Molecular electronic interconnects
OwnerJames Tour, Shawn Dirkinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electrical interconnect device with contact(s) with improved resistance to oxidation, improved conductivity, and improved lubricity achieved by applying to the surface of the contact(s) a molecular coating chosen from the group consisting of monomers, oligomers, or polymers that are primarily organic in origin, capable of forming self-assembled monolayers or self-assembled multilayers, electrically conducting or non-conducting, and contain metal-binding ligands as pendant groups or as part of their backbone. Alternatively, the molecular contact coating may be a mat of chemically modified nanotubes.
Claims38
In an electrical interconnect device having at least one electrically conducting metal contact, the improvement comprising:
- applying to the surface of the contact a molecular contact coating chosen from the group consisting of monomers, oligomers, or polymers that are organic or organometallic in origin, capable of forming self-assembled monolayers or self-assembled multilayers, electrically conducting or non-conducting, and contain metal-binding ligands as pendant groups or as part of their backbone.
In an electrical interconnect device having at least one electrically conducting metal contact, the improvement comprising:
- applying to the surface of the contact a molecular contact coating of oligomers or polymers chosen from the group consisting of:
- where:
- X may be an alkyne, alkene, alkane, amine, ether, diazo, or thioether;
- Z is a redox active group or groups;
- Y is a metal ligand;
- m is 0-20;
- n is from 1 to about 10,000;
- R1, R2 and R3 may be any organic moiety;
- and
- x, y, and z may be 1-20.
An electrical interconnect device having at least one electrically conducting metal contact, the improvement comprising:
- applying to the surface of the contact a molecular contact coating comprising oligo(phenyleneethynylene) compounds of the following type:
- where R1 and/or R4 are metal binding ligands and R2 and/or R3 are redox active groups.
In an electrical interconnect device having at least one electrically conducting metal contact, the improvement comprising:
- applying to the surface of the contact a molecular contact coating comprising a pi-conjugated compound chosen from the group consisting of, oligo(phenyleneethenylene)s, oligo(thiophenyleethenylene)s, oligo(arylene)s, oligo(arylenylethenylene)s and oligo(arylenylethynylene)s.
In an electrical interconnect device having at least one electrically conducting metal contact, the improvement comprising:
- applying to the surface of the contact a molecular contact coating comprising a mat of single-walled or multi-walled carbon nanotubes or chemically modified single-walled or multi-walled carbon nanotubes.
A method of modifying the surface of an electrical contact to improve its resistance to failure due to oxidation and other reactions with chemical agents, to reduce its surface roughness, to improve its lubricity, to improve its conductivity, and to stabilize the contact surface from molecular reconstruction comprising coating the contact surface with a molecular contact coating chosen from the group consisting of monomers, oligomers, or polymers that are organic in origin, capable of forming self-assembled monolayers or self-assembled multilayers, electrically conducting or non-conducting, and contain metal-binding ligands as pendant groups or as part of their backbone.
A method of maintaining protection from oxidation and other reactions of mating electrical contact surfaces comprising:
- coating at least one of the contact surfaces with a molecular contact coating chosen from the group consisting of monomers, oligomers, or polymers that are organic in origin, capable of forming self-assembled monolayers or self-assembled multilayers, electrically conducting or non-conducting, and contain metal-binding ligands as pendant groups or as part of their backbone;
- mating the contacts and pushing the molecular contact coating away from corresponding portions of the coated contact surfaces so that uncoated portions of the contacts can touch at those corresponding contact portions;
- and
- separating the contacts to expose the molecular contact coating to permit molecules in the remaining areas of the molecular contact coating to migrate to and fill the exposed areas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.