Nickel-carbon and nickel-cobalt-carbon brazes and brazing processes for joining ceramics and metals and semiconductor processing and industrial equipment using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12397379-B2
Application number	US-202418640196-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 19, 2024
Priority date	Jun 13, 2018
Publication date	Aug 26, 2025
Grant date	Aug 26, 2025

Abstract

A joining method includes placing a brazing element between an interface area of a first ceramic piece and an interface area of a second ceramic piece to create a joining pre-assembly and placing the components of said joining pre-assembly into a process chamber. Oxygen is removed from said process chamber and at least said brazing element of said joining pre-assembly is heated, thereby hermetically joining said first ceramic piece to said second ceramic piece. Said brazing element consists of Cobalt and Carbon.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A joining method, said joining method comprising the steps of:
placing a brazing element between an interface area of a first ceramic piece and an interface area of a second ceramic piece to create a joining pre-assembly, wherein said brazing element consists of Carbon in the range of 1-80 atomic percent and the remainder of said brazing element is Cobalt;
placing the components of said joining pre-assembly into a process chamber;
removing oxygen from said process chamber; and
heating at least said brazing element of said joining pre-assembly, thereby hermetically joining said first ceramic piece to said second ceramic piece.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first ceramic piece comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and said second ceramic piece comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said step of heating at least said brazing element comprises:
heating at least said brazing element to a first temperature below the eutectic temperature of said brazing element; and
heating at least said brazing element to second temperature above said eutectic temperature of said brazing element.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein said brazing element consists of Carbon in the range of 10-16 atomic percent.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first ceramic piece comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises applying a pressure of lower than 1×10E-4 Torr to said process chamber.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said step of heating at least said brazing element comprises:
heating at least said brazing element to a first temperature below the eutectic temperature of said brazing element; and
heating at least said brazing element to second temperature above said eutectic temperature of said brazing element.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said second ceramic piece comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of heating at least said brazing element comprises:
heating at least said brazing element to a first temperature below the eutectic temperature of said brazing element; and
heating at least said brazing element to second temperature above said eutectic temperature of said brazing element.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first ceramic piece and said second ceramic piece comprise the same ceramic material.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first ceramic piece and said second ceramic piece comprise different ceramic materials.

12. The method of claim 3 , wherein the eutectic temperature of said brazing element is 1325° C.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of placing said brazing element comprises a layer-by-layer process.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of placing said brazing element comprises at least one of sputtering or CVD (chemical vapor deposition).

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises applying a pressure of lower than 1×10E −5 Torr to said process chamber.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of heating at least said brazing element to a first temperature below the eutectic temperature of said brazing element has a duration of 2 hours.

17. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of heating at least said brazing element to second temperature above said eutectic temperature of said brazing element has a duration of 20 minutes.

Assignees

• Watlow Electric Mfg

Inventors

• Elliot Alfred Grant
• Elliot Brent

Classifications

• B23K35/0238

  layered · CPC title

• B23K20/14

  Preventing or minimising gas access, or using protective gases or vacuum during welding (formed by material interposed between workpieces B23K20/18) · CPC title

• B23K20/008

  combining pressure with radiant energy · CPC title

• B23K1/008

  Soldering within a furnace (B23K1/012 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B23K2103/08

  Non-ferrous metals or alloys · CPC title