Glass substrate comprising an edge web portion
A glass ribbon coated with a flexible material, the flexible coating forming a flexible web portion that extends from an edge of the glass ribbon at least one millimeter. The flexible web portion can be used to facilitate handling of the glass ribbon in a manufacturing process, and may include registration markings, or perforations, that further facilitate precise positioning of the ribbon.
1. A method of processing a glass ribbon comprising:
dispensing a length of a glass ribbon wound on a first spool, the glass ribbon having a thickness equal to or less than 0.3 mm and a polymeric web portion extending from an edge of the glass ribbon;
engaging the polymeric web portion at a location interior to an outermost peripheral edge of the polymeric web portion with a feed apparatus;
processing the dispensed length of the glass ribbon; and
winding the dispensed length of the glass ribbon on a second spool.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the processing comprises depositing a semiconductor material on the glass ribbon.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the processing comprises depositing at least one of an organic semiconductor material and an organic conductor material on the glass ribbon.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the feed apparatus comprises rollers that engage the polymeric web portion at the location interior to the outermost peripheral edge of the polymeric web portion.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the feed apparatus comprises belts that engage the polymeric web portion at the location interior to the outermost peripheral edge of the polymeric web portion.
6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising removing the polymeric web portion after the processing.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polymeric web portion comprises a polymeric tape.
8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein a thickness of the polymeric tape is between 50 μm and 100 μm.
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polymeric web portion comprises perforations along a length of the glass ribbon, the perforations being arranged between the outermost peripheral edge of the polymeric web portion and the edge of the glass ribbon.
10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising engaging the perforations with a sprocket.
11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the glass ribbon comprises a coating, the coating comprises the polymeric web portion, and the coating comprises indicia, the method further comprising detecting the indicia and positioning the glass ribbon in response to the detected indicia.
12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second spool comprises a plurality of layers of glass ribbon, and wherein a gap exists between the glass of one glass ribbon layer and the glass of an adjacent glass ribbon layer.
13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the glass ribbon comprises a flexible coating and the flexible coating comprises the polymeric web portion.
14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the flexible coating comprises a polymeric tape.
15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein a thickness of the polymeric tape is between 50 μm and 100 μm.
16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the glass ribbon is less than 0.1 mm.
17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polymeric web portion comprises a polyimide tape.
18. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the glass ribbon on the first or second spool comprises a bend radius less than 10 cm.
19. The method of processing a glass ribbon according to claim 1 , wherein the polymeric web portion extends at least 1 cm from the edge of the glass ribbon.
20. The method of processing a glass ribbon according to claim 1 , wherein the glass ribbon comprises a polymeric coating disposed on a first major surface and a second major surface of the glass ribbon, wherein interior portions of the glass ribbon are not coated with the polymeric coating, and wherein the polymeric coating comprises the polymeric web portion.
21. A method of processing a glass ribbon comprising:
dispensing a length of a glass ribbon wound on a first spool, the glass ribbon having a thickness equal to or less than 0.3 mm and polymeric web portions extending from edges of the glass ribbon, wherein the polymeric web portions comprise perforations along a length of the glass ribbon;
engaging the perforations with a sprocket;
processing the dispensed length of the glass ribbon; and
winding the dispensed length of the glass ribbon on a second spool.