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US 11,111,170 B2Granted
Laser cutting and removal of contoured shapes from transparent substrates
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsBradley Frederick Bowden, Xiaoju Guo, Thomas Hackert, Garrett Andrew Piech, Kristopher Allen Wieland
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Abstract
A method for cutting, separating and removing interior contoured shapes in thin substrates, particularly glass substrates. The method involves the utilization of an ultra-short pulse laser to form defect lines in the substrate that may be followed by use of a second laser beam to promote isolation of the part defined by the interior contour.
Claims25
A method of cutting an article from a substrate, comprising:
- focusing a pulsed laser beam into a laser beam focal line;
- directing the laser beam focal line into the substrate at a first plurality of locations along a first predetermined path, the laser beam focal line generating an induced absorption within the substrate that produces a defect line within the substrate along the laser beam focal line at each location of the first plurality of locations, wherein the first predetermined path is a closed path;
- heating the substrate along the first predetermined path to propagate a crack through each defect line of the first plurality of locations to form a cleave that extends completely through the substrate along the first predetermined path, thereby completely isolating an interior plug from the substrate;
- and
- heating the interior plug after the isolating such that at least a portion of the interior plug is heated to a temperature equal to or greater than a softening temperature of the substrate;
- and
- allowing the interior plug to cool after the heating to remove the plug from the substrate.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.