Exploring Mobile and Embedded Computer Solutions

Anti-Fingerprint Tablet Screen Coatings

Anti-Fingerprint 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. 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 AF (Anti-Fingerprint/Oleophobic) Coatings

Anti-Fingerprint Oleophobic Coating

Anti-Fingerprint and Oleophobic Coatings on screens are useful anywhere that a fingerprint or similar mark may impair the use of a screen. Though Estone Technology Tablets and Panel PCs are rugged, regular cleaning with harsh abrasives is not recommended, and it would be very inconvenient anyway. Because our rugged tablets are meant to be used in the field, we expect that they will become dirty and marred from time to time. To extend device life and make cleaning easier, we offer Anti-Fingerprint Tablet coatings and Anti-Fingerprint Panel PC coatings on many of our most rugged and medically certified devices. This helps ensure that they wipe clean easily without smearing.

Many Estone Tech tablets and Panel PCs offer Oleophobic Anti-Fingerprint coatings, including our rugged 10 “ MD-100, MR-100, MJ-100, and MJC-100 tablets, and our smaller and larger MJ-80 and MT-140 models.

What is Anti-Fingerprint Glass

Water Resistant Leaf

Water Resistance (Hydrophobic) seen in nature.

Anti-fingerprint coatings, also called oleophobic coatings, are today applied to all Smartphone and Tablet PC touch screens, improving usability and visibility while being used.  Anti-Fingerprint coating technology can help reduce the appearance and intrusiveness of fingerprints or oils on the screen, and many anti-fingerprint coatings are also hydrophobic (water resistant), and resistant to scratches and abrasions.

Anti-fingerprint Principle

Based on design structures seen in lotus leaves, anti-fingerprint coatings are nanometer thin layers covering the outer surface of a glass screen. On leaves, an arrangement of microscopic hairs reduces contact between the surface of the leaf and any dust or water that falls upon it, up to a 90% reduction in contact area. Because of the reduction, the natural surface tension of water causes it to bead up rather than spreading out. Screens treated with technology derived from this arrangement work the same way, staying bright and clean under use.

Like a lotus leaf or other object’s hydrophobic (water-resistant) coating, oleophobic (oil-resistant) coatings resist and shed fingerprints through surface tension. When liquids, including the oils found in fingerprints, rest on a glass surface, they tend to spread out flat, creating a dome-shaped puddle of liquid with a lot of surface area contact with the glass. This harms visibility, smudges easily, and is difficult to clean.

In anti-fingerprint or oil and water repellent coatings, the surface tension on the substrate is reduced by using novel perfluoropolyether (PFPE) molecules coating the glass or other substrate. Since PFPE has very low surface contact area, when it coats on substrate, it can greatly reduce the surface contact area of that substrate and thus make it hydrophobic and oleophobic.

Anti-Fingerprint Coating Process

The process for applying anti-fingerprint coating to a glass screen substrate may involve any of three methods; Vacuum Evaporation Coating, Vacuum Sputter Coating, and Spray coating.

Hydrophobic Oleophobic Tablet Screens

The science of AF (Anti-Fingerprint) Tablet Glass Coatings

In the process of Vacuum Evaporation Coating, under vacuum conditions at special temperatures, pressures, and electromagnetic conditions, a sliver of material can be vaporized and ionized via arc electricity discharge. If the conditions are correct, a plasma will form and react with specialized gasses pumped into the chamber. The resulting material will deposit on surfaces within the evaporation chamber, including the substrate glass. The deposited material will bond molecularly with the glass, making it extremely strong and damage resistant. The material can be tinted various shades by controlling the mixture of gases used to deposit the plasma.

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.

The third method by which Anti-Fingerprint materials are commonly applied to glass is Spray Coating. In the spray coating method, glass is carefully cleaned using a weak alkaline cleanser or solvent to remove any oils, dirt, or debris that could affect the coating process. Ultrasonic cleaning methods may also be employed and are sometime preferred. The glass or substrate is then carefully dried with air in a clean room environment, leaving glass clean, moisture free, and free of any debris. An AF (Anti-Fingerprint) coating or solvent can then be sprayed onto the substrate without issue and cured in a special clean room oven.

Anti-Fingerprint 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.

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