METHOD OF JOINING GLASS ELEMENTS WITH MATERIAL CONTINUITY, GLASS COMPONENT, AND HOUSING, AND VACUUM INSULATING GLASS PANEL COMPRISING THE GLASS COMPONENT

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of joining glass elements with material continuity, to a glass component, to a housing, and to a vacuum insulating panel. The method comprises the following steps providing first and second glass elements, with each of the glass elements having at least one joining region having an outer edge to be joined, introducing a metallic material into the first glass element in the region of the joining region of the first glass element, placing the first and second glass elements onto one another such that the first and second glass elements contact one another at least at one outer edge of the respective joining region; and heating the metallic material in the first glass element so that the glass element at least partially melts in the region of the joining region of the first glass element so that a connection with material continuity is produced between the first and second glass elements.

Claims

1. A method of joining glass elements with material continuity, the method comprising: providing first and second glass elements, with each of the first and second glass elements having at least one joining region having an outer edge to be joined; introducing a metallic material into the first glass element in a region of the joining region of the first glass element; placing the first and second glass elements onto one another such that the first and second glass elements contact one another at least at one outer edge of the respective joining region to be joined; and heating the metallic material in the first glass element so that the first glass element at least partially melts in the region of the joining region of the first glass element so that a connection with material continuity is produced between the first and second glass elements.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the metallic material is at least one of electrically conductive and present in the form of dendrites.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the metallic material has contiguous structures.

4. The method of claim 1, in wherein introducing the metallic material into the first glass element in the region of the joining region of the first glass element comprises: Introducing ions into the first glass element by means of at least one of ion exchange and ion implantation; and wherein the introduced ions are reduced to metallic material.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the metallic material is electrochemically deposited at a cathode side.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the heating of the metallic material takes place by at least one of introducing electromagnetic waves and applying a current to the metallic material.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the heating takes place such that the second glass element is heated and at least partially melts in the joining region.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein electromagnetic waves are introduced into the first glass element by at least one of means of a light source and means of a microwave radiation source.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second glass element comprises metallic material.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the metallic material comprises silver.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the metallic material has a layer thickness of at least 1 nm.

12. A glass component produced by means of the method of claim 1 comprising the first and second glass elements, wherein the first and second glass elements are hermetically connected.

13. The glass component of claim 12, wherein: the glass component comprises one of a wafer and a substrate having a cap structure.

14. A housing for at least one of a sensor, an actuator, a battery, and a lens comprising the glass component of claim 12.

15. A vacuum insulating glass panel comprising the glass component of claim 12.

16. The method of claim 3, wherein the contiguous structures each have a size of at least 50 nm.

17. The method of claim 4, wherein the introduced ions are reduced to metallic material by applying an electrical field.

18. The method of claim 8, wherein the light source comprises a laser.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the silver comprises silver atoms.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the metallic material has a layer thickness of at most 5000 nm.

21. The glass component of claim 12, wherein the first and second glass elements are connected such that they form a vacuum chamber.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0046] FIG. 1a shows two glass elements in a schematic sectional view;

[0047] FIG. 1b shows the two glass elements of FIG. 1a in the schematic sectional view in the joined state;

[0048] FIG. 1c shows the two glass elements of FIGS. 1a and 1b in a schematic plan view;

[0049] FIG. 2a shows a first glass element in a schematic sectional view;

[0050] FIG. 2b shows the glass element of FIG. 2a with silver ions in a schematic plan view;

[0051] FIG. 2c shows the glass element of FIG. 2b with the silver ions reduced at a cathode side in a schematic sectional view; and

[0052] FIG. 2d shows the glass element of FIG. 2c joined with a further glass element in a schematic sectional view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0053] FIG. 1a shows a first glass element 1 and a second glass element 2 in a schematic sectional representation. The first glass element 1 is preferably in one piece. The second glass element 2 is preferably in one piece. The first glass element 1 has the shape of a hollow parallelepiped without a base. In other embodiments, the first glass element can have a different shape, for example a dome with an angular, elliptical, or circular base surface and can have an arch in the form of a hemisphere or of a bell. Other geometries, in particular parallelepiped, cuboid, or pyramidic designs, can be advantageous depending on the application. It can in particular be advantageous if the first glass element has the shape of a cover or a hood, that is a shape that can be placed onto a surface that is preferably planar and in so doing forms an inner space in which components can be arranged. The first glass element 1 can thus form a housing in conjunction with a second glass element, for example a glass panel such as the glass element 2 shown.

[0054] A joining region 11 is provided at a lower edge 111 of the first glass element 1 to be joined. A metallic material 12 is introduced into the glass in this joining region 11. In the present example, the metallic material 12 has a minimal distance from the lower outer edge 111 of 20 nm. In other embodiments, the minimal thickness can, for example, be at least 1 nm, preferably at least 10 nm, particularly preferably at least 100 nm. The minimal distance can, for example, be at most 5000 nm, preferably at most 500 nm, particularly preferably at most 100 nm. The minimal distance can naturally be outside these ranges, in particular when the glass element 1 has larger dimensions.

[0055] In the present example, the metallic material 12 has a layer thickness of 20 nm. In other embodiments, the metallic material, for example, can have a layer thickness of at least 1 nm, preferably at least 10 nm, particularly preferably at least 100 nm and/or can have a layer thickness of at most 5000 nm, preferably of at most 500 nm, particularly preferably of at most 100 nm. The layer thickness is preferably constant, but can also vary in the glass element 1.

[0056] The metallic material 12 is introduced in the joining region 11 such that it describes a ribbon shape arranged as a rectangle in a plan view (cf. FIG. 1c).

[0057] The first glass element 1 and the second glass element 2 are placed onto one another such that an inner space 3 is formed between the two glass elements 1 and 2. The first glass element 1 in this process contacts the second glass element 2 at the outer edge 111. The second glass element contacts the first glass element at an outer edge 211. The outer edge 211 is disposed in a joining region 21 of the second glass element 2.

[0058] The metallic material 12 in the first glass element 1 is heated so that the first glass element 1 partially melts in the joining region 111. A connection with material continuity is produced between the first glass element 1 and the second glass element 2 in the form of a weld seam 4 such as is shown, for example, in FIG. 1b. The inner space 3 formed between the first glass element 1 and the second glass element 2 is closed in a gastight manner with respect to an environment 5 of the glass elements 1 and 2 and forms a vacuum.

[0059] The metallic material 12 was heated by means of electromagnetic waves of a CW laser and in this process the metallic material 12 absorbed the laser radiation, which in turn results in a heating of glass material that surrounds the metallic material 12. The glass material that surrounds the metallic material 12 is here locally heated to a glass transition temperature so that it at least partially melts.

[0060] In the present example of FIG. 1, metallic material is only introduced into the first glass element 1. Additionally or alternatively, metallic material can be introduced into the second glass material 2 and can be heated there, for example likewise by means of a laser.

[0061] A further metallic material that forms an electrical contact is introduced in the second glass element 2. The contact 8 enables an electrical contacting of the sealed inner space 3. The metallic material that forms the contact 8 can be formed via ion exchange or via ion implantation. An electrical component, for example a sensor that can be connected to a contact 81, can be arranged in the inner space 3. The contact 82 can be connected to a voltage source to supply the electrical component with power.

[0062] The first glass element 1 and the second glass element 2 comprise borosilicate glass. The metallic material 12 is introduced into the first glass element 1 by means of ion exchange. The ions are silver ions.

[0063] A plan view of the glass elements 1 and 2 in the assembled state is shown in FIG. 1c, with the rectangular parallelepiped form of the first glass element and the plate form of the second glass element being easily visible. The weld seam 4 (not shown) running below the metallic material 12 seals the inner space 3 with respect to the environment 5 in a gastight manner.

[0064] Repeating features are provided with the same reference numerals in the Figures.

[0065] An exemplary method routine of a glass-glass connection is shown in FIGS. 2a to 2d.

[0066] A detail of a glass element 1 is shown in FIG. 2a. The material and the properties of the glass element shown can correspond to those of the glass element of FIG. 1.

[0067] In a next step, that is shown in FIG. 2b, the glass element 1 is prepared in that silver ions 121 are introduced into the glass element 1 by means of ion exchange. Different ions can naturally be introduced additionally or alternatively into the glass element 1 in other embodiments.

[0068] Ions from a solid phase, for example in the form of a metal foil or a metal film, can be used, for example. Metallic foils comprising silver and/or copper and/or gold are suitable for this, for example.

[0069] Alternatively, ions from a liquid phase, for example from molten salts, can be used. Sodium ions, potassium ions, lithium ions, silver ions, and/or copper ions are suitable for this, for example.

[0070] Sol-gels can alternatively be used, for example silver pastes (silver nano ink).

[0071] An ion implantation can be provided instead of an ion exchange. Silver ions, sodium ions, potassium ions, magnesium ions, lithium ions, copper ions, and/or gold ions are suitable for this, for example.

[0072] It is shown in FIG. 2c that the silver ions are reduced to metallic silver 122 at the cathode side. For this purpose, the glass is coated with metal on both sides and an electrical field is applied to the metal surfaces. The silver ions are reduced to metallic silver by thermal and electrical energy. Additionally or alternatively, the silver ions can be reduced thermally, chemically, and/or by means of radiation (electromagnetic, ionic, with electrons).

[0073] A further glass element 1′ that corresponds to that of FIG. 2c is placed onto the first glass element 1 such that the regions in which the metallic silver is arranged contact one another. Energy 6 is introduced locally by a laser. This produces energy absorption in the region of the metallic silver 122 and a locally heated region 7. In the locally heated region 7, the first glass element 1 and the glass element 1′ melt at least partially so that a weld seam 4 is formed and the first glass element 1 and the glass element 1′ are joined together with material continuity.

[0074] Different modules of glass can thus be connected to one another with material continuity without using auxiliary agents between the glass surfaces. In addition, the high conductivity of the silver structures can be used to be able to electrically contact hermetically closed regions.

[0075] The approach proposed for this combines two phenomena here: the local variation of the radiation absorption close to the surface and the welding by means of laser technology. The combinations enables the high local precision of the connection point and the considerable reduction of the radiation intensity. Highly miniaturized structures at low temperatures are therefore made possible. The light power of the laser used here can be sufficiently small that no substantial changes are produced in the glass. The selectivity of the welding process can be restricted by the geometrical accuracy of the silver structures. In addition, a comparatively higher possible working distance can be made possible by the present method that can in particular be important for the joining within a large vacuum chamber.