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:
Aug. 30, 2005
Filed:
Feb. 05, 2002
Axel Scherer, Laguna Beach, CA (US);
Mark Adams, Pasadena, CA (US);
Axel Scherer, Laguna Beach, CA (US);
Mark Adams, Pasadena, CA (US);
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (US);
Abstract
According to the invention semiconductor processing procedures can be applied to silicone elastomeric materials. The surface tension of the elastomeric material is changed by depositing a thin layer of silicon, silicon nitride, silicon dioxide or a combination thereof onto the elastomer's exposed surface. In the illustrated embodiment it is shown that it is possible to deposit a thin layer of silicon dioxide onto the elastomer's exposed surface through re*active sputter deposition of silicon dioxide within an argon-oxygen plasma. In another plasma fabrication procedure, the elastomer material is directionally etched using a standard RF plasma etching system and a dry chemical oxygen-Freon removal procedure, which procedure volatilizes all of the components of the polydimethylsilicone (PDMS) or GE's RTV elastomer material.