Saint-gobain Ceramics & Plastics, Inc.

Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique

Morteza Zandi

Brian C LaCourse

Bruno Viana

Anne B Hardy

Xiaofeng Peng

Qiwei Chen

Ramesh Divakar

Ara Vartabedian

Yeshwanth Narendar

Signo T Reis

Hélène Laetitia Rétot

Matthieu Jérôme Schwartz

Hélène Loetitia Rétot

Signo Tadeu Reis

Matthieu Schwartz

A glass-ceramic seal for ionic transport devices such as solid oxide fuel cell stacks or oxygen transport membrane applications. Preferred embodiments of the present invention comprise glass-ceramic sealant material based on a Barium-Aluminum-Silica system, which exhibits a high enough coefficient of thermal expansion to closely match the overall CTE of a SOFC cell/stack (preferably from about 11 to 12.8 ppm/&#xb0; C.), good sintering behavior, and a very low residual glass phase (which contributes to the stability of the seal).

Sanbornite-based glass-ceramic seal for high-temperature applications

A bonding layer used to join individually formed fuel cell units together to create a solid oxide fuel cell stack can include particles contained within a carrier material. The particles can have at least one material component in common with a porous electrode of a first type and a bimodal particle size distribution. In some embodiments, the particles of a first mode of the bimodal particle size distribution are small enough to fit at least partially into the porosity of the electrodes bonded together, while the particles of the second mode of the bimodal particle size distribution are larger than the porosity of the electrodes.

Bonding layer including particles having bimodal size distribution for solid oxide fuel-cells

A ceramic scintillator body includes a polycrystalline ceramic scintillating material having a substantially cubic crystallographic structure. The polycrystalline ceramic scintillating material has a chemical composition represented by a general formula LUGdO:Ac, where x is greater than zero and less than two, and where Ac is an activator.

Ceramic scintillator body and scintillation device

A polycrystalline ceramic scintillator body includes a ceramic scintillating material comprising an oxide of gadolinium (Gd) and a second rare earth element (Re). The ceramic scintillating material has a composition, expressed in terms of molar percentage of oxide constituents, that includes greater than fifty-five percent (55%) GdOand a minority percentage Of ReO. The ceramic scintillating material includes an activator.

A method of producing a rare earth oxysulfide scintillating ceramic body includes heat treatment to form a consolidated body, followed by gas hot isostatic pressing (GHIPing). A powder is first provided having the general formula (MLn)OS, wherein M is a rare earth element, and Ln is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Eu, Ce, Pr, Tb, Yb, Dy, Sm, and Ho, and 1&#xd7;10&#x3c;X&#x3c;2&#xd7;10. The powder is heat treated to form a consolidated body having closed porosity, wherein heat treating is carried out at a temperature T. The consolidated body is GHIPed to a density not less than 99% of theoretical density, in a GHIPing environment having a temperature T, where 1100&#xb0; C.&#x3c;T&#x3c;1500&#xb0; C., to thereby form a densified body.

Rare earth oxysulfide scintillator and methods for producing same

An electrostatic chuck for supporting a semiconductor wafer, including: a chuck body having a dielectric region and an insulating region, the insulating region having a higher electrical resistivity than the dielectric region, an electrode embedded in the chuck body, and a barrier layer provided between dielectric region and the insulating region.

Electrostatic chucks having barrier layer

An electrostatic chuck is provided which includes a ceramic body comprising aluminum nitride (AlN), and at least one electrode in the ceramic body. According to a particular feature of this embodiment, the aluminum nitride has a resistivity ratio &#x3c1;/&#x3c1;less than about 5. In this regard, &#x3c1;represents the resistivity of the electrostatic chuck at 10 applied volts while &#x3c1;represents the resistivity of the AlN material at 500 applied volts.

ALN material and electrostatic chuck incorporating same

An electrostatic chuck having an essentially flat film electrode which is essentially parallel to the chucking surface of the electrostatic chuck is fabricated by depositing a film electrode, preferably by screen printing, onto a surface of a sintered ceramic substrate. A green ceramic layer is formed or molded onto the film electrode and the resulting structure is sintered, thereby producing the electrostatic chuck.

Electrostatic chucks with flat film electrode

An electrostatic chuck, or susceptor, includes an electrode and/or heating element embedded in a ceramic body, and has an electrical contact extending from the electrode. The electrode or heating element can be fabricated, for example, from molybdenum and the chuck body from aluminum nitride. The electrical contact includes a first metal and a second metal in a composition ratio wherein essentially all of the second metal is dissolved in the first metal, thereby essentially preventing formation of intermetallic species of the first and second metals. One example of an electrical contact includes about 99.8 weight percent molybdenum and about 0.2 weight percent nickel. Alternatively, the electrode can be fabricated from a first metal and a second metal in a composition ratio wherein essentially all of the second metal is dissolved in the first metal, thereby essentially preventing formation of intermetallic species of the first and second metals. The electrical contact can be fabricated from a metal such as molybdenum, or from an alloy of a first and second metal wherein essentially all of the second metal is dissolved in the first metal. The electrical contact can be formed in situ by the densification of a premixed metal powder precursor during the hot pressing step employed in fabricating the electrostatic chuck.

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Webster, MA, United States of America

Morteza Zandi