Soil-resistant coating for glass surfaces

Abstract

A glass article which has a water-sheeting coating. In one embodiment, a glass sheet is provided bearing a sputtered water-sheeting coating comprising silica on an exterior surface and bearing a reflective coating on an interior surface. The interior surface of a sheet of glass can be coated with a reflective coating by sputtering, in sequence, at least one dielectric layer, at least one metal layer, and at least one dielectric layer. The exterior surface of the glass can be coated with a water-sheeting coating by sputtering silica directly onto the exterior surface of the sheet of glass. Both the reflective coating and the water-sheeting coating can optionally be applied during the same pass through the same sputter coating apparatus.

1 . A method of rendering a surface of a pane of glass resistant to soiling and staining, comprising: 
 providing a sheet of glass having a clean interior surface and a clean exterior surface;    coating the interior surface of the sheet of glass with a reflective coating by sputtering, in sequence, at least one first dielectric layer, at least one metal layer, and at least one second dielectric layer;    coating the exterior surface of the glass with a water-sheeting coating by sputtering silica directly onto the exterior surface of the sheet of glass.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the layer of silica is sputtered onto the exterior surface of the glass by sputtering a silicon target in an oxygen-containing sputtering chamber.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the sheet of glass is passed through a series of sputtering chambers retaining a corresponding series of sputtering targets spaced outwardly from the interior surface of the sheet of glass, the first dielectric layer being applied in a first of the sputtering chambers, the metal layer being applied in a second of the sputtering chambers and the second dielectric layer being applied in a third of the sputtering chambers.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein one of the first and third sputtering chambers includes a silicon-containing target spaced outwardly from the exterior surface of the sheet of glass, the water-sheeting coating being applied by sputtering the silicon-containing target in the same sputtering chamber in which one of the dielectric layers is applied.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the sputtering chamber within which the silicon-containing target is retained is provided with an oxidizing sputtering atmosphere.