Method for cutting a thin glass layer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10759690-B2
Application number	US-201615741226-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2016
Priority date	Aug 10, 2015
Publication date	Sep 1, 2020
Grant date	Sep 1, 2020

Abstract

Method for cutting a glass layer having a first surface a second surface. The method includes moving a first laser beam, which is generated by a pulsed laser, along a cutting line, where material modifications are produced in the interior of the glass layer between the first surface and the second surface; moving a second laser beam along the cutting line where the glass layer is heated by the laser radiation; and cooling the glass layer along the cutting line, where the glass layer breaks along the cutting line.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for cutting a glass layer with a thickness less than or equal to 0.3 mm, having a first surface and a second surface, comprising:
a) moving a first laser beam, generated by a pulsed laser with a pulse length less than 1 ps and a repetition rate from 20 kHz to 500 kHz, having a wavelength of 300 nm to 500 nm and a power of 20 W to 100 W, along a cutting line,
wherein a focus of the first laser beam is positioned between the first surface and the second surface, and
wherein material modifications including local regions of increased density developing through self-focusing of a radiation of the first laser beam are produced in the interior of the glass layer between the first surface and the second surface;

b) moving a second laser beam along the cutting line, wherein the glass layer is heated by the laser radiation; and
c) cooling the glass layer along the cutting line, wherein the glass layer breaks along the cutting line,
wherein each material modification is generated by a pulse train, in which a time interval between consecutive pulses becomes larger and is from 50 times up to 5000 times the pulse length.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein along the cutting line, a distance between adjacent material modifications is less than 100 μm.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the distance between adjacent material modifications is less than 20 μm.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a pulse energy of the consecutive pulses decreases and wherein the pulse energy is from 4 μJ to 500 μJ.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second laser beam has a wavelength of 1 μm to 20 μm.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second laser beam is generated by a laser in a continuous wave mode.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second laser beam has a power of 30 W to 1 kW.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the cooling of the glass layer is done by impacting with a gaseous and/or liquid coolant along the cutting line, by means of a nozzle.

9. A method comprising:
cutting a glass layer with a thickness less than or equal to 0.3 mm by performing a method according to claim 1 to provide a cut glass layer, and
positioning the cut glass layer in an arrangement selected from the group consisting of a thin-film solar cell, an active glazing with electrically switchable properties, an electrochromic element, a polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) element, an electroluminescent element, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), a suspended particle device (SPD) element, and a component of a vehicle glazing.

Assignees

• Saint Gobain

Inventors

• Boeker Juergen
• Yeh Li-Ya

Classifications

• C03B33/093 Primary

  using two or more focussed radiation beams · CPC title

• C03B33/0222 Primary

  Scoring using a focussed radiation beam, e.g. laser · CPC title

• B23K2103/54

  Glass · CPC title

• B23K26/53

  for modifying or reforming the material inside the workpiece, e.g. for producing break initiation cracks · CPC title

• B23K26/0006

  taking account of the properties of the material involved (B23K26/32, B23K26/40 take precedence) · CPC title