Methods for controlled laser-induced growth of glass bumps on glass articles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9650292-B2
Application number	US-201615141658-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2016
Priority date	Jul 24, 2015
Publication date	May 16, 2017
Grant date	May 16, 2017

Abstract

A method for controlling formation of glass bumps in a glass article with laser-irradiation without the use of a growth-limiting structure. Standard deviation of height between the glass bumps on the article is less than 1 micron by controlling the laser radiation dose provided on the glass article.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a glass article comprising a plurality of glass bumps, the glass article having a surface, the glass bumps formed in the glass article by laser radiation, each glass bump having a terminal point at a distance from the glass article surface, the method comprising:
irradiating the glass article with laser radiation at a plurality of localities to induce growth of the glass bumps at the plurality of localities on the glass article;
detecting a flash of light from the laser irradiated localities on the glass article with a photodetector that generates an electronic signal;
setting a fixed exposure time for the laser radiation at the plurality of localities for after the flash of light is detected; and
controlling a laser irradiation dose at the plurality of localities and the distance between each glass bump terminal point and the glass article surface, using the electronic signal, by terminating laser radiation of the localities the fixed exposure time after a controller receives the electronic signal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of glass bumps includes at least 5 glass bumps.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality glass bumps include a hemispherical lateral cross-section, wherein each lateral cross-section substantially corresponds to a general circle curve equation with a coefficient of determination from 0.9 to 0.99.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the standard deviation of the distance between the glass article surface and the terminal points of the plurality of glass bumps is less than 1 micron.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the standard deviation of the distance between the glass article surface and the terminal points of the plurality of glass bumps is less than 0.5 micron.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the glass article is irradiated with laser radiation with a UV wavelength between 340 nanometers and 380 nanometers to induce growth of the glass bumps.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the flash of light from the laser irradiated localities includes sensing molten glass at a temperature from 900° C. to 2000° C.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the flash of light from the laser irradiated localities occurs at a time increment after laser radiation starts.

9. A method of forming a glass article comprising a plurality of glass bumps, the glass article having a surface, the glass bumps grown on the glass article surface by laser irradiation, each glass bump having a height spaced apart from the glass article surface, the method comprising:
irradiating the glass article with laser radiation to induce growth of one of the glass bumps at one of a plurality of localities on the glass article;
detecting, at a time increment after irradiating one locality with the laser irradiation, a flash of light from that laser irradiated locality with a photodetector;
setting a fixed exposure time for the laser radiation of each locality for after the flash of light is detected; and
terminating a laser radiation dose at the locality at the fixed exposure time after the photo detector detects the flash of light.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein each of the glass bumps include a lateral cross-section, wherein the lateral cross-section of each of the plurality of glass bumps substantially matches a general circle curve equation with a coefficient of determination from 0.9 to 0.99.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the glass article is a glass pane in a vacuum insulated glass window.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the plurality of glass bumps on the glass pane space the glass pane from another glass pane at a distance substantially equivalent to the height of the hemispherical glass bumps.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the plurality of glass bumps comprises:
a lower region comprising a diameter D 1 defined by concavely rounded sides, wherein the lower region projects from the surface of the glass pane, wherein diameter D 1 is the glass bump maximum diameter, wherein the concavely rounded sides have a radius of curvature R 1 and join with the glass pane surface;
an inflection region connecting the lower region of the glass bump and an upper region of the glass bump;
the upper region of the glass bump comprising a transition portion and a top portion;
the transition portion comprising a diameter D 2 defined by convexly rounded sides, wherein the convexly rounded sides have a radius of curvature R 2 , wherein diameter D 2 is less than diameter D 1 ; and
the top portion comprising a diameter D 3 defined by a convexly rounded top surface, the convexly rounded top surface joining with the convexly rounded sides converging from the transition portion, wherein the convexly rounded top surface has a radius of curvature R 3 from about 600 microns to about 750 microns which is greater than the radius of curvature R 2 , wherein diameter D 3 is less than diameter D 2 , wherein the convexly rounded top surface is spaced apart from the glass article surface defining the height H of the glass bump.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein detecting the flash of light from the laser irradiated locality includes identifying molten glass at the laser irradiated locality at a temperature from 900° C. to 2000° C.

15. The method of claim 9 further comprising controlling the laser radiation dose at the locality by adjusting the laser radiation power after the photo detector detects the flash of light.

16. The method of claim 9 further comprising controlling the laser radiation dose at the locality by adjusting the fixed exposure time for laser radiation after the photo detector detects the flash of light.

17. The method of claim 9 wherein the fixed exposure time is from 1 millisecond to 5 seconds.

18. The method of claim 9 wherein the glass article is comprised of a plurality of glass components, the glass components each include at least one of the localities.

19. The method of claim 9 wherein the glass article is comprised of a plurality of glass components, each glass component including at least one glass bump formed therein.

20. The method of claim 9 wherein the standard deviation of height between the plurality of glass bumps is less than 1 micron.

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Masters Leonard Thomas
• Streltsov Alexander Mikhailovich

Classifications

• C03C23/002

  by ultraviolet light · CPC title

• C03C23/0025 Primary

  by a laser beam · CPC title

• B23K26/355

  Texturing · CPC title

• B23K2103/54

  Glass · CPC title

• B32B17/06

  comprising glass as the main or only constituent of a layer, next to another layer of a specific {material} · CPC title