Patent ID: 8191756

Claim:
A method of hermetically sealing at least two substrates together, the method comprising: providing a first substrate having at least one first joint structure which comprises a first joining surface, which surface comprises a first metal, the at least one first joint structure comprising at least one groove structure defined within a recess formed in the first substrate, the at least one groove structure having an open end, and an inner bottom surface distal to the open end, and inner side walls between the open end and the inner bottom surface; providing a second substrate having at least one second joint structure which comprises a second joining surface, which surface comprises a second metal, the at least one second joint structure comprising at least one tongue structure, the at least one tongue structure having a tip end portion; aligning the at least one first joint structure relative to the at least one second joint structure so as to impart one or more overlaps of the at least one tongue structure relative to the at least one groove structure; and after the step of aligning, compressing the at least one tongue structure at least partially into the at least one groove structure to locally deform and shear the second joining surface at one or more interfaces created by the one or more overlaps in an amount effective to plastically deform at least a portion of the second joining surface into a space between the first substrate and the second substrate outside the at least one groove structure and form at least one metal-to-metal bond between the first metal and second metal of the joining surfaces, wherein the at least one metal-to-metal bond is a cold weld which comprises a portion of the second joining surface deformed into the space between the first substrate and the second substrate outside the at least one groove structure, and the tip end portion of the at least one tongue structure does not extend into the at least one groove structure enough to contact the inner bottom surface of the at least one groove structure.