The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 25, 2025
Filed:
Apr. 02, 2021
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (US);
Pedro P. Guerrero Vela, Pasadena, CA (US);
James E. Polk, Pasadena, CA (US);
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (US);
Abstract
Aspects include a method for treating a polycrystalline material, the method comprising: exposing a surface of the polycrystalline material to a plasma thereby changing the surface of the polycrystalline material from being characterized by a starting condition to being characterized by a treated condition; wherein: the surface comprises a plurality of crystallites each having the composition MB, M being a metal element; the plasma comprises ions, the ions being characterized by an average ion flux selected from the range of 1.5 to 100 A/cmand an average ion energy that is less than a sputtering threshold energy; the starting condition of the surface is characterized by a first average work function and the treated condition of the surface is characterized by a second average work function; and the second average work function is less than the first average work function.