Method and system for curing an ultra-violet curable sealant that is shadowed by metallization
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsRobert J. von Gutfeld, James H. Glownia
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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 is directed in a path towards said sealant, and a light diffusion element is positioned in the optical path. The diffusion element causes a diffusion of the optical radiation so as to enable some of the diffused optical radiation to avoid the metallization features and to be incident on the sealant. If the sealant is of the dual cure type, the curing thereof is further aided by application of heat.
Claims20
A method for joining a first substrate to a second substrate, said first substrate being transparent to optical radiation and including opaque metallization features thereon, a curable sealant resident between said first substrate and said second substrate, portions of said sealant partially blocked from said optical radiation by said metallization features, said method comprising the steps of:
- a) directing said optical radiation in a path towards said sealant;
- and
- b) positioning a light diffusion element in said path to cause a diffusion of said optical radiation, whereby some of said optical radiation that is diffused is incident on and is reflected onto said sealant that is shadowed by the metallization features.
A method for joining a first substrate to a second substrate to form a display panel, said first substrate being transparent to optical radiation and including opaque metallization features thereon, a dual-curable sealant resident between said first substrate and said second substrate, portions of said sealant partially blocked from said optical radiation by said metallization features, said dual curable sealant curable by application of heat and optical radiation, said method comprising the steps of:
- a) preheating said first substrate and second substrate to a bias temperature;
- b) directing said optical radiation in a path towards said sealant;
- and
- c) positioning a light diffusion element in said path to cause a diffusion of said optical radiation, whereby some of said optical radiation that is diffused and some that is reflected are incident on said sealant that is shadowed by the metallization features, whereby said bias temperature and said optical radiation combine to cause a cure of said dual-cure sealant.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.