BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a glass substrate with electrode according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIGS. 2-4 are cross sectional views of a substrate in a flat lamp according to an embodiment of the invention; and
FIGS. 5 and 6 are cross sectional views of two flat lamps according to an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Please refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a glass substrate with electrode according to an embodiment of the invention. A glass substrate 102 is cleaned and placed on a supporter (not shown in FIG. 1). A printing process is performed on the substrate to form a conductive coating layer on the first surface 102a of the substrate 102. Bake the substrate 102 and sinter the conductive coating layer to form a thin film electrode 104 on the substrate 102. The thickness of the thin film electrode 104 ranges from 5 μm-200 μm, but the preferred thickness of the thin film electrode 104 ranges from 10 μm-50 μm and the more preferred thickness ranges from 10 μm-30 μm.
Please also refer to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a cross sectional views along I-I′ shown in FIG. 1. The substrate 102 is preferably placed on the supporter 101. The thin film electrode 104 is preferably formed on the first surface 102a of the substrate 102.
The thin film electrode 104 is made of a conductive composition composed of metal powder 104a, glass powder 104b and organic solvent. The amount of the metal powder 104a and the glass powder 104b suspended in organic solvent ranges from 60 weight percent of the solution. The diameter of the metal powder 104a ranges from 1 μm to 3 μm. The diameter of the glass powder 104b ranges from 0.5 μm to 1 μm. The weight percentage of the metal powder 104a in the mixture of the metal powder 104a and glass powder 104b is from 60% to 98%. The material of the metal powder can be silver, cooper, platinum, tin or any combination thereof.
As shown in FIG. 3, after cooling down the glass substrate 102 and the thin film electrode 104, the thin film electrode 104 on the first surface 102a of the glass substrate 102 is contacted with the substrate 101, and then a high temperature process is performed to form a fluorescence layer 108 on the second surface 102b of the glass substrate 102.
Refer to FIG. 4, the supporter 101 is removed after the fluorescence layer 108 is formed. The glass substrate 102, the thin film electrode 104, and the fluorescence layer 108 are then shaped into a corrugated structure 106 by compress molding or vacuum forming so a substrate 110 used in flat lamp can be obtained. However, the shaping method is not limited in the methods mentioned in this invention. In another embodiment of this invention, the glass substrate 102 and the thin film electrode 104 can be shaped before the fluorescence layer 108 is formed.
Therefore, an embodiment of this invention is to form a conductive coating layer by a printing process. Sinter the conductive coating layer to obtain a thin film electrode with uniform thickness, then a fluorescence layer is formed and the glass substrate, thin film electrode and the fluorescence layer are shaped. The shaping process and the fluorescence layer forming process can be done at the same time through one high temperature process. This invention not only obtains a thin film electrode with uniform thickness but also simplifies the manufacturing process.
Please refer to FIG. 2, due to the fact that the diameter of the metal powder 104a is larger than the diameter of the glass powder 104b, and the weight percentage of the metal powder 104a in the mixture of the metal powder 104a and glass powder 104b is from 60% to 98%. When performing the sintering process, glass powder 104b will be heated and softened. In this case, the glass powder 104b will also be deposited into the clearance in the metal powder 104a so the metal powder 104a and the glass substrate 102 will be attached together. Due to the fact that the surface of the thin film electrode 104 contacted with the supporter 101 does not contain any glass powder 104b or just contains very little, the thin film electrode 104 and the supporter 101 will not be attached together when performing subsequent high temperature process for forming the fluorescence layer 108. The conventional problem that the glass substrate and the supporter are easily broken can be solved when trying to separate them.
In one embodiment of this invention, a flat lamp can be completed by packaging two preliminary completed substrates together with the two fluorescence layers facing each other and a discharging space formed between the two substrates. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, two identical substrates 110a, 110b are manufactured by the method mentioned above. The two substrates 110a, 110b are packaged together with a space 112 in between and the two fluorescence layers 108 of the two substrates are facing each other.
As shown in FIG. 6, a flat substrate 210 can also be used to obtain a flat lamp. The flat substrate 210 comprises a thin film electrode 204, a glass substrate 202 and a fluorescence layer 208. The flat substrate 210 and the corrugated substrate 110 are packaged together. The fluorescence layer 108 of the substrate 110 and the fluorescence layer 208 of the substrate 210 are facing each other, and the space 112 is formed between the substrate 110 and the flat substrate 210.
The present invention not only solves conventional broken glass problem, but also forms a thin film electrode layer with uniform thickness. The manufacturing process is simplified and manufacturing cost is lowered. Furthermore, this invention increases product quality and yield rate.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
Patent Application
20080035892
