Fewer Cracks With Thin Film Stacks

A well-proven and widely used means to improve the structural strength, and thereby also affect the fracture behaviour of glass, is to induce a compressive stress in the surface region of the glass pane. This can be accomplished by thermal or chemical hardening, including ionic exchange and surface crystallisation methods. These conventional techniques, however, do not remove the actual cause of fracture in glass, i.e. the presence of surface cracks and flaws. In fact, in technical terms, tempering makes the glass more brittle. This article explains how atomic layer deposition can help improve the fracture toughness of glass.