Multilayer plastic substrates

Abstract

A multilayer plastic substrate. The substrate comprises a plurality of thin film layers of at least one polymer, the plurality of thin film layers being adjacent to one another and having sufficient strength to be self-supporting, wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has an average visible light transmittance of greater than about 80%.

1. A multilayer plastic substrate consisting essentially of:
 a plurality of flash evaporated thin film layers of at least one polymer, the plurality of thin film layers being adjacent to one another and having sufficient strength to be self-supporting, wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has an average visible light transmittance of greater than about 80%, wherein the multilayer plastic substrate comprises at least about 50 thin film layers, and wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has a surface roughness of less than about 10 nm.  
 
     
     
       2. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1  wherein the average visible light transmittance is greater than about 85%. 
     
     
       3. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1  wherein the average visible light transmittance is greater than about 90%. 
     
     
       4. The multi layer plastic substrate of  claim 1  wherein the peak visible light transmittance is greater than about 85%. 
     
     
       5. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1  wherein the peak visible light transmittance is greater than about 90%. 
     
     
       6. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate comprises at least about 100 thin film layers. 
     
     
       7. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 6 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate comprises at least about 500 thin film layers. 
     
     
       8. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 7 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate comprises at least about 1000 thin film layers. 
     
     
       9. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate is at least about 0.001 inches thick. 
     
     
       10. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate is at least about 0.004 inches thick. 
     
     
       11. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein each thin film layer is less than about 50 μm thick. 
     
     
       12. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein each thin film layer is less than about 5 μm thick. 
     
     
       13. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein each thin film layer is in the range of about 0.05 to about 2 μm thick. 
     
     
       14. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein each thin film layer is in the range of about 0.2 to about 0.3 μm. 
     
     
       15. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one polymer is selected from (meth)acrylates, polystyrenes, methyl styrene-containing polymers, fluorinated polymers, polycarbonates, polysulfones, polyethersulfones, polyimides, polyamides, and polyether naphthalenes, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
       16. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein the glass transition temperature of the at least one polymer is greater than about 150° C. 
     
     
       17. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein the glass transition temperature of the at least one polymer is greater than about 200° C. 
     
     
       18. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has a surface roughness of less than about 2 nm. 
     
     
       19. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has a refractive index of greater than about 1.5. 
     
     
       20. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has a refractive index of greater than about 1.4. 
     
     
       21. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate is flexible. 
     
     
       22. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate is rigid. 
     
     
       23. The multilayer plastic substrate of  claim 1 , wherein the multilayer plastic substrate has a surface roughness of less than about 5 nm.