Process and apparatus for producing glass member provided with sealing material layer and process for producing electronic device

• US 8,490,434 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2012
• Issued: 07/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Asahi Glass Company, Limited (AGC, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Asahi Glass Company, Limited (AGC, Inc.)
• Inventors: Watanabe, Mitsuru, Ono, Motoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): FRANKLIN, JODI COHEN
• Application Number:
  US13/355,127
• Publication Number:
  US 20120111059A1
• Time in Patent Office: 550 Days
• Field of Search: 65146-151, 65138-140, 651/55, 438/107, 438/455, 156/99, 428/34
• US Class Current: 65/155
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 23/0025 by a laser beam
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 27/10 with the aid of adhesive specially adapted for that purpose
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 8/24 Fusion seal compositions being frit compositions having non-frit additions, i.e. for use as seals between dissimilar materials, e.g. glass and metal; Glass solders
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133354 Arrangements for aligning or assembling substrates
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/1339 Gaskets; Spacers; Sealing of cells
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 11/10 AC-PDPs with at least one main electrode being out of contact with the plasma
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 11/48 Sealing, e.g. seals specially adapted for leading-in conductors
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 9/261 the vessel being for a flat panel display for flat discharge lamps H01J9/268

Abstract

To provide a process for producing a glass member provided with a sealing material layer, capable of favorably forming a sealing material layer even in a case where the entire glass substrate cannot be heated.

A sealing material paste prepared by mixing a sealing material containing a sealing glass and a laser absorbent with an organic binder is applied to a sealing region of a glass substrate 2 in the form of a frame. The frame-form coating layer 8 of the sealing material paste is selectively heated by irradiation with a laser light 9 along the coating layer 8 to fire the sealing material while the organic binder in the coating layer 8 is burnt out to form a sealing material layer 7. Using such a sealing material layer 7, a space between two glass substrates is sealed.

Claims

1. A process for producing an electronic device, the process comprising:

(i) applying a sealing material paste to a second sealing region in the form of a frame on a second glass substrate, to produce a frame-form coating layer, wherein

the sealing material paste is prepared by mixing a sealing material with an organic binder,

the sealing material comprises a sealing glass and a laser absorbent,

the second glass substrate comprises a second surface comprising the second sealing region which corresponds to a first sealing region on a first glass substrate, and

the first glass substrate comprises a first surface comprising the first sealing region;

(ii) irradiating the frame-form coating layer with a laser light for firing to heat the coating layer such that a heating temperature of the sealing material is within a range of at least (T+213°

C.) and at most (T+480°

C.) relative to a softening temperature T (°

C.) of the sealing glass, thereby firing the sealing material while burning out the organic binder, to form a sealing material layer;

(iii) laminating the first glass substrate and the second glass substrate with the sealing material layer, such that the first surface and the second surface face each other; and

(iv) irradiating the sealing material layer with a laser light for sealing to melt the sealing material layer and thereby seal an electronic element portion situated between the first glass substrate and the second glass substrate,

wherein;

the irradiating (iv) of the sealing material layer occurs through the first glass substrate or the second glass substrate;

the frame-form coating layer is irradiated (ii) with at least one laser light along it such that, relative to the softening temperature T (°

C.) of the sealing glass;

heating temperatures of the coating layer during an irradiation initiation period and during an irradiation completion period are within a range of at least (T+350°

C.) and at most (T+550°

C.); and

a heating temperature of the coating layer during a scanning irradiation period is within a range of at least (T+213°

C.) and at most (T+480°

C.),

such that a heating temperature of the coating layer during the irradiation initiation period is different than the heating temperature of the coating layer during the scanning irradiation period.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein the laser light for firing is applied with scanning at a scanning rate within a range of at least 0.1mm/sec and at most 5 mm/sec.

3. The process according to claim 1, wherein a power density of the laser light for firing is controlled such that power densities during the irradiation initiation period and during the irradiation completion period for the laser light for firing are higher than a power density of the laser light for firing during the scanning irradiation period, said scanning irradiation period excluding the irradiation initiation period and the irradiation completion period.

4. The process according to claim 1, wherein:

the laser light for firing comprises at least one pair of laser lights;

the at least one pair of laser lights are applied at the same position on an irradiation initiation position of the frame-form coating layer;

at least one of the laser lights of the at least one pair is applied with scanning along the frame-form coating layer; and

the at least one pair of laser lights are positioned at the same position on an irradiation completion position of the frame-form coating layer.

5. The process according to claim 4, wherein at least one laser light of the at least one pair of laser lights is constantly applied to the irradiation initiation position while, at the same time, at least one other laser light of the at least one pair of laser lights is applied with scanning along the frame-form coating layer from the irradiation initiation position to the irradiation completion position situated at the same position as the irradiation initiation position.

6. The process according to claim 4, wherein laser lights of at least one pair of laser lights are applied with scanning along the frame-form coating layer, respectively in opposite directions, from the irradiation initiation position to the irradiation completion position, such that the laser lights are at the same position at the irradiation completion position.

7. The process according to claim 1, further comprising disposing a back plate removable from the sealing glass on the frame-form coating layer, followed by the irradiating (ii) of the frame-form coating layer with the laser light for firing.

8. The process according to claim 1, wherein the frame-form coating layer is irradiated (ii) with at least one laser light having a power density within a range of from 200 to 900 W/cm².

9. The process according to claim 1, wherein:

the laser light for firing comprises a plurality of pairs of laser lights;

the frame-form coating layer is divided into a plurality of regions in accordance with the number of the pairs of laser lights;

an irradiation initiation position and an irradiation completion position in each of the plurality of regions are set at positions where said regions are adjacent to each other; and

one of the laser lights of each of the plurality of pairs is constantly applied to the irradiation initiation position while, at the same time, the other laser light of each of the respective pairs is applied with scanning along the frame-form coating layer from each irradiation initiation position to each irradiation completion position.

10. The process according to claim 1, wherein:

the laser light for firing comprises a plurality of pairs of laser lights;

the frame-form coating layer is divided into a plurality of regions in accordance with the number of the pairs of laser lights;

an irradiation initiation position is situated at a center portion of each of the plurality of regions, and an irradiation completion position is set at a position where the regions are adjacent to each other; and

laser lights of the plurality of pairs are respectively applied to irradiation initiation positions of the plurality of regions, while corresponding laser lights of the each pair are applied respectively in opposite directions from each irradiation initiation position along the frame-form coating layer, such that corresponding laser lights are applied to the same position on the irradiation completion positions.

11. The process according to claim 1, wherein the sealing glass comprises a tin-phosphate glass or a bismuth glass.

12. The process according to claim 11, wherein the sealing glass comprises a tin-phosphate glass comprising:

from 55 to 68 mass% of SnO;

from 0.5 to 5 mass% of SnO₂; and

from 20 to 40 mass% of P₂O₅, relative to 100 mass% of the tin-phosphate glass.

13. The process according to claim 11, wherein the sealing glass comprises a bismuth glass comprising:

from 70 to 90 mass% of Bi₂O₃;

from 1 to 20 mass% of ZnO; and

from 2 to 12 mass% of B₂O₃, relative to 100 mass% of the bismuth glass.