TW201500189A - Temperature assisted processing of flexible glass substrates - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of processing a flexible glass substrate includes providing a substrate stack comprising the flexible glass substrate bonded to a carrier substrate. A perimeter portion of the flexible glass substrate is heated to a temperature greater than that of a device portion of the flexible glass substrate using a heating fixture that transmits heat to the perimeter portion thereby creating a thermal gradient between the perimeter portion and the device portion and introducing tensile forces within the perimeter portion. The tensile forces separate the device portion of the flexible glass substrate from the perimeter portion along a score line.

Description

Temperature assisted processing of flexible glass substrates [Cross-reference to related applications]

The present application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 61/8, 317, filed on Apr. 29, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for processing a thin substrate on a carrier substrate, and more particularly to a thin substrate of flexible glass on a carrier substrate.

Today, flexible plastic films are commonly used in photovoltaic (PV), organic light-emitting diode (OLED), liquid crystal display (LCD), touch sensors, flexible electronic products, and patterned thin film transistors (TFT). ) in the associated flexible electronic device.

Flexible glass substrates offer a number of technical advantages over flexible plastic technology. One technical advantage is the ability of glass to be used as a moisture or gas barrier (the main degradation mechanism in OLED displays, OLED lighting devices, and organic photovoltaic devices). A second advantage is that the flexible glass substrate can reduce overall package size (thickness) and weight by reducing or eliminating one or more package substrate layers. Capability. Other advantages of flexible glass substrates include benefits in optical transmission, dimensional stability, thermal properties, and surface quality.

Panel manufacturers face many challenges in handling and adapting to thinner/flexible glass substrates due to the demand for thinner/flexible glass substrates (less than 0.3 mm thick) in the electronic display industry. One option is to process thicker glass sheets and then etch or polish the panels to a thin overall net thickness. This enables the use of existing panel manufacturing infrastructure based on 0.3 mm thick or thicker substrates, but adds processing costs at the end of the process, along with potential yield reductions. The second method is to recreate the existing panel process for thinner substrates. The glass loss in the process is primarily a major disturbance and will require significant capital for minimizing processing losses in the wafer-to-sheet process based on unsupported flexible glass substrates. The third method utilizes a roll processing technique or a technique based on roll processing for a thin flexible glass substrate.

What is needed is a carrier method based on a rigid substrate of 0.3 mm or thicker utilizing the manufacturer's existing major infrastructure and making it possible to process thin flexible glass substrates, i.e. having a thickness of no more than about 0.3 mm thick Glass. In the carrier process, portions of the flexible glass or flexible glass must be extracted from the carrier. However, electronic devices or other structures have been built on the flexible glass during extraction. Therefore, there is a need for a method of extracting a desired portion without damaging the structure that has been built on the flexible glass.

The present extraction concept involves heating only a portion (eg, a perimeter) of the flexible glass substrate via the carrier substrate with a heating device. The heating device forms a sufficient temperature gradient between the device portion of the flexible glass substrate and the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate without partially overheating the device to separate the flexible glass substrate The device part and the peripheral part.

A commercial advantage of the method is that the manufacturer will be able to leverage the existing capital investment of the manufacturer's processing equipment while obtaining access to, for example, PV, OLED, LCD, touch sensors, flexible electronic products, and patterned thin film transistors. (TFT) Advantages of thin glass sheets for electronic products.

According to a first aspect, a method of processing a flexible glass substrate includes the steps of providing a substrate stack comprising a flexible glass substrate bonded to a carrier substrate; and transferring heat to the flexible glass substrate The peripheral portion of the heating means heats the peripheral portion to a temperature greater than the temperature of the device portion of the flexible glass substrate, thereby forming a thermal gradient between the peripheral portion and the device portion and introducing a tensile force into the peripheral portion, the tensile force being along the scratch The wire separates the device portion and the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate, thereby minimizing damage of the edge of the device portion due to thermal expansion of the peripheral portion.

According to a second aspect, the method of aspect 1 is provided, the method further comprising the step of heating the heating tool with a heat source that transfers heat to the carrier substrate.

According to a third aspect, the method of aspect 2 is provided wherein the step of transferring heat is by convection.

According to a fourth aspect, the method of any of aspects 1 to 3 is provided, the method further comprising the step of: using a heat shield to suppress heating of the device portion during heating of the peripheral portion.

According to the fifth aspect, the method of any of the aspects 1 to 4 is provided, The method further includes the step of scratching the flexible glass substrate along a boundary between the peripheral portion and the device portion.

According to a sixth aspect, the method of any of aspects 1 to 5 is provided, the method further comprising the step of bonding the flexible glass substrate to the carrier substrate.

According to a seventh aspect, there is provided a method of aspect 6, the method comprising the steps of: bonding a flexible glass substrate to a carrier substrate in a peripheral portion, and bonding between the flexible glass substrate and the carrier substrate in the peripheral portion The strength is greater than the bonding strength between the flexible glass substrate and the carrier substrate in the device portion.

According to an eighth aspect, the method of any of aspects 1 to 7, wherein the step of heating the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate to a temperature greater than a temperature of the device portion includes the step of heating the peripheral portion To temperatures greater than about 100 ° C, the device portion has a temperature of less than 100 °C.

According to a ninth aspect, a method of processing a flexible glass substrate includes the steps of: providing a substrate stack comprising a flexible glass substrate bonded to a carrier substrate; and scratching the flexible glass substrate along the scribe line, The scribe line defines a peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate and the device portion; the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate is heated to a temperature greater than about 100 ° C, and the device portion has a temperature of less than 100 ° C, so that the peripheral portion and the device portion Forming a thermal gradient between; and The device portion and the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate are separated along the score line.

According to a tenth aspect, the method of aspect 9, wherein the step of heating the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate comprises the step of heating the heating tool with a heat source, the heating tool transferring heat to the carrier substrate.

According to an eleventh aspect, the method of aspect 9 or aspect 10 is provided, wherein the step of heating the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate is by convection.

According to a twelfth aspect, the method of any of aspects 9 to 11 is provided, the method further comprising the step of suppressing heating of the device portion using the heat shield during heating of the peripheral portion.

According to a thirteenth aspect, the method of any of aspects 9 to 12 is provided, the method further comprising the step of bonding the flexible glass substrate to the carrier substrate.

According to a fourteenth aspect, a method of the aspect 13 is provided, the method comprising the steps of: bonding a flexible glass substrate to a carrier substrate in a peripheral portion, and between the flexible glass substrate and the carrier substrate in the peripheral portion The joint strength is greater than the joint strength between the flexible glass substrate and the carrier substrate in the device portion.

According to a fifteenth aspect, a method of processing a flexible glass substrate comprises the steps of positioning a heating tool on a heating plate, the heating tool comprising at least one wall member having at least one contact with the heating plate a lower support surface and at least one upper support surface; the substrate stack is positioned on a support surface above the heating tool, the base The board stack includes a flexible glass substrate bonded to the carrier substrate; and heating the heating tool by using a heating plate to heat the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate to a temperature greater than a temperature of the device portion of the flexible glass substrate, Thereby a thermal gradient is formed between the peripheral portion and the device portion and a pulling force is introduced into the peripheral portion.

According to a sixteenth aspect, the method of aspect 15 is provided, wherein the step of heating the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate is by convection.

According to a seventeenth aspect, the method of aspect 15 or aspect 16 is provided, the method further comprising the step of using a heat shield to inhibit heating of the device portion during heating of the peripheral portion.

According to an eighteenth aspect, the method of any one of aspects 15 to 17 is provided, the method further comprising the step of: scratching the flexible glass substrate along a boundary between the peripheral portion and the device portion.

According to a nineteenth aspect, the method of any of aspects 15 to 18 is provided, the method further comprising the step of bonding the flexible glass substrate to the carrier substrate.

According to a twentieth aspect, there is provided a method of aspect 19, the method comprising the steps of: bonding a flexible glass substrate to a carrier substrate in a peripheral portion, and between the flexible glass substrate and the carrier substrate in the peripheral portion The joint strength is greater than the joint strength between the flexible glass substrate and the carrier substrate in the device portion.

According to a twenty-first aspect, the method of any one of aspects 15 to 20, wherein the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate is heated to be larger than the device The step of partially temperature of the temperature includes the steps of heating the peripheral portion to a temperature greater than about 100 ° C and the device portion having a temperature less than 100 ° C.

Additional features and advantages will be set forth in the <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; The invention as defined in the scope of the patent application is recognized. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention The drawings illustrate one or more embodiments and, together with the It is to be understood that the various features of the invention disclosed in the specification and drawings may be used in any and all combinations.

10‧‧‧Substrate stacking

12‧‧‧ Carrier substrate

14‧‧‧glass support surface

16‧‧‧Support surface

Around 18‧‧

20‧‧‧Flexible glass substrate

22‧‧‧First wide surface

24‧‧‧ second wide surface

25‧‧‧Combined thickness

26‧‧‧around

28‧‧‧ thickness

30‧‧‧ joint layer

32‧‧‧ peripheral parts

34‧‧‧Device section

40‧‧‧Joint and device extraction methods

42‧‧‧Steps

44‧‧‧Steps

46‧‧‧Steps

47‧‧‧Energy input

48‧‧‧Steps

49‧‧‧heat shield

50‧‧‧ steps

52‧‧‧Steps

60‧‧‧breaking line

100‧‧‧heating equipment

102‧‧‧heat source

104‧‧‧Hot board

106‧‧‧heating tools

108‧‧‧Heating and support parts

110‧‧‧Upper support surface

112‧‧‧ lower support surface

114‧‧‧ outer peripheral surface

116‧‧‧ inner peripheral surface

118‧‧‧ wall parts

120‧‧‧Insulation shield

122‧‧‧Support board

124‧‧‧First insulation

126‧‧‧Second insulation

128‧‧‧ surface

130‧‧‧ surface

132‧‧‧ gap

134‧‧‧ gap

150‧‧‧Substrate stacking

152‧‧‧ arrow

154‧‧‧ Carrier substrate

156‧‧‧Flexible glass substrate

158‧‧‧ peripheral parts

160‧‧‧Device section

162‧‧‧ device

164‧‧‧Fracture line/scratch line

170‧‧‧ arrow

172‧‧‧ arrow

1 is a side view of an embodiment of a substrate stack including a flexible glass substrate carried by a carrier substrate; FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the substrate stack of FIG. 1; and FIG. 3 is a view of the processing of FIG. An embodiment of a method of stacking a flexible glass substrate and a substrate; FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a heating apparatus; FIG. 5 illustrates a separate perspective view of the heating apparatus of FIG. 4; and FIG. 6 is a fourth diagram A schematic of the operation of the heating apparatus; and Figure 7 illustrates an exemplary glass temperature distribution using the heating apparatus of Figure 4.

The embodiments described herein are generally directed to the treatment of flexible glass substrates (sometimes referred to herein as device substrates). The flexible glass substrate can be a portion of a substrate stack that generally includes a carrier substrate and a flexible glass substrate bonded to the carrier substrate. As will be described in more detail below, one portion (eg, the perimeter) of the flexible glass substrate is heated by the heating device via the carrier substrate. The heating device forms a sufficient temperature gradient between the device portion of the flexible glass substrate and the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate without overheating the device portion. The device portion of the flexible glass substrate is protected from a certain amount of heating and maintained at a relatively low temperature to avoid damaging the device portion, while the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate is heated to cause expansion and tension around the device portion. Take out from the carrier substrate. For convenience and ease of description, only one device portion and one perimeter are illustrated on any particular flexible glass sheet throughout the specification and drawings. However, there may be any suitable number of device portions, including an array of device portions disposed on a flexible glass sheet, wherein one or more of the device portions are surrounded by a peripheral portion. In other words, the peripheral portion does not have to be coextensive with the perimeter at the outer boundary of the flexible glass sheet, although in some cases it may be.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the substrate stack 10 includes a carrier substrate 12 and a flexible glass substrate 20. The carrier substrate 12 has a glass support surface 14, an opposing support surface 16 and a perimeter 18. The flexible glass substrate 20 has a first wide surface 22, an opposite second wide surface 24, and a perimeter 26. The flexible glass substrate 20 can be "extremely thin" having a thickness 28 of about 0.3 mm or less, including but not limited to the following thicknesses: for example, from about 0.01 mm to 0.05 mm, about 0.05 mm. To 0.1 mm, about 0.1 mm to 0.15 mm, and about 0.15 mm to 0.3 mm, or for example, 0.3 mm, 0.29 mm, 0.28 mm, 0.275 mm, 0.27 mm, 0.26 mm, 0.25 mm, 0.24 mm, 0.23 mm, 0.225 mm 0.20mm, 0.21mm, 0.20mm, 0.19mm, 0.18mm, 0.17mm, 0.16mm, 0.15mm, 0.14mm, 0.13mm, 0.12mm, 0.11mm, 0.10mm, 0.09mm, 0.08mm, 0.07mm, 0.06 Mm, 0.05 mm, 0.04 mm, 0.03 mm, 0.02 mm or 0.01 mm.

The flexible glass substrate 20 is bonded to the glass support surface 14 of the carrier substrate 12 at a first wide surface 22 of the flexible glass substrate 20 using a bonding layer 30. The bonding layer can be formed of any suitable bonding material, such as an organic bonding material or an inorganic bonding material. As shown, the bonding material of bonding layer 30 is positioned on perimeter 18 and perimeter 26 of carrier substrate 12 and flexible glass substrate 20. The location of the bonding material can define a peripheral portion 32 of the flexible glass substrate 20 above the bonding material and a center or device portion 34 located within the peripheral portion 32. When the carrier substrate 12 and the flexible glass substrate 20 are bonded to each other by the bonding layer 30, the combined thickness 25 of the substrate stack 10 can be compared with the thickness of the flexible glass substrate 20, and a single glass substrate having an increased thickness. Again, this thickness can be applied to use with existing plant processing infrastructure. For example, if the processing equipment of the device processing infrastructure is designed for a 0.7 mm piece and the flexible glass substrate 20 has a thickness of 0.3 mm, the thickness of the carrier substrate 12 can be selected to be somewhat less than 0.4 mm. For example, it depends on the thickness of the bonding layer 30. However, in some embodiments, the bonding layer 30 may not be used. For example, the flexible glass substrate 20 can be directly bonded to the carrier substrate 12 using electrostatic force, covalent force, or van der Waals force. The carrier substrate 12 can be surface modified (eg, etched, Scratches, etc. spacers or other materials, for example, various coatings (eg, adhesives or other materials having reduced adhesion to the flexible glass substrate 20) may be applied at selected locations (eg, one or The plurality of device portions 32 are below) to inhibit bonding between the flexible glass substrate 20 and the carrier substrate 12 in these regions.

Carrier substrate 12 can have any suitable material (including, for example, glass, glass ceramic, or ceramic) and can be transparent or non-transparent. If the carrier substrate 12 is made of glass, the carrier substrate 12 can have any suitable composition, including aluminosilicate, borosilicate, aluminoboronate, sodium calcium silicate, and the final of the carrier substrate 12 Application is alkali-containing or alkali-free. The carrier substrate 12 may have a thickness of about 0.2 mm to 3 mm, for example, 0.2 mm, 0.3 mm, 0.4 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.6 mm, 0.65 mm, 0.7 mm, 1.0 mm, 2.0 mm, or 3 mm, and the thickness may be flexible. The thickness of the glass substrate 20 depends on the thickness 28 as described above. Additionally, the carrier substrate 12 can be made from one layer (as shown) or a plurality of layers (including a plurality of sheets) joined together to form a portion of the substrate stack 10.

The flexible glass substrate 20 described herein can have a thickness of about 0.3 mm or less, including but not limited to the following thicknesses: for example, from about 0.01 mm to 0.05 mm, from about 0.05 mm to 0.1 mm, from about 0.1 mm to 0.15 mm, about 0.15 mm to 0.3 mm, including 0.3 mm, 0.275 mm, 0.25 mm, 0.225 mm, 0.2 mm, 0.19 mm, 0.18 mm, 0.17 mm, 0.16 mm, 0.15 mm, 0.14 mm, 0.13 mm, 0.12 mm, 0.11 mm, 0.10 mm, 0.09 mm, 0.08 mm, 0.07 mm, 0.06 mm, 0.05 mm, 0.04 mm, 0.03 mm, 0.02 mm or 0.01 mm. The flexible glass substrate can be made of glass, Glass ceramic, ceramic material or a composite of the above; for convenience, the term "flexible glass substrate" or "glass layer" can be used throughout the specification, wherein, alternatively, the substrate or layer can be any Made of other materials. A fusion process (eg, a pull down process) that forms a high quality flexible glass substrate can be used to form a flexible glass substrate. The flexible glass substrate produced in the fusion process can have a surface having excellent flatness and smoothness when compared with glass sheets produced by other methods. The fusion process is described in U.S. Patent Nos. 3,338,696 and 3,682,609. Other suitable flexible glass substrate forming methods include a float process, a pull-up process, and a slot draw process. The flexible glass substrate 20 can have the same size and/or shape as the carrier substrate 12 or have different sizes and/or shapes.

Referring to FIG. 3, the joint and device portion extraction method 40 is illustrated as part of the processing of the flexible glass substrate 20. At step 42, carrier substrate 12 and flexible glass substrate 20 are selected based on, for example, the size, thickness, material, and/or end use of carrier substrate 12 and flexible glass substrate 20. Once the carrier substrate 12 and the flexible glass substrate 20 are selected, at step 44, the bonding layer 30 can be applied to one or both of the glass support surface 14 and the first wide surface 22 of the flexible glass substrate 20. Peripheral (and/or other locations). Alternatively, the flexible substrate 20 can be bonded directly to the carrier substrate 12, as described above. Any suitable method can be used to coat the bonding layer 30, for example, one or more of a pressurized coating, for example, via a nozzle, diffusion, melting, spin casting, spray coating, dipping, vacuum or atmospheric deposition, and the like.

At step 46, the flexible glass substrate 20 is adhered or otherwise bonded to the carrier substrate 12 using the bonding layer 30. To achieve a flexible glass substrate The bonding strength between the 20 and the carrier substrate 12, the bonding material forming the bonding layer 30 may be heated, cooled, dried, mixed with other materials, and induced by reaction, for example, pressure may be applied. To achieve reduced bond strength at the device portion of the flexible glass substrate 20, any suitable releasable material can be used to surface modify the carrier substrate 12. As used herein, "bonding strength" refers to any one or more of dynamic shear strength, dynamic peel strength, static shear strength, static peel strength, and combinations of the above. For example, the peel strength is a per-unit width necessary to induce cracking (static) by a stress applied to one or both of the flexible glass substrate and the carrier substrate in a peeling mode and/or to maintain a specific breaking rate (dynamic). force. The shear strength is the per-unit width necessary to induce cracking (static) and/or to maintain a specific breaking rate (dynamic) in a shear mode by application to one or both of the flexible glass substrate and the carrier substrate. force. Any suitable method can be used to determine the joint strength, including any suitable peel and/or shear strength tests.

Steps 48 and 50 relate to detaching the device from the flexible glass substrate 20 and/or from the carrier substrate 12 such that the device portion of the flexible glass substrate 20 can be removed from the carrier substrate 12. Before and/or after the device portion of the flexible glass substrate 20 is released from the carrier substrate 12, the flexible glass substrate 20 can be processed, for example, when forming a display device, such as an LCD, OLED or TFT electronic product or other Electronic devices, such as touch sensors or photovoltaics. For example, an electrical component or color filter can be applied to the second wide surface 24 of the flexible glass substrate 20 (Figs. 1 and 2). Additionally, the final electronic component can be assembled or combined with the flexible glass substrate 20 prior to releasing the desired portion from the carrier substrate 12. For example, an additional film or glass substrate can be layered to be flexible The surface or electrical component (e.g., flexible circuit or IC) of the glass substrate 20 can be joined. Once the flexible glass substrate 20 has been processed, an energy input 47 (thermal energy) can be selectively applied to the entire carrier substrate 12 to heat the peripheral portion 32 on the flexible glass substrate 20 at step 48. The heat shield assembly 49 can be used to limit the heating of the device portion 34 of the flexible glass substrate 20.

At step 50, a temperature gradient is formed in the flexible glass substrate 20 between the device portion 34 and the peripheral portion 32, resulting in thermal expansion. A score line or rupture line 60 may be provided in the flexible glass substrate 20 at the rupture location. At step 52, the device portion 34 can be withdrawn from the peripheral portion 32 along the rupture line 60.

Referring to Figure 4, an exemplary embodiment of a heating apparatus 100 is illustrated. The heating apparatus 100 includes, for example, a heat source 102 provided by a hot plate 104 and a heating tool 106 that rests on the hot plate 104. Referring also to Figure 5, which illustrates the heating tool 106 alone, the heating tool 106 includes a heating and support member 108 having an upper support surface 110 and a lower support surface 112. The upper support surface 110 supports the substrate stack 10 on the upper support surface 110 at the support surface 16. The lower support surface 112 can be in contact with the hot plate 104. Outer peripheral surface 114 and inner peripheral surface 116 extend between upper support surface 110 and lower support surface 112. Similar to the number of device portions on a flexible glass substrate, there may be any suitable number including the number of inner peripheral surfaces that match the hot peripheral portion of the device portion surrounding any given flexible glass sheet.

Referring again to FIG. 4, the heating tool 106 includes a heating and support member 108 that includes a wall member 118. In the embodiments illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, there is a formation of a slightly rectangular or square heating and branching. The four wall members 118 of the struts 108; however, other shapes are possible, for example, circular or toroidal. For example, a continuous annular or elliptical wall member can be used to form the upper support surface for the heating and support members. Further, wall member 118 can define any number of shapes, such as an array of shapes. In other words, the configuration in Fig. 5 can be repeated in a larger area depending on the size of the device to be fabricated and the size of the flexible glass substrate. Additionally, although the wall members 118 are interconnected and continuous, there may be more or less than four wall members, and the wall members may not be directly joined to form a discontinuous upper support surface.

The insulated shield 120 extends between the wall members 118. The heat shield 120 includes a support plate 122 extending between the wall members 118 and integrally connected to the wall member 118; a first heat insulation layer 124 facing the flexible glass substrate 120; and a second insulating layer 126 facing the hot plate 104. The first insulating layer 124 and the second insulating layer 126 may extend over the entire opposing surface 128 and surface 130 of the support plate 122 and may each have anti-conducting, anti-convection, and/or anti-radiation properties. As can be seen, the insulated shield 120 can be positioned vertically between the upper support surface 110 and the lower support surface 112. This arrangement provides a gap 132 and gap 134 between the heat shield 120 and the heat plate 104 and between the heat shield 120 and the carrier substrate 12 (or, in some cases, the flexible glass substrate 20). The gaps can be used to further isolate the device portion 34 of the flexible glass substrate 120 from the thermal plate 104.

Heating tool 106 can be formed by any suitable method and from any suitable material. For example, the heating and support members 108 and the support plate 122 can be formed from the same (eg, aluminum) or different materials, for example, via casting, stamping, and/or machining. The first insulating layer 126 can be made of any suitable insulating material or, for example, glass A combination of materials such as glass, polymer, foam, foil, and the like.

Referring to Fig. 6, an operation of the heating apparatus 100 for extracting at least a portion of the flexible glass substrate 20 from the carrier substrate 12 is schematically illustrated. The heating tool 106 is illustrated resting against the hot plate 104 of the heat source 102. The heating tool 106 can be supported on the hot plate 104 above the lower support surface 112, which is provided by the heated support member 108 and the wall member 118. The substrate stack 150 can be positioned on the upper support surface 110 provided by the heating and support members 108 that include the wall members 118. A heat shield 120 extends between each of the wall members 118 and is positioned between the upper support surface 110 and the lower support surface 112 and vertically spaced from both the upper support surface 110 and the lower support surface 112 such that A gap 132 and a gap 134 are provided above and below the heat shield.

Heating the hot plate 104 heats the heating and support members 108. Heating of the heating and support member 108 can occur primarily via contact (ie, conduction) between the wall member 118 and the hot plate 104. However, heating of the heating and support member 108 can occur using convection and/or radiation, depending on the type of heat source used and the material from which the wall member 118 is fabricated. Wall member 118, made of a thermally conductive material (e.g., aluminum), conducts heat toward carrier substrate 154 of substrate stack 150 along a path indicated by arrow 152. The heat is further conducted through the carrier substrate 154 to the flexible glass substrate 156. In this embodiment, the flexible glass substrate 156 is bonded directly to the carrier substrate 154 at the peripheral portion 158 of the flexible glass substrate 156 (eg, using van der Waals or electrostatic bonding). The device portion 160 of the flexible glass substrate 156 can be relatively unbonded to the carrier substrate 154 such that separation of the flexible glass substrate 156 between the device portions 160 from the peripheral portion 158 of the flexible glass substrate 156 can be permitted from the carrier. Substrate 154 extracting device portion 158.

As can be seen, the flexible glass substrate 156 can be processed to include one or more desired devices 162 (eg, LCD, OLED, or TFT electronics) prior to the extraction device portion 160. A rupture line or score line 164 can be provided around the device portion 160 (eg, using a scribe line or a score wheel, or via a laser scribe line) to define a boundary between the perimeter portion 158 and the device portion 160 to facilitate self-peripheral portions 158 removes device portion 160. When the peripheral portion 158 of the flexible glass substrate 156 is heated, a thermal gradient is formed between the device portion 160 and the peripheral portion 158. This thermal gradient is transferred to the peripheral portion 158 of the flexible glass substrate 156 due to increased heat and reduced heat transfer to the device portion 160 due to the presence of the insulating shield 120 and the gap 132 and gap 134. It can be filled with a gas (for example, air). The thermal gradient causes thermal tension in the direction of arrow 170 and arrow 172, thus causing device portion 160 to separate from peripheral portion 158 along scribe line 164.

Figure 7 illustrates an exemplary glass temperature profile taken using a thermal visual camera (FLIR) illustrating the high temperature of the peripheral portion of an EAGLE XG ^® glass substrate heated 0.7 mm in a manner similar to that described in Figure 6 above. Surroundings. An aluminum heating tool with a heat shield is heated on a hot plate set at 350 °C. As can be seen from Figure 7, a relatively high temperature peripheral portion of about 150 °C is illustrated along with a relatively low temperature central portion having about 64 °C.

The above temperature-assisted treatment of the flexible glass substrate extracts the device portion of the flexible glass substrate by a heating device that induces thermal expansion of the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate, so that the possibility of edge damage to the device portion can be reduced during the extraction process Sex. Heating equipment including heating tools can be reduced by The extraction process is simplified by the force required from the device portion of the flexible glass substrate and the carrier substrate. Additionally or alternatively, after cutting and during extraction, the heating apparatus and the extraction process reduce edge damage to the extracted portion caused by the edges of the edges or the opposing edges of the friction glass. Therefore, the concepts described herein minimize partial edge friction, maintain edge strength, and improve extraction process reliability. Manufacturers can take advantage of the manufacturer's existing capital investment in processing equipment while gaining the benefits of using flexible glass substrates. The increased edge strength of the device portion of the flexible glass substrate can be caused by the extraction process described herein. The use of a heating tool reduces the likelihood of damage to the flexible glass substrate due to the type and design of the heat source.

In the foregoing detailed description, the exemplary embodiments of the present invention However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced in other embodiments without departing from the specific details disclosed herein. In addition, descriptions of well-known devices, methods, and materials may be omitted to avoid obscuring the description of the various principles of the invention. Finally, the same component symbols refer to the same elements, wherever applicable.

In this context, a range can be expressed as "about" a particular value and/or to "about" another particular value. When this range is indicated, another embodiment includes from a particular value and/or to another particular value. Similarly, when values are expressed as approximations, the use of the It will be further understood that the endpoints of each of the ranges are clearly related to the other endpoints and are independent of the other endpoints.

Directional terms as used herein (eg, up, down, right, Left, front, back, top, bottom) are made only with reference to the drawings and are not intended to imply absolute orientation.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, any method set forth herein is not intended to be construed as requiring the steps of the method to be performed in a particular order. Therefore, in the event that the method request does not actually describe the order in which the method steps will be followed, or in the context of the patent application or description, the steps are not otherwise limited to the specific order, in any respect, Inference order. This applies to any possible non-explanatory basis for interpretation, including: logic questions regarding step setup or operational procedures; general meaning derived from grammar organization or punctuation; number or type of embodiments described in the specification.

As used herein, the singular forms """ Thus, for example, reference to "a component" includes "a" or "the"

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of the present invention, and in particular, any of the preferred embodiments are merely possible examples of implementation, and are merely intended to provide a clear understanding of the various principles of the invention. Various changes and modifications can be made to the above described embodiments of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure and the scope of the following claims.

10‧‧‧Substrate stacking

12‧‧‧ Carrier substrate

14‧‧‧glass support surface

16‧‧‧Support surface

Around 18‧‧

20‧‧‧Flexible glass substrate

22‧‧‧First wide surface

24‧‧‧ second wide surface

25‧‧‧Combined thickness

26‧‧‧around

28‧‧‧ thickness

30‧‧‧ joint layer

32‧‧‧ peripheral parts

34‧‧‧Device section

Claims (10)

A method of processing a flexible glass substrate, the method comprising the steps of: providing a substrate stack comprising the flexible glass substrate bonded to a carrier substrate; and transferring heat to the flexible glass a heating tool on a peripheral portion of the substrate heats the peripheral portion to a temperature greater than a temperature of a device portion of the flexible glass substrate to form a thermal gradient between the peripheral portion and the device portion and A pulling force is introduced into the peripheral portion that separates the device portion of the flexible glass substrate from the peripheral portion along a score line. A method of processing a flexible glass substrate, the method comprising the steps of: providing a substrate stack comprising the flexible glass substrate bonded to a carrier substrate; and scratching the flexibility along a score line a glass substrate, the scribe line defining a peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate and a device portion; heating the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate to a temperature greater than 100 ° C, the device portion having less than 100 ° C a temperature such that a thermal gradient is formed between the peripheral portion and the device portion; and the device portion and the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate are separated along the score line. The method of claim 2, wherein the flexible glass substrate is heated This step of the peripheral portion includes the step of heating a heating tool using a heat source that transfers heat to the carrier substrate. A method of processing a flexible glass substrate, the method comprising the steps of: positioning a heating tool on a heating plate, the heating tool comprising at least one wall member, the at least one wall member having at least one contact with the heating plate a lower support surface and at least one upper support surface; a substrate stack positioned on the upper support surface of the heating tool, the substrate stack comprising the flexible glass substrate bonded to a carrier substrate; and by using the heating The plate heats the heating tool to heat a peripheral portion of one of the flexible glass substrates to a temperature greater than a temperature of a device portion of one of the flexible glass substrates, thereby forming a space between the peripheral portion and the device portion The thermal gradient and the pulling force are introduced into the peripheral portion. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising the step of suppressing heating of the device portion using a heat shield during heating of the peripheral portion. The method of claim 1 or claim 4, the method further comprising the step of slashing the flexible glass substrate along a boundary between the peripheral portion and the device portion. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising The method includes the step of bonding the flexible glass substrate to the carrier substrate. The method of claim 7, the method comprising the step of bonding the flexible glass substrate to the carrier substrate in the peripheral portion, the flexible glass substrate in the peripheral portion and the carrier substrate A bonding strength is greater than a bonding strength between the flexible glass substrate and the carrier substrate in the device portion. The method of claim 1 or claim 4, wherein the step of heating the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate to a temperature greater than a temperature of the device portion comprises the step of heating the peripheral portion to At a temperature greater than one of 100 ° C, the device portion has a temperature of less than 100 ° C. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the step of heating the peripheral portion of the flexible glass substrate is by convection.