skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Method of bonding silver to glass and mirrors produced according to this method

Patent ·
OSTI ID:5733912

A method for adhering silver to a glass substrate for producing mirrors includes attaining a silicon enriched substrate surface by reducing the oxygen therein in a vacuum and then vacuum depositing a silver layer onto the silicon enriched surface. The silicon enrichment can be attained by electron beam bombardment, ion beam bombardment, or neutral beam bombardment. It can also be attained by depositing a metal, such as aluminum, on the substrate surface, allowing the metal to oxidize by pulling oxygen from the substrate surface, thereby leaving a silicon enriched surface, and then etching or eroding the metal oxide layer away to expose the silicon enriched surface. Ultraviolet rays can be used to maintain dangling silicon bonds on the enriched surface until covalent bonding with the silver can occur. This disclosure also includes encapsulated mirrors with diffusion layers built therein. One of these mirrors is assembled on a polymer substrate.

Research Organization:
Solar Energy Research Inst. (SERI), Golden, CO (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-83CH10093
Assignee:
Dept. of Energy
Application Number:
ON: DE85011642
OSTI ID:
5733912
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English