Method for producing a coated substrate

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10597774-B2
Application number	US-201314395253-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2013
Priority date	Apr 17, 2012
Publication date	Mar 24, 2020
Grant date	Mar 24, 2020

Abstract

The subject of the invention is a process for obtaining a substrate provided on at least one portion of at least one of its sides with a coating, comprising a step of depositing said coating on said substrate, then a step of heat treatment of said coating using a pulsed or continuous laser radiation focused on said coating in the form of at least one laser line, the wavelength of which is within a range extending from 400 to 1500 nm, said heat treatment being such that a relative displacement movement is created between the substrate and the or each laser line, the speed of which is at least 3 meters per minute, the or each laser line having a beam quality factor (BPP) of at most 3 mm·mrad and, measured at the place where the or each laser line is focused on said coating, a linear power density divided by the square root of the duty cycle of at least 200 W/cm, a length of at least 20 mm and a width distribution along the or each line such that the mean width is at least 30 micrometers and the difference between the largest width and the smallest width is at most 15% of the value of the mean width.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for obtaining a substrate provided, on at least one portion of at least one side, with a heat-treated coating, the process comprising:
heat treating a coating provided on at least one portion of at least one side of said substrate with a pulsed or continuous laser radiation focused on said coating as a laser line provided by a plurality of lasers positioned to form the laser line having a cumulative laser length, wherein, in the heat treating, said substrate is substantially horizontal and travels on a conveyor facing the laser line,
wherein the heat treating substantially homogeneously treats the substrate while tolerating a variation in distance to the laser focal spot due to vibrations of the substrate while the speed of travel of the substrate is at least 3 meters per minute,
wherein, in the heat treating, the laser line has a combination of
a wavelength within a range of 400 to 1500 nm,
a beam parameter product (BPP) of at most 3 mm·mrad,
measured at a place where the laser line is focused on said coating, a linear power density divided by the square root of a duty cycle within a range from 200 W/cm to 1000 W/cm,
a length within a range of 20 cm to 100 cm,
a mean width within a range of 40 to 100 micrometers,
wherein a width of the laser line remains essentially constant throughout said heat treating such that a difference between a largest width and a smallest width of the laser line is at most 10% of the mean width when the displacement distance from the coating to the focal plane of the laser varies between ±1 mm, and
wherein the temperature reached by said coating at each point during said heat treating does not vary by more than 10% in relative terms compared to the targeted temperature when the displacement distance from the coating to the focal plane of the laser varies between ±1 mm.

2. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the laser line is fixed and positioned substantially perpendicular to a direction of travel.

3. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the wavelength of the radiation of the laser line is within a range of from 800 to 1000 nm.

4. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the laser radiation is continuous.

5. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the linear power density divided by the square root of the duty cycle is within a range of 400 to 500 W/cm.

6. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the mean width of the laser line is within a range of 50 to 53 micrometers.

7. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the length of the laser line is at least 20 cm.

8. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein an energy density provided to the coating divided by the square root of the duty cycle is at least 20 J/cm 2 .

9. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises glass or a polymeric organic material.

10. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the substrate has at least one dimension greater than 1 m.

11. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the coating comprises a metallic layer, a titanium oxide layer, a transparent electrically conductive layer, or any combination thereof.

12. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the heat treating is at a temperature of at least 300° C.

13. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a temperature of a side of the substrate opposite a side treated by the laser radiation does not exceed 100° C. during the heat treatment.

14. The process of claim 11 , wherein the coating comprises a silver or molybdenum layer as a metallic layer.

15. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the laser line has a beam parameter product (BPP) of at most 2.6 mm·mrad.

16. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the laser line has a beam parameter product (BPP) of at most 2 mm·mrad, the difference between the largest width and the smallest width of the laser line is at most 10% of the mean width, and the temperature reached by said coating at each point during said heat treating does not vary by more than 10% in relative terms.

17. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the laser line has a beam parameter product (BPP) of at most 1.5 mm·mrad, the difference between the largest width and the smallest width of the laser line is at most 5% of the mean width, and the temperature reached by said coating at each point during said heat treating does not vary by more than 5% in relative terms.

18. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the laser line has a beam parameter product (BPP) of at most 1 mm·mrad.

19. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the laser line has a beam parameter product (BPP) of at most 0.7 mm·mrad.

20. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the targeted temperature is at least 300° C.

21. A process for obtaining a substrate provided, on at least one portion of at least one side, with a heat-treated coating, the process comprising:
heat treating a coating provided on at least one portion of at least one side of said substrate with a pulsed or continuous laser radiation focused on said coating as a laser line provided by a plurality of lasers positioned to form the laser line having a cumulative laser length, wherein, in the heat treating, said substrate is substantially horizontal and travels on a conveyor facing the laser line,
wherein the heat treating substantially homogeneously treats the substrate while tolerating, relative displacement distance between the coating and the focal plane of the laser line varies based on a variation in distance to the laser focal spot due to vibrations of the substrate while the speed of travel of the substrate is at least 3 meters per minute,
wherein, in the heat treating, the laser line has a combination of
a wavelength of 915 or 980 nm,
a beam parameter product (BPP) of 2.5 mm·mrad,
measured at a place where the laser line is focused on said coating, a linear power density divided by the square root of a duty cycle is 400 W/cm,
a length within a range of approximately 30 cm,
a mean width is 53 micrometers,
wherein the homogeneous treatment is such that a width of the laser line remains essentially constant throughout said heat treating such that a difference between a largest width and a smallest width of the laser line is at most 10% of the mean width when the displacement distance from the coating to the focal plane of the laser varies between ±0.5 mm, and
wherein the homogeneous treatment is such that the sheet resistance of the coating decreases from 18% to 21% at any point of the coating.

22. A process for obtaining a substrate provided, on at least one portion of at least one side, with a heat-treated coating, the process comprising:
heat treating a coating provided on at least one portion of at least one side of said substrate with a pulsed or continuous laser radiation focused on said coating as a laser line provided by a plurality of lasers positioned to form the laser line having a cumulative laser length, wherein, in the heat treating, said substrate is substantially horizontal and travels on a conveyor facing the laser line,
wherein the heat treating substantially homogeneously treats the substrate while tolerating, relative displacement distance between the coating and the focal plane of the laser line varies based on a variation in distance to the laser focal spot due to vibrations of the substrate while the speed of travel of the substrate is at least 3 meters per minute,
wherein, in the heat treating, the laser lin

Assignees

• Saint Gobain

Inventors

• Mimoun Emmanuel
• Bilaine Matthieu

Classifications

• C03C17/3626

  one layer at least containing a nitride, oxynitride, boronitride or carbonitride · CPC title

• B23K26/354

  by melting · CPC title

• C03C17/3644

  the metal being silver · CPC title

• B23K2103/56

  being semiconducting · CPC title

• B23K26/0738

  into a linear shape · CPC title