EP2101996A1

EP2101996A1 - Translucent panel for connecting electronic components

Info

Publication number: EP2101996A1
Application number: EP07857761A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Antoine Luijkx; Kadosa Hevesi
Original assignee: AGC Glass Europe SA
Current assignee: AGC Glass Europe SA
Priority date: 2006-12-21
Filing date: 2007-12-18
Publication date: 2009-09-23
Also published as: TW200842028A; WO2008080834A1; EA200900856A1; EP1935633A1; EA016719B1

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a translucent panel for connecting electronic components consisting of a first step of deposition, on a translucent substrate, of a base electroconducting translucent layer, followed by a sequence of steps with the alternating depositions of isolating layers and conducting layers. A translucent panel for connecting electronic components comprising a translucent glass substrate coated with a base electroconducting layer, and on top thereof a stack of translucent layers with alternating translucent isolating layers and layers comprising conducting translucent zones. Use of the panel to build an electronic translucent circuit comprising electronic components.

Description

Translucent panel to connect electronic components

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a translucent panel for connecting electronic components and the panel obtained by this method.

Panel manufacturing methods are known for connecting electronic components, particularly mono or multilayer printed circuit boards. These panels, however, are formed of insulating opaque substrates and conductive copper tracks.

The invention is directed to a method of manufacturing a connection panel of electronic components, possibly multilayer, which is translucent.

For this purpose, the invention relates to a manufacturing method as defined in claim 1.

Thus, the invention particularly relates to a method of manufacturing a translucent panel for connecting electronic components, the method comprising a first step of depositing on a translucent substrate, a translucent electroconductive base layer, followed by at least one once the sequence of the following four steps:

a) temporary masking, by means of a mask, of a portion of the surface of the substrate on which the base conductive layer is deposited;

b) depositing a permanent insulating translucent layer on the surface covered by the base conductive layer, masked or not in the previous step;

c) removing the temporary masking material and the insulating material which covers it, so as to discover a first contact zone extending over the exposed surface by removing the mask adjacent to an insulating area extending over the remainder of the panel surface;

d) depositing an additional electroconductive translucent layer on at least a portion of said insulating area to form a second contact area extending over said remainder of the panel surface.

The dependent claims define other possible embodiments of the invention, some of which are preferred.

Preferably, the step of depositing an additional electroconductive translucent layer on at least a portion of said insulating zone comprises the following steps:

additional masking of a portion of the panel surface;

deposition of the additional electroconductive translucent layer over the entire surface of the panel; and

removing the additional masking material and the portion of the additional electroconductive translucent layer which covers it, so as to discover the second contact area.

Advantageously, the sequence of the four steps a) to d) is repeated at least once, the additional translucent electroconductive layer of a current sequence serving as a translucent electroconductive base layer for a following sequence, not realizing, from the first repetition, the step of masking a) only on one of said first and second contact areas.

The manufacturing method according to the invention provides a translucent panel. By translucent panel is meant both a panel completely transparent to visible light that a panel transmitting only one part of this visible light and having a haze in transmission which exceeds 5%.

The veil of a translucent medium is measured in light transmission and is directly related to the scattering of light in directions other than incident light radiation. The measurement of the diffuse transmission coefficient is therefore often taken for an estimation of the haze of a transparent medium coated with a reflective layer.

The diffuse transmission coefficient is generally measured with a spectrophotometer equipped with an integrating sphere. A spectrophotometer of Perkin-Elmer® 900 type gave excellent results. The panel whose web must be measured is applied tangentially to the sphere so as to close a small opening of its surface. A monochromatic incident ray delivered by a monochromator device of the spectrophotometer is directed to the sample to be measured closing the opening in the sphere, along a perpendicular to the surface of the sample. An opposing aperture in the sphere in the direction of the direction of the incident light allows the output of the transmitted light beam through the sample panel, the sphere trapping all diffuse light rays reflected in any other direction. A photoelectric sensor located elsewhere on the surface of the sphere measures at an angle of observation of 10 ° the total diffuse monochromatic light integrated by the sphere. The diffuse transmission coefficient Tvd is then calculated as follows, by integrating all the monochromatic diffuse lights over the entire range of wavelengths of the visible spectrum:

780nm

Σ T _vd (λ) * _V (λ) * D65 (λ)

T - λ = 380 ι vd 780nm

Σ V (λ) * D65 (λ)

OR, T _vd (λ) is the total spectral diffuse light,

V (λ) is the spectral light sensitivity of an average human eye

and D65 (λ) is the relative spectral distribution of the normalized illuminant

"D65".

According to the invention, the manufactured panel is intended to connect electronic circuits. The connections are established between the various circuits distributed on at least one face of the panel, preferably on one side of the panel.

A first step of the process consists of depositing on a translucent substrate. Rigid substrates are preferred. By rigid substrate is meant here a solid body of flat shape, that is to say of small thickness compared to its other dimensions and mechanical resistance to bending stress and sufficient torsion not to deform under the action external stresses that are commonly encountered in the environment in which the panel is generally used. In particular, the rigid substrates used generally withstand the wind, and bad weather in general, found in the environments where these panels are used, including ice and snow. The substrate may be in the form of a rigid plate made of a single material or on the contrary be the result of an assembly of several sheets or plates of the same material or different materials glued or welded to each other. Examples are plates made of plastic or translucent glass. Transparent materials at wavelengths of the visible light spectrum are preferred. Among these, traditional inorganic glasses are preferred, in particular soda-lime glasses. Preferably, the substrate comprises at least one glass sheet.

According to the process according to the invention, the first deposition step on the substrate is followed by at least one sequence of four steps. The sequence is carried out only once in cases where it is desired to manufacture a panel on which the connections between the electronic components are made by conductive layer portions located in the same plane. The sequence can also be repeated if it is desired to manufacture a panel comprising connections made by conductive layer portions located in several different planes arranged in a stack.

The four stages of the sequence are as follows:

1. temporary masking of a portion of the surface covered by a conductive layer;

2. Deposition of a permanent insulating translucent layer on the surface covered by a conductive layer, masked or not in the previous step;

3. removal of the temporary masking material and the insulating material which covers it, so as to discover a contact zone alongside an insulating zone;

Depositing an additional conductive translucent layer on the insulating zone to form another contact zone.

In step a) of the sequence, at least a portion of the surface of the panel covered by a conductive layer is masked. This masking is temporary, that is to say that it is achieved by means of any material or system that allows its easy removal. One example is the masking by means of an electrically insulating self-adhesive film, for example a film or strips of flexible plastic material coated with a peelable adhesive. Step a) can directly follow the first deposition step on the translucent substrate, for example when the sequence is performed only once or during the first execution of the sequence. In step b), a translucent insulating layer is deposited on the surface covered by the conductive layer, whether or not it has been masked during step a). This translucent insulating layer is a permanent layer, for example a layer of SiO ₂ .

In step c), the masking material deposited in step a) and the insulating material covering it are removed, for example by peeling or tearing off the film or plastic strips bonded to at least a portion of the surface. of the panel covered with a conductive layer. At least one conductive contact zone is thus exposed at the sides of at least one insulating zone.

In step d) which follows, an additional conductive translucent layer is deposited on the insulating zone. This conductive layer is a permanent layer generally obtained by magnetron sputtering under vacuum.

In a particular embodiment of the method according to the invention, the sequence of the four steps a) to d) is repeated at least once by performing, from the first repetition, the masking step a) only on a only contact areas.

In another embodiment of the process according to the invention, between the first deposition step on the translucent substrate and the step a) of the first sequence, a groove etching step is inserted in the base conductive layer. to form, by removal of the material of this conductive layer, at least two electric conduction tracks and that is inserted, in at least one of the sequences, between step c) and step d) a new masking step with strips extending from one edge to the other of the panel in a direction different from that of the conduction tracks so as to cover the contact areas and the connection areas and that the last step d) of depositing a conductive layer by a new step of removing the temporary masking material and the conductive material which covers it. According to this other embodiment, in step a) a plurality of remote zones centered on each of the conduction tracks are masked.

Preferably, it is arranged that the direction of the bands of the new temporary masking step and the direction of the conduction tracks form an angle of at least 30 degrees. Advantageously, this angle is 90 degrees.

The removal of the conductive layer material from the groove-etching process is advantageously accomplished by scanning through this layer a laser beam.

In the first step, a translucent base electroconductive layer is deposited on the panel. By electroconductive layer is meant an electroconductive layer of the pyrolytic type or obtained by vacuum magnetron sputtering ("magnetron sputtering").

In a first embodiment of the invention, the electroconductive layer is a pyrolytic layer deposited on the surface of a glass sheet at temperatures ranging from 500 to 750 ^° C. Preferably, the conductive pyrolytic layer has been deposited at temperatures of 570 to 660 ^° C. A layer of this type can be deposited directly on the hot glass ribbon, at the exit of the step in which the molten glass floats on the surface of a liquid metal tin bath in the well known manufacturing process of float glass. Deposition can be done by spraying (spraying) fine drops of liquid or by chemical vapor deposition. Advantageously, the pyrolytic layer is a chemically deposited layer in the vapor phase. Generally, the nature of this pyrolytic layer is essentially SnO ₂ doped with fluorine and / or antimony. A pyrolytic layer consisting essentially of fluorine doped SnO ₂ gave excellent results. The thickness of this pyrolytic layer must be carefully adapted to provide adequate surface electrical resistance. Thicknesses of the pyrolytic layer should advantageously be from 250 to 500 nm. A thickness of about 300 nm gave excellent results. The surface resistance of a conductive layer adapted to the invention is from 0.5 to 50 Ω / D. Preferably, this resistance is 0.8 to 15 Ω / D. Surface resistances of 1 to 12 Ω / D gave excellent results.

When applied to clear glass (4 mm thick), the light transmission of such a pyrolytic conductive layer is generally not less than 50% and preferably not less than 75%, the measurement being made under standard illuminant D65 by the CIE (International Commission for Lighting) and with a solid angle of 2 °. Layers providing a light transmission of 76 to 79% gave excellent results.

In this embodiment, the conductive layer has a total surface roughness of 20 to 40 nm and preferably 20 to 30 nm. Total surface roughness (R ₁ ) means the sum of the greatest height of the protuberances (R _prot ) and the greatest depth of the wells (R _prt ) measured with the aid of an atomic force microscope. The latter delivers individual heights h ^ for each point of the surface in two perpendicular directions i and j. R _t can be calculated as follows:

R t = T -L? Vprot + T -L? Vpit

or :

R pit min jh _ff - h _mean

Where N is the total number of measurements. Any known method can be used to achieve this surface roughness. Good results have been obtained with a "float" glass coated with an electroconductive layer which has been mechanically polished with abrasives for the time necessary to obtain the desired roughness.

In a second embodiment of the electroconductive base layer, the latter is a layer obtained by magnetron sputtering (magnetron sputtering). For example, the layer may be a soft layer consisting of a stack of the following elementary layers:

TiO ₂ / ZnO / Ag / Ti / ZnO / SnO ₂

The surface resistance of these soft layers is generally from 1 to 20 Ω / D and preferably from 1 to 10 Ω / D. A surface resistance value of 5 Ω / D gave excellent results.

When applied to clear glass (4 mm thick), the light transmission of such a conductive layer is generally not less than

40% and preferably not less than 80%, the measurement being made under standard illuminant D65 by the CIE (International Commission on Illumination) and with a solid angle of 2 °.

The magnetron conductive layer may also consist of a stack which comprises an Al-doped Zn electroconductive layer or an Sn-doped Indium oxide ("ITO" layer) layer. The surface resistance of these layers is about 4 to 50 Ω / D and preferably about 4 to 15 Ω / D.

The light transmission of such a conductive layer applied to clear glass (4 mm thick) is generally not less than 80% and, preferably 84%, the measurement being made under standard illuminant D65 by the CIE (Commission International Lighting) and with a solid angle of 2 °. Pyrolytic layers are generally preferred to magnetron layers because of their higher mechanical resistance to scratching.

According to the invention, the additional conductive translucent layers are most often layers resulting from a vacuum sputtering ("magnetron sputtering").

The invention also relates to a translucent panel for connecting electronic components.

For this purpose, the invention relates to a panel as defined in claim 13.

According to the invention, the translucent panel comprises a translucent glass substrate.

By translucent glass is meant, as in the process according to the invention, both a glass completely transparent to visible light and a glass transmitting only part of this visible light and having a haze ("haze"). ") in transmission exceeding 5%.

In general terms, in the panel according to the invention, it is intended to give the terms used the same meaning as that given to the corresponding terms used to define and describe the method according to the invention.

The translucent glass according to the panel according to the invention is preferably a clear glass not colored in the mass.

It is also preferred that in this panel, the electroconductive base layer is a translucent pyrolytic layer deposited by liquid spray.

As a variant, this electroconductive base layer may also be a translucent pyrolytic layer deposited by the CVD technique. This layer is for example a SnO ₂ layer doped with fluorine and / or antimony. In another non preferred variant, the electroconductive base layer may also result from a vacuum sputtering ("magnetron sputtering").

Most often, the conductive areas of the layers of the stack other than the base layer result from a vacuum sputtering ("magnetron sputtering"). For example, these layers are themselves a stack of elementary layers TiO ₂ / ZnO / Ag / Ti / ZnO / SnO ₂ .

The invention finally also relates to the use of the panel according to the invention which has just been described to produce a transparent electronic circuit comprising electronic components.

In particular, this panel is used to produce a transparent electronic circuit comprising light emitting diodes (LEDs).

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a translucent panel for connecting electronic components, characterized in that it comprises a first step of depositing on a translucent substrate, a translucent electroconductive base layer, followed by at least once the sequence of the following four steps:

c) removing the temporary masking material and the insulating material which covers it, so as to discover a first contact zone extending over the surface left exposed by the withdrawal of the mask at the sides of an insulating zone; extending over the rest of the panel surface;

2. A method of manufacturing a translucent panel according to the preceding claim characterized in that said step of depositing an additional electroconductive translucent layer on at least a portion of said insulating zone comprises the following steps:

additional masking of a portion of the panel surface;

deposition of the additional electroconductive translucent layer over the entire surface of the panel; and removing the additional masking material and the portion of the additional electroconductive translucent layer which covers it, so as to discover the second contact area.

3. A method of manufacturing a translucent panel according to the preceding claim characterized in that the sequence of the four steps a) to d) is repeated at least once, the additional translucent electroconductive layer of a current sequence serving as a translucent electroconductive layer. for the next sequence, by performing, from the first repetition, the masking step a) only on one of said first and second contact zones.

4. A method of manufacturing a translucent panel according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that between the first step of deposition on the translucent substrate and step a) of the first sequence, an etching step grooves in the base conductive layer to form, by removal of the material of this base conductive layer, at least two electrical conduction tracks.

5. A method of manufacturing a translucent panel according to the preceding claim, characterized in that in step a) masks a plurality of remote zones centered on each of the conduction tracks.

6. A method of manufacturing a translucent panel according to any one of claims 3 and 4, characterized in that the direction of the bands of the new step of temporary masking and the direction of the conduction tracks form an angle of at least 30 degrees .

7. A method of manufacturing a translucent panel according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the angle is 90 degrees.

8. A method of manufacturing a translucent panel according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that, in the etching step of furrows, the removal of material in the conductive layer is carried out by burning the conductive material of the base layer at the intervention of scanning by a laser beam.

9. A method of manufacturing a translucent panel according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the electroconductive base layer is a translucent pyrolytic layer deposited by liquid spray.

10. A method of manufacturing a translucent panel according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the electroconductive base layer is a translucent pyrolytic layer deposited by the CVD technique.

11. A method of manufacturing a translucent panel according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the basic translucent electroconductive layer results from a vacuum sputtering ("magnetron sputtering").

12. A method of manufacturing a translucent panel according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the additional conductive translucent layers are layers resulting from a vacuum sputtering ("magnetron sputtering").

13. Translucent panel for connecting electronic components, characterized in that it comprises a translucent glass substrate covered by an electroconductive base layer and a stack of translucent layers over alternating translucent insulating layers and layers comprising conductive zones. translucent.

14. Translucent panel according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the translucent glass is a clear glass not colored in the mass.

15. Translucent panel according to any one of claims 12 and 13, characterized in that the electroconductive base layer is a translucent pyrolytic layer deposited by liquid spray.

16. translucent panel according to any one of claims 12 and 13, characterized in that the electroconductive base layer is a translucent pyrolytic layer deposited by the CVD technique.

17. Translucent panel according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the electroconductive base layer is a SnO ₂ layer doped with fluorine and / or antimony.

18. translucent panel according to any one of claims 12 and 13, characterized in that the electroconductive base layer results from a vacuum sputtering ("magnetron sputtering").

19. translucent panel according to any one of claims 12 to 17, characterized in that the conductive areas of the layers of the stack other than the base layer result from a vacuum sputtering ("magnetron sputtering").

20. translucent panel according to any one of claims 12 to 18, characterized in that at least one of the magnetron layers is itself constituted by a stack of elementary layers TiO ₂ / ZnO / Ag / Ti / ZnO / SnO ₂ .

21. Use of the panel according to any one of the claims

12 to 19 for producing a transparent electronic circuit comprising electronic components.

22. Use of the panel according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the electronic components present on the panel comprise light emitting diodes (LED's).