New Developments in the Metal Finishing Field C o m p i l e d b y A n s e l m K u h n , M e t a l F i n i s h i n g I n f o r m a t i o n Serv ices Ltd.

Patents publ ished in August 2004

Fi lm D e p o s i t i o n M e t h o d

U.S. 6783644 (Sony Corp.) Tonosaki, M.; Kitagawa, K. Film formation on plastic or sim- ilar substrates uses carbon pre- cursor film formed from C ions at high voltage.

C o n t r o l o f So l id S t a t e D i m e n s i o n a l F e a t u r e s

US. 6783643 (Harvard College) McMullan, C.J.; Stein, D.M., et al. Surface is subjected to ion flux in vacuum or low pressure, forming adatoms.

Surface Enhancer for Making a Molded MetaUCeramic Article US. 6784225 (3D Systems Inc.) Improved enhancer formulation for use in forming precision- molded articles from a furnace process uses organometallic zir- conia coupling agent in conjunc- tion with a polymer in solvent to inhibit the bleed-through of infil- trant metal in a finished part formed in a single-step furnace process.

Method for improving Thickness Uniformity of Deposited Ozone-TEOS Silicate Glass Layers U.S. 6784122 (Micron Technology Inc.) Iyer, R. Method for depositing highly conformal silicate glass layers via chemical vapor deposition through the reaction of TEOS and 03 comprises placing an in- process semiconductor wafer hay- ing multiple surface constituents in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition chamber.

Method and Agent for Producing Hydrophobic Layers on Fluoride Layers U.S. 6783704 (Merck Patent GmbH) Dombrowski, R.; Frtz, M., et al. Process for the production of hydrophobic layers on optical substrates, which have an alka- line earth metal fluoride or alkali metal fluoride layer as the outermost layer, or consist of alkaline earth metal fluo- rides, or alkali metal fluorides, by thermal vapor deposition with polyfluorohydrocarbons in a high vacuum.

M e t h o d of S t r i p p i n g S i l v e r

f r o m a P r i n t e d C i r c u i t Board

US. 6783690 Kologe, D.M.; Larson, B., et al. Method of stripping silver from a printed circuit board without attacking the underlying base metal. The stripping solution comprises an oxidizing agent, an

alkaline pH adjuster, and a silver solubilizing agent. After the sil- ver has been sufficiently removed from the surface of the printed circuit board, the printed circuit board is contacted with a neutralization solution to remove any smut remaining on the surface. The silver stripping solution does not contain cyanide or chromium and does not require the use of anodic current.

Reader queries relating to patents pub- hshed in Metal Finishing or to advise on patent searches of the approximately 30 milhon patents in the public domain can be e-maded to Anselm Kuhn, Metal Finishing Informatmn Services Ltd., at finpubs@compuserve.com. The patents summarized are a sampling of some 500 surface-finishing-related patents published every month. Almost all patents can be v~ewed on the Internet and downloaded or pnnted, in many cases free of charge, at www.uspto.gov and www.delphion.com. I~f

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