Overvoltage protection device and material
AssigneeElectromer Corporation
InventorKaren P. Shrier
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A material and device for electronic circuitry that provides protection from fast transient over-voltage 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 inter-particle spacing within the binder as well as by the electrical properties of the insulating binder. By tailoring the separation between the conductive particles, thereby controlling quantum-mechanical tunneling, the electrical properties of the non-linear material can be varied over a wide range.
Claims21
An overvoltage protection material for placement between and in contact with spaced conductors, said material comprising a matrix formed of a binder and only closely spaced conductive particles:
- a) said only closely spaced conductive particles homogeneously distributed in said binder, said particles being in the size range 10 microns to two hundred microns and spaced in the range 25 angstroms to 350 angstroms to provide electrical conduction by quantum-mechanical tunneling therebetween;
- and
- b) said binder selected to provide the quantum-mechanical tunneling media between said particles and predetermined resistance between said conductive particles in the absence of quantum-mechanical tunneling.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.