Laser-induced electrically conductive structures by applying a metal layer to transparent substrates

Abstract

Substrate (1), in particular for carrying an electronic circuit, comprising a transparent substrate body (10), in particular made of glass, wherein a metal layer (2) is applied to a surface (10a) of the substrate body (10), which metal layer is deposited on the surface (10a) by means of laser radiation (L).

Description

The present invention relates to a transparent substrate having metallization applied thereto.Such substrates can be used, for example, as transparent printed circuit boards, or as light-tight masks for imaging methods or for producing X-ray contrast markers.Vapor deposition of transparent substrates, in particular glass, by means of suitable masks is known from the prior art.Such a metal coating by vapor deposition generally requires a process management in the (preliminary) vacuum, which entails a considerable increase in cycle time depending on the pressure to be applied. In addition, the region not to be covered is to be masked in advance and this masking is to be removed again after the process. The coating method with masks is a complicated batch process and cannot be carried out in single-pie flow. Other metal coating processes, e.g. printing, are often not sufficiently adhesive.On the basis of this, the object of the present invention is to provide an improved transparent substrate which is provided with an abrasion-resistant metal layer.This object is achieved by a substrate having the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are described below.According to claim 1, a substrate is disclosed, in particular for carrying an electronic circuit, comprising a transparent substrate body, in particular made of a glass, wherein a metal layer is arranged on a transparent surface of the substrate body, which metal layer has been deposited on the surface by means of laser radiation. In particular, the substrate body is transparent to the laser radiation.The solution according to the invention thus advantageously allows a metal to be connected to a transparent substrate without having to mask the workpieces and process them in a vacuum chamber.Embodiments of the invention and further features and advantages of the invention are explained below with reference to the figures. The following are shown: FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a process for producing a transparent substrate according to the invention; and FIG. 2 shows a schematic sectional view of an embodiment of a transparent substrate according to the invention, FIG. 3 shows a plan view of an embodiment of a transparent substrate according to the invention, which is designed as a carrier of an electronic circuit and correspondingly has a metal layer in the form of conductor tracks, FIG. 4 shows a cut-out detail of a conductor track from the embodiment in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 shows a plan view of a further embodiment of a transparent substrate according to the invention, wherein the metal layer is formed as a graphic marking.FIG. 1 shows a schematic sectional view of a process for producing a transparent substrate 1 according to the invention. a transparent substrate body 10, which is transparent or transmissive to a laser radiation L to be used, is placed with a surface 10 aon a metallic surface 3 aof a metal body 3.Then, the metal surface 3a of the metal body 3 is applied with a laser beam L moved through the transparent substrate body 10 in accordance with the desired contour. For this purpose, the laser beam L is correspondingly guided at a speed v along the surface 3 aof the metal body, wherein metal of the metal body 3 is ablated. The ablated metal material is deposited on the underside 10 aof the transparent substrate body 10 as a metal layer 2.Subsequently, the transparent substrate 1 is obtained by removing the substrate body 10 of FIG. 2 with the metal layer 2 deposited thereon from the metal body 3 (z).FIGS. 3 and 4 show a transparent substrate 1 produced by means of the process described above, in which the metal layer 2 is formed by conductor tracks made of copper, the substrate body 10 being made of a glass.FIG. 5 shows a transparent substrate 1 produced by means of the process described above, in which the metal layer 2 is formed as a graphic marking, specifically from copper (left) and titanium (right). The substrate body 10 here consists of a glass.The invention advantageously enables the production of long-term stable, abrasion-resistant metal layers on a transparent substrate body, in particular glass, in an automatable one-piece-flow process. Any desired two-dimensional structures are possible without the aid of a mask image. For example, printed circuit boards can be written directly, light-tight masks for imaging methods or X-ray contrast markers can be produced. The method is furthermore free of forces, since the substrate body and the metal body do not have to be compressed.

Claims

Substrate (1), in particular for carrying an electronic circuit, having a transparent substrate body (10), in particular made of a glass, wherein a metal layer (2) is applied to a surface (10a) of the substrate body (10), said metal layer being deposited on the surface (10a) by means of laser radiation (L).

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