At&t Bell Laboratories

Douglas W Monroe

Thomas John Miller

Leslie A Guth

David A Nicol

Linda M Fletcher

David B Steele

A technique is provided for manually performing a soldering operation on an article with a low-solids flux-containing solder to bond an object to the article with a reduced amount of flux residues. The technique is practiced by first manually applying heat to the article and to the object which is in contact therewith, such as by contacting the article and/or object with a heated tip of a soldering pencil, iron or gun. Once the object and article have been heated, a low-solids flux-containing solder is then applied so as to be reflowed upon contact with the heated article and the object in order to bond them together when the solder solidifies. Simultaneously, heated air (i,e., air heated above the ambient temperature) is directed at the article and the object towards the region where the solder is being applied to maintain any flux vapors, which were created upon heating of the solder, in their vaporous state. The heated air prevents condensation, and therefore unwanted deposition, of flux residues on the soldered article.

Soldering method and apparatus

An component or connector lead (12) is soldered to a bare copper metallized area (14) on a circuit board (16) using core solder (26) by manually applying heat from a heated tip (24) to a separate one of the lead and metallized area. As the heat is being applied, a vacuum is drawn in the region where the solder is applied to the lead and/or metallized area to draw off any flux vapors created upon heating of the solder. At the same time, hot air is also directed into the region where the solder is being applied to maintain the flux vapors, created upon heating of the solder, in their vaporous state to facilitate such vapors being drawn off, thereby reducing the amount of flux residues resulting from the soldering operation.

In a flame hydrolysis method for depositing glass soot used ultimately to make optical fiber, a reactant that forms the glassy soot stream is delivered to the torch (20) in liquid form and an ultrasonic nozzle (34) in the torch atomizes the reactant or breaks the reactant into a fine mist without the use of a gas.

Method of glass soot deposition using ultrasonic nozzle

A fluorine-doped silica soot cylinder (11) is consolidated by containing it within an encapsulation structure (29) within a furance (21). The atmosphere within the encapsulation structure is kept substantially stagnant during the consolidating, and the volume enclosed by the encapsulation structure (29) is only slightly greater than the volume of the soot cylinder (11). A gap (52) between the volume enclosed by the encapsulating structure and the furnace is kept small enough to impede gas flow to a sufficient extent that the atmosphere within the encapsulating structure (29) is substantially stagnant during consolidation. During consolidation, fluorine concentration within the encapsulation structure (29) is uniformly distributed within the soot cylinder (11).

Method for consolidating doped glass using an encapsulating structure

A fluorine-doped silica soot cylinder (11) is consolidated by containing it within an encapsulation structure (29) within a furnace (21). The atmosphere within the encapsulation structure is kept substantially stagnant during the consolidating, and the volume enclosed by the encapsulation structure (29) is only slightly greater than the volume of the soot cylinder (11). A gap (52) between the volume enclosed by the encapsulating structure and the furnace is kept small enough to impede gas flow to a sufficient extent that the atmosphere within the encapsulating structure (29) is substantially stagnant during consolidation. During consolidation, fluorine concentration within the encapsulation structure (29) is uniformly distributed within the soot cylinder (11).

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Newtown, PA, United States of America

Douglas W Monroe