Method and system for curing ultra violet curable sealant that is shadowed by metallization
First Claim
1. A method for joining a first substrate to a second substrate, said first substrate being transparent to optical radiation and including metallization features thereon, said method comprising the steps of:
- a) placing a curable sealant between said first substrate a nd said second substrate, portions of said sealant partially blocked from said optical radiation by said metallization features; and
b) placing an optically transmissive block on a surface of said first substrate, in the path of said optical radiation, to direct said optical radiation towards said sealant at an angle that avoids said metallization features from blocking said optical radiation so that said sealant is exposed to said optical radiation and is thereby aided in curing.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention is a method for curing a sealant used to affix two substrates to one another. The sealant requires curing by heat or uv photons. To overcome the shadowing caused by metal patterns, the uv light in the form of laser light is delivered at slant angles without losing light due to strong reflections caused by shallow angles of incidence. Several embodiments are described including a modulation technique for a providing scanned uv beam. Another method utilizes a sufficiently strong pulsed stationary or moving laser beam that can heat the regions of a metallized pattern to provide thermal energy for curing the sealant while providing uv photons through open regions of the metal pattern to access the sealant so as to afford a photolytic cure of a hybrid sealant.
50 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method for joining a first substrate to a second substrate, said first substrate being transparent to optical radiation and including metallization features thereon, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) placing a curable sealant between said first substrate a nd said second substrate, portions of said sealant partially blocked from said optical radiation by said metallization features; and
b) placing an optically transmissive block on a surface of said first substrate, in the path of said optical radiation, to direct said optical radiation towards said sealant at an angle that avoids said metallization features from blocking said optical radiation so that said sealant is exposed to said optical radiation and is thereby aided in curing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
c) moving said block and optical radiation along the surface of said first substrate so as to expose areas of said sealant lying along a border of said first substrate.
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8. A method for joining a first substrate to a second substrate, said first substrate being transparent to optical radiation and including metallization features thereon, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) placing a curable sealant between said first substrate and said second substrate, portions of said sealant partially blocked from said optical radiation by said metallization features; and
b) directing said optical radiation towards said sealant;
c) increasing energy of said optical radiation in regions where said metallization features block said optical radiation so that said optical energy acts to heat said metallization features, said sealant that is directly exposed to said radiation being cured thereby, said sealant that is blocked by said metallization features being at least partially cured by said heat. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A method for joining a first substrate to a second substrate, both said first substrate and second substrate being transparent to optical radiation, at least said first substrate including metallization features thereon, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) placing a curable sealant between said first substrate and said second substrate, portions of said sealant partially blocked from said optical radiation by said metallization features; and
b) positioning said first substrate and second substrate over a reflector;
c) directing said optical radiation through said first substrate, said second substrate and said sealant, said radiation, where not blocked by said metallization features, being retroreflected by said reflector so as to impinge on sealant that is blocked by said metallization features. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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Specification