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

American Telephone and Telegraph, Co.

Joachim J Hauser

John T Plewes

Murray Robbins

Andreas Leiberich

Contacts comprising nickel and a glass-forming additive have electrical contact properties which render them suitable as replacements for gold contacts; disclosed contacts have low contact resistance even after prolonged exposure to an oxidizing ambient. The glass-forming additive is one or several of the elements boron, silicon, germanium, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, or bismuth, and contacts are readily formed, e.g., as layers on substrates. A crystallographically disordered structure is produced in a contact surface layer at least upon exposure to an oxidizing ambient; alternatively, such desired structure can be produced by ion bombardment and even in the absence of glass-forming additives.

Nickel-based electrical contact

Nickel material comprising controlled amounts of hydrogen has low electrical contact resistance even after prolonged exposure to an oxidizing ambient. When used as a surface layer on an electrically conducting member, such material is suitable as a contact material and represents an inexpensive alternative to gold. And, when prepared in the form of microscopic flakes, such material is suitable for use in electrically conductive inks and adhesives.

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Summit, NJ, United States of America

Joachim J Hauser