Method for cutting a thin glass layer
AssigneeSaint-Gobain Glass France
InventorsJuergen Boeker, Li-Ya Yeh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Method for cutting a glass layer having a first surface a second surface. The method includes moving a first laser beam, which is generated by a pulsed laser, along a cutting line, where material modifications are produced in the interior of the glass layer between the first surface and the second surface; moving a second laser beam along the cutting line where the glass layer is heated by the laser radiation; and cooling the glass layer along the cutting line, where the glass layer breaks along the cutting line.
Claims9
A method for cutting a glass layer with a thickness less than or equal to 0.3 mm, having a first surface and a second surface, comprising:
- a) moving a first laser beam, generated by a pulsed laser with a pulse length less than 1 ps and a repetition rate from 20 kHz to 500 kHz, having a wavelength of 300 nm to 500 nm and a power of 20 W to 100 W, along a cutting line,
- wherein a focus of the first laser beam is positioned between the first surface and the second surface, and
- wherein material modifications including local regions of increased density developing through self-focusing of a radiation of the first laser beam are produced in the interior of the glass layer between the first surface and the second surface;
- b) moving a second laser beam along the cutting line, wherein the glass layer is heated by the laser radiation;
- and
- c) cooling the glass layer along the cutting line, wherein the glass layer breaks along the cutting line,
- wherein each material modification is generated by a pulse train, in which a time interval between consecutive pulses becomes larger and is from 50 times up to 5000 times the pulse length.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.