Fabrication of ultra-thin glass sheet by weight-controlled load-assisted precise thermal stretching

Glass is a common material used in various microsystems including sensors, actuators, and microfluidic devices due to its extraordinary properties. However, lack of flexibility and elasticity limits its potential for further applications. To solve this issue, thinning the thick glass plate to a few microns is a solution. However, conventional methods for thinning thick glass plates are complex, risky, time-consuming, and difficult for implementation at the laboratory level. This paper reports an efficient and convenient fabrication method for an independent ultra-thin glass sheet (UTGS) (<= 3 mu m, the world's thinnest) by utilizing a weight-controlled load-assisted (WCL-assisted) thermal stretching. Unlike other methods requiring a full melting of the glass material, the key point of the proposed method is using a WCL to precisely stretch a commercial thick glass plate to achieve the desired glass sheet thickness. To fabricate UTGSs of the desired thicknesses, experimental conditions including temperatures (630 degrees C-700 degrees C), cooling times (1.5 h-2.5 h), and weights of loads (1 g-9 g) were investigated. Furthermore, the potential advantage of using the fabricated UTGS for indicator applications in micro-systems was proven by fabricating a pressure indicator having higher sensitivity than presently available devices. For the same working conditions, the maximum sensitivity of the new indicator was improved by 86.8 % compared with the sensitivity previously obtained. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

This paper presents an efficient and convenient method for fabricating ultra-thin glass sheets by utilizing weight-controlled load-assisted thermal stretching, resulting in the world's thinnest glass sheet. Experimental results demonstrate the potential advantage of using these ultra-thin glass sheets in indicator applications for micro-systems, with higher sensitivity compared to existing devices.