Method of forming a decorative surface on a micromechanical timepiece part and said micromechanical timepiece part

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10162310-B2
Application number	US-201615234123-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 11, 2016
Priority date	Sep 8, 2015
Publication date	Dec 25, 2018
Grant date	Dec 25, 2018

Abstract

A method of forming a decorative surface on a micromechanical timepiece part including a silicon-based substrate, including at least one step a) of forming pores (2) on the surface of the silicon-based substrate over a zone of the silicon-based substrate which corresponds to the decorative surface to be formed, the pores being designed to open out at the external surface of the micromechanical timepiece part. A micromechanical timepiece part including a silicon-based substrate, and having, over at least one zone of the silicon-based substrate, pores which are formed in the zone of the silicon-based substrate and open out at the external surface of the micromechanical timepiece part in order to form a decorative surface over the zone.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a decorative surface on a micromechanical timepiece part including a silicon-based substrate, said method comprising:
forming pores on the surface of said silicon-based substrate over a zone of the silicon-based substrate which corresponds to the decorative surface to be formed, said pores being designed to open out at an external surface of the micromechanical timepiece part,
wherein said pores are assimilated, in the plane of the timepiece part, with orifices of circular section, and have a diameter between 10 nm and 1,000 nm and a depth greater than 100 nm.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising depositing at least one coating on the decorative surface, after forming the pores.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the coating includes a metallisation layer.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the coating includes a transparent oxide layer chosen from a group including SiO2, TiO2, ZrO2, HfO2, Ta2O5, and VO2.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the forming of pores is achieved by a method chosen from the group including a method by electrochemical etching, a method of a «Stain-etch» type and a method of a «Mac-Etch» type.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the forming of pores is achieved by the method of the «MAC-Etch» type.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the silicon-based substrate is a silicon wafer or an SIO wafer (Silicon-on-Insulator).

8. A micromechanical timepiece part obtained by the method according to claim 1 .

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pores have a depth between 100 nm and 10 μm.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pores have a depth between 100 nm and 3 μm.

11. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the metallisation layer is a fine layer and a thickness of the metallisation layer is less than 50 nm.

12. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the oxide layer has a thickness between 100 nm and 2,000 nm.

13. A micromechanical timepiece part comprising:
a silicon-based substrate; and
pores formed in a zone of the silicon-based substrate, and open out at an external surface of the micromechanical timepiece part, forming a decorative surface over said zone,
wherein said pores are assimilated, in the plane of the timepiece part, with orifices of circular section, and have a diameter between 10 nm and 1,000 nm and a depth greater than 100 nm.

14. The micromechanical timepiece part according to claim 13 , wherein the decorative surface is covered by a coating including a metallisation layer and/or a transparent oxide layer chosen from a group including SiO2, TiO2, ZrO2, HfO2, Ta2O5, and VO2.

Assignees

• Nivarox Sa

Inventors

• Dubois Philippe

Classifications

• B81B1/002

  Holes characterised by their shape, in either longitudinal or sectional plane · CPC title

• C23C28/345

  with at least one oxide layer · CPC title

• G04B19/10 Primary

  Ornamental shape of the graduations or the surface of the dial; Attachment of the graduations to the dial {(cases for special purposes, e.g. ring or button watches G04B37/12; indicating means with special effects G04B45/00)} · CPC title

• G04B19/12

  Selection of materials for dials or graduations {markings} · CPC title

• C25F3/12 Primary

  of semiconducting materials · CPC title