-100, MJ-80, and MT-140 models.