Panning for Gold
Panning for gold is a thrill, just like scratching off a lotto ticket or playing a game at a casino. In a similar way, I am looking for gold every tim...
NanoBond
NanoBonding®: Who Needs Oxygen?
A match won’t stay lit in a closed jar. Most familiar forms of heat generation are aerobic reactions. The NanoBond® process is anaerobic, wh...
NanoBond® is a Room Temperature Bonding Process
As I mentioned in an earlier post, some soldering applications require a fluxless process. In this line of work you see an assortment of odd soldering...
NanoBond® used for Data Generation
“The standard process was used as described: The pieces were assembled with a reactive multilayer foil between the aluminum and molybdenum, with...
NanoBond® is a Fluxless Process
Fluxes are an interesting element of working with many solder applications. With so many specialized fluxes there is usually a perfectly-tailored flux...
Another Important NanoFoil® Application Note
In a somewhat recent post, I mentioned that my favorite NanoFoil® application note was “NanoBond® of Ceramic and Metal Sputtering Target...
We Use NanoFoil®
One of our most demanding customers is … the Indium Corporation! While we supply the world with NanoFoil®, we also use a large amount for t...
NanoFoil® for CPV Attachment
The attachment of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) cells is the perfect application for NanoFoil®. Due to the isolated heating during bonding, less...
Annealing NanoFoil®
NanoFoil®requires a threshold of energy to activate. What happens if that energy value is not met?: Interdiffusion and inhibition of the NanoBond&...
Thermal conductivity of NanoFoil®
A NanoBond® acts like a traditional solder bond in many ways. After reaction, the bulk properties of NanoFoil® are similar to that of many sol...
DIY: Applying Solder to Copper, Nickel, and Platinum (Flux)
In order to NanoBond® parts that are made out of copper, nickel, or platinum, we must first apply solder to the bonding surface. This......
DIY: Applying Solder to Aluminum and Aluminum Alloys (Scrubbing)
Aluminum is a very common material to bond to, although it is a little tricky to solder to with traditional methods. The method that we......
DIY: Connecting NanoFoil®
Sometimes one piece of NanoFoil® just isn’t enough… We often NanoBond® sputtering targets which are large enough to require multi...
NanoFoil® Do-It-Yourself Tips and Tricks
Using NanoFoil®can be very easy, and there are many things you can do yourself to make prototyping or production easier, save money, and get the r...
Sn-plated NanoFoil®
Tin-coated NanoFoil® is not one, but two very different products, combined. It is a heat source and a form of solder. In the world of interconnect...
My Favorite NanoBond® Application Note
We commonly receive questions like: “Can NanoFoil® be used to bond silicon?” or, “What surface flatness do I need to NanoBo...
Wave Propagation of NanoFoil®
The NanoBond® reaction is activated at one or more points and travels throughout the material. It really is pretty interesting to watch, but you w...
Heat Dissipation During a NanoBond® Reaction
One of the best parts of using NanoFoil® to create a bond with dissimilar metals or heat sensitive components is that the heat it creates is quick...
Heat Penetration During a NanoBond® Reaction
One of the great reasons to use a localized heating method like NanoBonding is to make sure the entire assembly is not heated – only the......
Optical Activation of NanoFoil®
Lasers and fiber optic waveguides can be used to activate NanoFoil®. Why would you want to use a laser to do this? br......
NanoFoil® X and Y Dimensions
The easiest way to have NanoFoil® parts customized for your NanoBond® application is to let us cut them for you. There are......
Choosing the Best Metallization for your NanoBond® Application
Since the NanoBond® process is almost instantaneous, fluxes are not used. (They just don’t have enough time to heat up to their activation t...
NanoFoil® Thickness
NanoFoil® is available in various thicknesses to suit different applications. In each variation, the thickness of each Aluminum and Nickel bi-laye...
NanoBond® Setup
Assuming that your application follows the DFNB (design for NanoBond®) guidelines, you are ready to prepare your parts/components for assembly. Wh...
Cross Sectioning a NanoBond®
One of my favorite methods of examining a solder bond is cross sectioning. This may not give you a view over the entire area of the bondline, or give ...
Flat Surfaces for the NanoBond® Soldering Process
As mentioned in a separate post, uniform pressure across a NanoBond® interface is critical for maximum solder bond strength. Uniform pressure is m...
Preparing Surfaces for a NanoBond®
The first time I was taught how to solder (as a child), I was told: “All the surfaces need to be mechanically cleaned and chemically cleaned.&rd...
Design Considerations for the NanoBond® Process
The first step of the NanoBond® process should usually happen long before the NanoFoil® arrives at your facility. DFM (design for manufacturin...
Adding Solder to a NanoBond® Assembly
One of the biggest misconceptions about NanoFoil® is that it is a form of solder. While it may contain a solder coating if specified (usually tin)...
The NanoBond® Process
To successfully use NanoFoil®, you do not need to fully understand what it is or how it is made, although that does help. It also makes for a...
Holy Moly (bdenum)! - That's A Big Molybdenum Sputtering Target!
Because I secretly love cheesy blog titles and because I wish I had a better high school senior portrait: At our last thin film tradeshow (as of ...