Glass with modified surface regions and methods and apparatuses for forming the same via electro-thermal poling and field-assisted ion exchange

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12486198-B2
Application number	US-202217865864-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 15, 2022
Priority date	Jul 19, 2021
Publication date	Dec 2, 2025
Grant date	Dec 2, 2025

Abstract

A glass substrate with modified surface regions is disclosed. The glass substrate includes an alkali-containing bulk, a first alkali-depleted region, a second alkali-depleted region, and a first ion-exchanged region. The alkali-containing bulk has a first surface and a second surface with the first and second surfaces on opposite sides. The first alkali-depleted region extends into the alkali-containing bulk from the first surface. The second alkali-depleted region extends into the alkali-containing bulk from the second surface. The first ion-exchanged region extends into the alkali-containing bulk from the first surface. The first alkali-depleted region, the second alkali-depleted region, and the first ion-exchanged region each have a substantially homogenous composition. A method of forming the glass substrate is disclosed. The method includes simultaneously forming the first alkali-depleted region and the first ion-exchanged region in the first surface. The method also includes near-simultaneously forming the second alkali-depleted region in the second surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A glass substrate, comprising:
an alkali-containing bulk comprising a first surface, an opposite second surface, and a first concentration of a first alkali metal ion; a first alkali-depleted region extending into the alkali-containing bulk from the first surface such that the first alkali-depleted region comprises a first thickness t 1 ; a second alkali-depleted region extending into the alkali-containing bulk from the second surface such that the second alkali-depleted region comprises a second thickness t 2 ; a first ion-exchanged region extending into the alkali-containing bulk from the first surface such that the first ion-exchanged region comprises a third thickness t 3 substantially equal to t 1 ; and wherein the first ion-exchanged region comprises a second concentration of a second alkali metal ion and a third concentration of the first alkali-metal ion less than the first concentration, the first alkali-depleted region comprises a fourth concentration of the first alkali metal ion less than the first concentration, the second alkali-depleted region comprises a fifth concentration of the first alkali metal ion less than the first concentration, each of the alkali-containing bulk, the first alkali-depleted region, and the second alkali-depleted region comprises a concentration of the second alkali-metal ion less than the second concentration, and each of the first alkali-depleted region, the second alkali-depleted region, and the first ion-exchanged region comprises a substantially homogenous composition.

2 . The glass substrate of claim 1 , wherein the first alkali-depleted region abuts the first ion-exchanged region.

3 . The glass substrate of claim 1 , wherein the first alkali-depleted region is spaced apart from the first ion-exchanged region.

4 . The glass substrate of claim 1 , wherein the first ion-exchanged region comprises a plurality of first ion-exchanged regions separated in part by the first alkali-depleted region.

5 . The glass substrate of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of first ion-exchanged regions includes at least two different alkali metal ions.

6 . The glass substrate of claim 1 , wherein one or more of (i) the first alkali-depleted region comprises a plurality of first alkali-depleted regions or (ii) the second alkali-depleted region comprises a plurality of second alkali-depleted regions.

7 . The glass substrate of claim 1 , further comprising a second ion-exchanged region extending from the second surface into the alkali-containing bulk, the second ion-exchanged region comprising a substantially homogenous composition.

8 . The glass substrate of claim 7 , wherein the second alkali-depleted region abuts the second ion-exchanged region.

9 . The glass substrate of claim 7 , wherein the second ion-exchanged region comprises a plurality of second ion-exchanged regions separated in part by the second alkali-depleted region.

10 . The glass substrate of claim 8 , wherein the second alkali-depleted region is spaced apart from the second ion-exchanged region.

11 . The glass substrate of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the first alkali-depleted region or the second alkali-depleted region comprises a uniformity based on the Z-ROI approach for alkali-depleted regions in which a relative standard deviation of a plurality of alkali-depleted signal intensity ratios is equal to or less than 6%.

12 . The glass substrate of claim 1 , wherein the first ion-exchanged region comprises a uniformity based on the Z-ROI approach for ion-exchanged regions in which a relative standard deviation of a plurality of ion-exchanged signal intensity ratios is less than 12%.

13 . The glass substrate of claim 1 , wherein the alkali-containing bulk comprises a first bulk region exposed at the first surface and abutting at least one of the first alkali-depleted region or the first ion-exchanged region.

14 . A glass substrate, comprising:
a first surface comprising a first alkali-depleted region with a first alkali-depleted refractive index and a first ion-exchanged region with a first ion-exchanged refractive index; a second surface comprising a second alkali-depleted region with a second alkali-depleted refractive index, the first and second surfaces arranged on opposite sides of the glass substrate; and an alkali-containing bulk extending between the first and second surfaces and comprising a bulk refractive index; and wherein: the first and second alkali-depleted refractive indices are less than the bulk refractive index and the first ion-exchanged refractive index is greater than the bulk refractive index;
the first alkali-depleted region extends into the alkali-containing bulk from the first surface such that the first alkali-depleted region comprises a first thickness t 1 ;
the second alkali-depleted region extends into the alkali-containing bulk from the second surface such that the second alkali-depleted region comprises a second thickness t 2 ; and
the first ion-exchanged region extends into the alkali-containing bulk from the first surface such that the first ion-exchanged region comprises a third thickness t 3 substantially equal to t 1 .

15 . The glass substrate of claim 14 , wherein the first alkali-depleted region abuts the first ion-exchanged region such that a portion of a refractive index profile across the glass substrate transitions in a single step from the first alkali-depleted refractive index to the first ion-exchanged refractive index.

16 . The glass substrate of claim 14 , wherein the first alkali-depleted region is spaced apart from the first ion-exchanged region such that a portion of a refractive index profile across the glass substrate transitions in a stepwise manner from the first alkali-depleted refractive index to the bulk refractive index and to the first ion-exchanged refractive index.

17 . The glass substrate of claim 14 , wherein the first ion-exchanged region comprises a plurality of first ion-exchanged regions separated in part by the first alkali-depleted region such that a portion of a refractive index profile across the glass substrate alternates between the first alkali-depleted refractive index and the first ion-exchanged refractive index.

18 . The glass substrate of claim 17 , wherein a first group of one or more first ion-exchanged regions includes first exchanged mobile metal ions and a second group of one or more first ion-exchanged regions includes second exchanged mobile metal ions that are different than the first exchanged mobile metal ions.

19 . The glass substrate of claim 18 , wherein the first group of first ion-exchanged regions comprises a first group ion-exchanged refractive index corresponding to the first ion-exchanged refractive index and the second group of first ion-exchanged regions comprises a second group ion-exchanged refractive index greater than the first group ion-exchanged refractive index.

20 . The glass substrate of claim 14 , wherein one or more of (i) the first alkali-depleted region comprises a plurality of first alkali-depleted regions comprising the first alkali-depleted refractive index or (ii) the second alkali-depleted region comprises a plurality of second alkali-depleted regions comprising the second alkali-depleted refractive index.

21 . The glass substrate of claim 14 , wherein the second surface comprises a second ion-exchanged region with a second ion-exchanged refractive index.

22 . The glass substrate of claim 21 , wherein

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Cushman Cody Vic
• Gallagher Michael Thomas
• Mclaren Charles Thomas
• Reveil Mardochee
• Smith Nicholas James

Classifications

• C03C21/002

  to perform ion-exchange between alkali ions (C03C21/005 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C03C4/18

  for ion-sensitive glass · CPC title

• C03C2204/08

  Glass having a rough surface · CPC title

• C03C15/00

  Surface treatment of glass, not in the form of fibres or filaments, by etching (etching or surface-brightening compositions, in general C09K13/00) · CPC title

• C03C21/003

  under application of an electrical potential difference · CPC title