Cover glass for mobile terminals, manufacturing method of the same and mobile terminal device

• US 9,249,049 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2014
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hoya Corporation
• Original Assignee: Hoya Corporation
• Inventors: Fujii, Tatsuya
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Binh X
• Application Number:
  US14/223,044
• Publication Number:
  US 20140202985A1
• Time in Patent Office: 680 Days
• Field of Search: 216/24, 216/97, 216/99, 438/756
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 15/00 Surface treatment of glass, not in the form of fibres or filaments, by etching etching or surface-brightening compositions, in general C09K13/00
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 15/02 for making a smooth surface
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 21/002 to perform ion-exchange between alkali ions C03C21/005 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 2204/08 Glass having a rough surface
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 3/083 containing aluminium oxide or an iron compound
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3888 Arrangements for carrying or protecting transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0266 for a display module assembly
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24355 Continuous and nonuniform or irregular surface on layer or component [e.g., roofing, etc.]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24777 Edge feature
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/315 Surface modified glass [e.g., tempered, strengthened, etc.]

Abstract

To provide cover glass for mobile terminals exhibiting high strength in a thin plate thickness state to enable reductions in thickness of apparatuses when inserted in the apparatuses, cover glass (1) for a mobile terminal of the invention is cover glass (1) that is obtained by forming a resist pattern on main surfaces of a plate-shaped glass substrate, then etching the glass substrate with an etchant using the resist pattern as a mask, and thereby cutting the glass substrate into a desired shape and that protects a display screen of the mobile terminal, where an edge face of the cover glass (1) is formed of a molten glass surface, and as surface roughness of the edge face, arithmetic mean roughness Ra is 10 nm or less.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing cover glass for a mobile terminal for protecting a display screen of the mobile terminal,

wherein resist patterns are formed on both main surfaces of a plate-shaped glass substrate, and then, using the resist patterns as a mask, the glass substrate is etched with an etchant of a mixed acid aqueous solution containing hydrofluoric acid and at least one kind of acid among sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, and hydrofluorosilicic acid, and is thereby cut into a desired shape including an outer circumferential shape of the cover glass.

2. The method of manufacturing cover glass for a mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the plate-shaped glass substrate is formed by a down-draw method.

3. The method of manufacturing cover glass for a mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein an edge face of the cover glass has a protruding center portion and inclined surfaces that are declined respectively toward both main surface sides from the center portion, and boundary portions between the inclined surfaces and the main surfaces, respectively, are in a rounder shape.

4. The method of manufacturing cover glass for a mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein surface roughness Ra of an etched edge face is 10 nm or less.

5. The method of manufacturing cover glass for a mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the etching is performed from both main surfaces.

6. The method of manufacturing cover glass for a mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the desired shape is a shape including a portion having the negative curvature in part of a contour constituting the cover glass.

7. The method of manufacturing cover glass for a mobile terminal according to claim 6, wherein the desired shape is the shape including the portion having the negative curvature on the outer circumferential portion.

8. The method of manufacturing cover glass for a mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the cover glass is aluminosilicate glass containing at least one selected from the group consisting of SiO₂, Al₂O₃, Li₂O and Na₂O.

9. The method of manufacturing cover glass for a mobile terminal according to claim 8, wherein after cutting into the desired shape, chemical strengthening is performed on the cut glass substrate by ion exchange treatment.