Low temperature hermetic sealing via laser

摘要

A method and apparatus for low temperature laser sealing of bonded articles is disclosed. Hermetic sealing of glass substrates using low temperature sealing techniques that do not adversely affect bulk strength of glass substrates, the environment created between the substrates and/or any components housed within the sealed glass substrates is disclosed. Such low temperature sealing techniques include use of localized laser heating of sealing materials to form a hermetic seal between glass substrates that does not involve heating the entire article to be sealed.

主权项

1. A vacuum insulated glass (VIG) window unit, comprising:
first and second substantially parallel spaced apart substrates comprising glass that are bonded together by an edge seal, said first and second substrates and said edge seal defining a cavity having a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure; wherein said edge seal is located proximate a periphery of the first and second substrates but is not located in a central area of the VIG window unit, and wherein said edge seal comprises (i) a meltable metallic or substantially metallic layer; and (ii) an absorber film; and wherein the absorber film comprises both a dielectric layer and a metallic or substantially metallic layer, wherein the dielectric layer directly contacts at least one of the first and second glass substrates.