Method for manufacturing a micromechanical timepiece part and said micromechanical timepiece part

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10558169-B2
Application number	US-201615231951-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 9, 2016
Priority date	Sep 8, 2015
Publication date	Feb 11, 2020
Grant date	Feb 11, 2020

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a micromechanical timepiece part starting from a silicon-based substrate, including, forming pores on the surface of at least one part of a surface of said silicon-based substrate of a determined depth, entirely filling the pores with a material chosen from diamond, diamond-like carbon, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, ceramics, polymers and mixtures thereof, in order to form, in the pores, a layer of the material of a thickness at least equal to the depth of the pores. A micromechanical timepiece part including a silicon-based substrate which has, on the surface of at least one part of a surface of the silicon-based substrate, pores of a determined depth, the pores being filled entirely with a layer of a material chosen from diamond, diamond-like carbon, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, ceramics, polymers and mixtures thereof, of a thickness at least equal to the depth of the pores.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for manufacturing a micromechanical timepiece part starting from a silicon-based substrate, comprising, in order:
forming pores along a surface of said silicon-based substrate of a determined depth,
filling all of said pores along the surface entirely with a material chosen from diamond, diamond-like carbon (DLC), silicon oxide, silicon nitride, ceramics, polymers and mixtures thereof, in order to form, in the pores, a layer of said material of a thickness at least equal to the depth of the pores, and
after the filling, forming a complete surface layer of said material on the surface of the silicon-based substrate and of the pores filled with the material to obtain a silicon-based, reinforced micromechanical timepiece part.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the forming is achieved by a method chosen from a group comprising a method by electrochemical etching, a method of moist etching silicon and a method of using particles of noble metals.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the forming is achieved by the method of using particles of noble metals.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the filling is achieved by a method chosen from a group comprising methods of thin-film deposition and thermal oxidation.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pores have an aspect factor (depth:diameter ratio) less than or equal to 100:1.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pores have a depth greater than 100 μm.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the pores have a depth greater than 200 μm.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the pores have a depth greater than 300 μm.

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

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a ratio between a thickness of the complete layer and the depth of the pores is about 10%.

Assignees

• Nivarox Sa

Inventors

• Dubois Philippe

Classifications

• G04D3/0069

  for working with non-mechanical means, e.g. chemical, electrochemical, metallising, vapourising; with electron beams, laser beams · CPC title

• B81C1/0038

  Processes for creating layers of materials not provided for in groups B81C1/00357 - B81C1/00373 · CPC title

• G04B15/14 Primary

  Component parts or constructional details, e.g. construction of the lever or the escape wheel {(assembly and manufacture of the spring G04B1/145; assembly and manufacture of components, e.g. pinions, spindles G04B13/02; lubrication of clockwork bearings G04B31/008; oils for clockwork bearings in general G04B31/08)} · CPC title

• B81C1/00547

  Etching processes not provided for in groups B81C1/00531 - B81C1/00539 · CPC title

• C23C16/0254

  Physical treatment to alter the texture of the surface, e.g. scratching or polishing · CPC title