Amp LLC

The Whitaker Corporation

John R Rowlette

Terry P Bowen

Frederick R Deak

Warren C Jones

Albert Casciotti

Ronald A Dery

Jeff C Wu

Richard Henry Zimmerman

Richard T Williams

William J Lynn

James L Joyce, Jr

Navin N Vyas

Milan Bures

Charles P Brooks

David F MacInnes, Jr

Paul P Kratochvil

An anisotropically electrically conductive composition having the capability to conduct heat isotropically when used as an electrical interconnection medium between a pair of electrical conductors, paths, traces, or the like. The composition comprises a mixture of electrically conductive particles in an amount below the percolation threshold for volume conduction for such composition, and electrically non-conductive, but thermally conductive particles, such as metallic oxides, within a polymeric matrix. Preferably, the conductive particles are present in an amount of no more than about 15%, by volume, and the electrically non-conductive particles are present in an amount of about 15 to 35%, by volume.

Anisotropically electrically conductive composition with thermal

This invention is directed to an electrically conductive gel comprising an extrinsically conductive gel having dispersed therein a quantity of an intrinsically conductive polymer, where said polymer is present in the amount of between about 0.03 to 1.6%, by weight. Preferred conductive polymers are those selected from the class of polypyrrole, polyaniline, polyanisidine, polythiophene, and derivatives of these base polymers.

Extrinsically/intrinsically conductive gel

A connector assembly (10) and a method of manufacture include a connector sheet (30) formed of a fine web of insulating strands (32, 34) woven together to define a mesh of cavities (35) containing discrete contacts (36, 40) held by an adhesive (38) to define an ordered anisotropic area of discrete contact points useful in interconnecting contact pads (24) of a component (20) to contact pads (18) of a circuit (12). A connector housing (60) is provided to clamp the component (20) to the circuit (12) with the connector sheet (30) therebetween.

Ordered area array connector

A connector assembly (10) for electrically interconnecting a component (20) to a circuit (12) includes a housing (50) containing the component with conductive pads (22) of the component and conductive pads (14) of the circuit aligned with a connector (30) including a flexible film (34) carrying contact pads (38, 40) interconnected by a conductive material (42) in a hole (36) and carrying conductive gel contacts (44, 46) which project above and below the film surface to be compressed upon housing closure to drive the said component against the said film and circuit to thus minimize contact forces.

Low-force, high-density gel connector

An electrical connector (30) includes a body (34) of elastomeric material having cavities (38) containing a conductive gel (42) operable upon deformation of the body of said connector to interconnect conductive pads (14, 22) between components such as a printed circuit board (12) and a chip carrier (18). An alternative embodiment uses a connector body (34') comprised of a sheet (48) of a low thermal coefficient of expansion material with separate inserts (50) of a higher thermal coefficient of expansion fitted in sheet perforations (49).

Conductive gel area array connector

An electrical connector (30) for interconnecting the contacts (22) of a component (18) to the contacts (14) of a circuit (12) includes a planar laminate of insulating sheets (38, 42) and a layer of insulating gel (46) having holes (40, 44) extending through the sheets and the gel (46) with a conductive gel (48) in said holes of a volume to be compressed to flow axially to interconnect the component and circuit contacts.

Gel connector of laminar construction

An optical source comprises (a) a laser light source for emitting light in a light path; and (b) at least one holographic optical element disposed in the light path; wherein the laser light source and the holographic optical element are integrated into a monolithic strucuture. The holographic optical element collimates emitted light, circularizes emitted light, compensates for optical source wavelength shifts, launches the emitted light so that it is efficiently coupled to an optical fiber, and/or isolates the laser light source from interfering reflected light. Since the optical source is disposed in a single monolithic structure and a discrete holographic optical element may perform five distinct functions, the optical sources are compact, commercially versatile and easy to handle.

Collimated laser diode

An electrical connector (30) includes a body (34) of elastomeric material having cavities (38) containing a conductive gel operable upon deformation of the body of said connector to interconnect conductive pads (16, 22) between components such as a printed circuit board (12) and a chip carrier (20).

An asymmetric optical fiber for tap optically coupling an ingoing fiber, an outgoing fiber, a tap fiber and optionally an optical source fiber, includes a housing, and at least one wavelength compensated holographic optical element (HOE) disposed in the housing. The housing includes first, second and third guides therein for guiding the ingoing fiber, and the outgoing fiber, and the tap fiber, and optinally a fourth guide means for guiding the optical source fiber, respectively, adjacent to the HOE. The HOE is adapted to couple optical energy from the ingoing fiber to both the outgoing and tap fiber, and to launch optical energy from the optical source fiber to the ingoing fiber. The disclosed taps are simple in design, easy to manufacture and connect, and cause minimal attenuation of the ongoing optical signal. The taps are also compact; optical fiber alignment is facilitated and they allow for an optical signal to be efficiently launched in an uphill direction into the ingoing fiber.

Asymmetic optical fiber tap

An optical fiber coupler for coupling optical fibers to one another comprises a holographic optical element (HOE), having an optical axis enclosed in a housing. The housing includes fiber guides adapted to receive at least one pair of optical fibers and to dispose at least an end of each of the pair of fibers substantially parallel to each other, substantially perpendicular to one face of the HOE, equidistant from th eoptical axis of the HOE, and equidistant from the surface of the HOE. The optical fiber coupler is compact, commercially versatile, inexpensive to manufacture and easy to connect.

Holographic optical fiber coupler

A method directed to a system for splitting, imaging and focusing a pulsing laser beam, such as from an excimer laser, onto a workpiece to improve the subsequent metal plating of such workpiece. A preferred technique of laser assisted plating is a system for laser ablating a plurality of contact areas on electrical terminals, where the areas are covered by ablatable resist. The preferred system comprises a carrier strip having a plurality of electrical terminals mounted thereon; a pulsed laser for directing radiation at the carrier strip; a hologram mounted in the radiation path between the laser and the carrier strip for splitting the radiation from the laser into a plurality of radiation beams directed towards the plurality of contact areas; and mechanism for synchronizing the movement of the carrier strip with the pulsing of the laser so that a respective one of the plurality of outgoing beams ablates the resist over a respective one of the contacts as the contact areas move past the hologram.

System for selective laser assisted plating

A method for the selective plating of a metal substrate on which a thin polymeric plating resist is first applied, followed by the selective removal of said resist to expose portions of said substrate to plating, and plating. More particularly, the method hereof includes the steps of selecting a laser wavelength which couples well to the metal substrate, choosing a polymer based plating resist having a low optical coefficient of absorption at said wavelength, curing said resist, subjecting selective areas of said resist to a single excimer laser shot, having a short wavelength, to cause ablative removal of the resist over the selective areas of said substrate, and subjecting said exposed portions of said substrate to metal plating.

Selective plating by laser ablation

An input device which can be employed to input commands to a computer directly through a CRT display is disclosed. The input device employs a plurality of infrared light emitting diodes and phototransistors aligned in individual emitter-detector pairs. Infrared beams from the emitter cross the display field before striking the corresponding detector. Emitters and detectors are sequentially activated and each emitter is pulsed or modulated at a frequency different from the variation of ambient conditions during each emitter activation interval. The detection circuitry thus can distinguish the varying emitter signal from ambient or spurious variations. A number of pulses at the pulsed or modulated emitter frequency would be detected unless an opaque element were blocking the particular beam.

Infrared touch input device having ambient compensation

A conductive gel interconnection apparatus forming either a permanent or disconnectable electrical interconnection between multiple components is disclosed. Conductive particles are dispersed within a dielectric gelatinous medium and a concentration exceeding the percolation threshold to impart conductivity to the gel. Discrete electrical components or a plurality of components located on a substrate, such as a printed circuit board, can be interconnected by positioning the components in registration with the conductive gel located in cavities within an insulative body. The conductive gel forms a coherent mass and does not adhere to the electrical components upon withdrawal.

Conductive gel interconnection apparatus

An anisotropically conductive adhesive composition (10) for use in electrically connecting at least one conductive area (14) on one substrate (12) with at least one conductive area (20) on a second substrate (18) is disclosed. The composition (10) is comprised of a mixture of conductive particles and a nonconductive adhesive binder (26). The conductive particles are dispersed throughout the binder in a plurality of noncontiguous conductive units (24) such that, upon applying a layer (30) of the composition (10) over both the conductive and insulating areas (14, 16) on one substrate (12) and positioning in a conducting relationship and adhering said at least one conductive area (20) on the second substrate (18) with said at least one conductive area (14) on the first substrate (12), the units (24) establish electrical connection between the adhered conductive areas (14, 20) on the two substrates (12, 18). The units (24) are sufficiently spaced apart, however, to preclude electrical conductivity between adjacent areas on the same substrate. A method for electrically connecting conductive areas on two substrates by means of said anisotropically conductive adhesive composition (10) and products produced by said method are also disclosed.

Growing community of inventors

Clemmons, NC, United States of America

John R Rowlette