Lucent Technologies Inc.

At&t Bell Laboratories

Bell Telephone Laboratories

Agere Systems Inc.

American Telephone & Telegraph Co., At&t Bell Laboratories

Tycom (US) Inc.

Henry Hon Law

Te-Sung Wu

John Thomson, Jr

Sungho Jin

Thomas H Tiefel

Brijesh Vyas

David Wilfred Johnson

Apurba Roy

Vincent George Lambrecht, Jr

Lynn Frances Schneemeyer

Debra Anne Fleming

Harold E Fuchs

Tae Yong Kim

Michael D Evans

Christopher E Chidsey

David Joseph Liptack

Clarence A Holden, Jr

Daniel George Muth

A process for the metalization of substrates is disclosed. The metal either forms a coating over the entire substrate, or it is patternwise deposited on the substrate surface. Metal is patternwise formed on the substrate either by forming a pattern of resist material on the substrate and depositing the material in the interstices defined by the pattern or by forming a patterned resist layer over a metal layer and transferring the pattern into the substrate using conventional techniques. The patterned resist layer is formed on the substrate using conventional techniques. The substrate is treated with reagents that promote the electroless plating of metal on the substrate surface. If the resist material has been previously formed on the substrate surface, the substrate surface is then dried. The remaining resist is then removed from the substrate surface. The substrate surface is then exposed to an electroless plating bath to form nickel onto those portions of the substrate surface that were treated with the sensitizing and activating solutions. The substrate is then heated to at least 180&deg; C. Additional layers of metal are formed on the substrate. After the additional layers are so formed, the substrate is again heated to a temperature of at least about 180&deg; C. after each layer is so formed.

Process for the electroless deposition of metal on a substrate

A desiccant package is provided that includes a housing having at least one opening. A desiccant material is located in the housing. A sealing element, which is secured over the opening, includes a water-permeable membrane. The sealing element reduces the rate at which moisture enters the desiccant container and prevents fine particles from escaping from the package.

Desiccant package having a controllable permeation rate for high reliability applications

Disclosed is a method and solution for providing corrosion protection for electrical contact members. The contact members are exposed to the solution, which in one embodiment includes a phosphonate, a lubricant, and a solvent. In a preferred embodiment, the phosphonate is phosphonic acid, the lubricant is polyphenyl ether or tricresylphosphate, and the solvent includes an isoparaffinic hydrocarbon. In a further embodiment, the lubricant can be omitted from the solution.

Method of providing corrosion protection

The method of making a metallized magnetic substrate for devices including a magnetic component involves providing an unfired ceramic body. In one exemplary embodiment, the method further involves making one or more vias through the ceramic body, coating the via side walls with conductive material, forming an aperture through the ceramic body, such that an aperture edge intersects the via, and metallizing the unfired ceramic body such that a conductive pathway is formed that includes the conductive material in the via. Finally, the metallized unfired ceramic body is fired in conventional fashion, optionally followed by deposition of additional conductor material.

Method of making a device including a metallized magnetic substrate

This invention is predicated on the discovery by the present applicants that boric acid in conventional nickel plating baths is responsible for excessive lateral growth in the electroplating of nickel on nickel ferrite substrates. While nickel baths without boric acid do not yield acceptable electrodeposits, the boric acid interacts with the ferrite substrate to cause excessive lateral growth. Applicants further discovered that by eliminating the boric acid and adding another acidic plating buffer such as citric acid, one can obtain isotropic nickel plating and produce a wire-bondable surface.

Electroplating of nickel on nickel ferrite devices

Metal hydrides are activated by an electrochemical procedure. In this procedure, a bulk sample of the corresponding metal is immersed in an aqueous electrolyte and contacted by a cathode. Current passed through the aqueous electrolyte causes electrolysis of the water and a concomitant reaction with the formation of metal hydride. As a result, the metal hydride is fractured and smaller particles result. Additionally, the resulting metal hydride has a substantial amount of absorbed hydrogen. A novel plating method, taking advantage of the reducing power of hydrogen absorbed in a metal hydride, is useful to encapsulate such metal hydride with a variety of metals. Therefore, such hydrides are uniformly coated by using plating solutions without the standard reducing agent and stabilizer.

Processes involving metal hydrides

The present invention provides improved techniques for metallizing ceramic substrates. The method comprises providing a ceramic substrate and depositing a layer of reducible material on the ceramic substrate. The layer of reducible material includes a reducible ceramic such as copper oxide. The ceramic substrate having the layer of reducible material disposed thereon is heated and the reducible material is contacted with a reducing agent to create a conductive region. The conductive region is either a metallized region formed by reduction, or it is a conductive ceramic formed through surface reduction. The present invention further provides a metallized ceramic substrate. The metallized layer comprises ceramic regions having at least one constituent in common with the ceramic substrate. The ceramic substrate and the ceramic regions of the metallized layer are sintered to each other such that the metallized region is interspersed between the sintered ceramic regions. In this fashion, the metal is firmly held to the ceramic substrate due to the presence of the bonded ceramic within the metallized layer.

Metallization of ceramic through application of an adherent reducible

In accordance with the invention, an EMI suppressing connector comprises a body of ferrite having a plurality of conductive channels and at least one planar surface. The channel walls are wholly or partially coated with conductive material which provides a conductive path extending through the body and the planar surface includes a pattern of coated conductive leads connected to the conductive channels. Preferably the connector is in the form of a rectangular parallelopiped, and the channels extend perpendicularly between two major surfaces. In one embodiment, the conductive material extends horizontally through the body and onto planar bottom. The conductive material on the planar bottom surface provides ready connection with contacts on a circuit board or IC package. In another embodiment, the conductive material extends vertically through the body and onto a planar bottom or top. The conductive material on the planar surface can be configured in any desired pattern to define fanouts or mappings from one set of contacts to another.

Electromagnetic interference suppressing connector array

The thickness uniformity of a plated metal layer inside a via hole can be enhanced by intersecting a conductive via with an insulating aperture before plating. The new via configuration improves the mass transfer of the plating. It is believed that the apertures lower the local solution ohmic resistance near the via holes. The method can be applied to the manufacture of a wide variety of circuit boards.

Method for fabricating highly conductive vias

The present invention provides a method for metallizing a ceramic surface comprising a ferrite through a surface reduction treatment. A ceramic surface comprising a ferrite is heated. At least a portion of the ferrite is contacted with a gaseous reducing agent to create a metallic region by removing oxygen from the ferrite. The surface is cooled and, optionally, post-treated to enhance adhesion of the metallic region. Typical gaseous reducing agents are hydrogen, forming gas, and ammonia while typical ferrites are nickel-zinc ferrites and manganese-zinc ferrites. To form patterned regions, portions of the substrate are masked or portions of the reduced layer are removed.

Metallization of ferrites through surface reduction

A method is described for monitoring the rate at which metal layers are chemically etched. The method involves an indicator layer of metal formed on a surface of a monitor substrate. The thickness of the indicator layer varies according to a wedge-shaped profile along a longitudinal axis. The indicator layer is exposed to an etchant medium for a predetermined duration. During such exposure, a portion of the indicator layer is completely removed, exposing the underlying surface and creating an edge between the exposed surface and the remaining portion of the indicator layer. The etching rate is determined by reference to the longitudinal location of the edge.

Manufacturing method, including etch-rate monitoring

Transition-metal-coated metallic elements, such as electrical contacts, are protected from corrosion by a novel surface treatment. In one embodiment, the treatment involves application of a phosphonate solution, optionally preceded by application of a chromatic solution phosphonate.

Process for making corrosion-resistant articles

An electrical device is provided which has contacts having regions with a conductive matte-finish metal surface. The matte-finish surface is characterized by having a Knoop hardness number of at least 300, a diffuse reflectance of less than about 20 percent, and a specular reflectance of less than about 2 percent. These contacts have a contact resistance of less than about 50 milliohms, under a 50-gram load, even after exposure to 50.degree. C. and 95% relative humidity for a period of 20 days. Reflection electron microscopy shows that particularly advantageous matte-finish surfaces have sharply peaked asperities with average peak angles of less than about 90 degrees. In one embodiment, the surface is formed of hardened nickel electroplated from an electrolytic bath with a pH above about 7.0.

Apparatus including electrical contacts

A process is described involving gold in which gold cyanide ion (e.g., potassium gold cyanide) is removed from an aqueous solution (typically a water rinse solution) by absorption on an anion-exchange resin and the gold cyanide ion is then removed from the resin using an eluent solution comprising organic solvent, water and thiocyanate ion. This procedure is convenient and leads to virtually complete removal of gold from the resin. Because of the low volume of eluent solution required to remove the gold cyanide ion, the procedure can be used to efficiently produce crystalline potassium gold cyanide from highly dilute aqueous solutions.

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Berkeley Heights, NJ, United States of America

Henry Hon Law