Overvoltage protection device and material
OwnerKaren P. Shrierinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A material device for electronic circuitry that provides pro-tection from fast transient overvoltage pulses. The electroded device can additionally be tailored to provide electrostatic bleed. Conductive particles are uniformly dispersed in an insulating matrix or binder to provide material having non-linear resistance characteristics. The non-linear resistance characteristics of the material are determined by the interparticle spacing within the binder as well as by the electrical properties of the insulating binder. By tailoring the separation between conductive particles, thereby controlling quantum-mechanical tunneling, the electrical properties of the non-linear material can be varied over a wide range.
Claims20
A material for placement between and in contact with spaced conductors to provide a non-linear resistance therebetween, said material comprising a matrix formed of a said binder and only closely spaced conductive particles:
- (a) said closely spaced conductive particles being homogeneously distributed, said particles being in the range 0.1 microns to two hundred microns in size and spaced by said binder to provide electrical conduction by quantum-mechanical tunneling therebetween;
- and
- (b) said binder selected to provide the quantum-mechanical tunneling media between said conductive particles and predetermined resistance between said conductive particles in the absence of quantum-mechanical tunneling.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.