Bell Telephone Laboratories

Kenneth A Jackson

Lionel C Kimerling

Harry John Leamy

This invention is a technique for forming a specifically configured region of material which is rejected by an advancing freezing front within a melt. Resolidification of the molten material is effected in such a manner that liquid-solid interfaces intersect so as to control the shape and location of the rejected material which solidifies. Specific embodiments involve the formation of wires, tubes, or planes of enriched rejected material. Applications include the formation of enriched conductive material for making electrical contact between internal or external regions of electronic devices. Additionally, enriched material with etching properties different than that of the surrounding material may be formed and subsequently etched away in micro-machining applications.

Solidification of molten materials

A temperature gradient zone melting process is disclosed wherein the temperature gradient is established substantially across only the molten zone by preferentially heating the molten zone. In a specific embodiment, the mechanism for inputting heat to the molten zone involves exposing the substrate to optical radiation of a wavelength and magnitude for which the molten zone is absorptive and the remainder of the body is transparent. The molten zone thereby migrates through the body toward the source of optical radiation.

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Plainfield, NJ, United States of America

Kenneth A Jackson