Elastic encapsulated carbon nanotube based electrical contacts

摘要

Contacts of an electrical device can be made of carbon nanotube columns. Contact tips can be disposed at ends of the columns. The contact tips can be made of an electrically conductive paste applied to the ends of the columns and cured (e.g., hardened). The paste can be applied, cured, and/or otherwise treated to make the contact tips in desired shapes. The carbon nanotube columns can be encapsulated in an elastic material that can impart the dominant mechanical characteristics, such as spring characteristics, to the contacts. The contacts can be electrically conductive and can be utilized to make pressure-based electrical connections with electrical terminals or other contact structures of another device.

主权项

1. An electronic device comprising:
a substrate; electrically conductive contacts each attached at a first end to said substrate and extending away from said substrate to a second end, each of said contacts comprising a carbon-nanotube column of intertwined generally aligned carbon nanotube fibers; and an elastic material encapsulating at least partially each of said contacts, wherein said elastic material impregnates ones of said carbon-nanotube columns of said contacts, wherein said elastic material comprises an epoxy, a flexibilizer, an epoxy curative, and a solvent, and wherein a weight ratio of said epoxy to said flexibilizer to said epoxy curative to said solvent is about ten times said epoxy, about twenty times said flexibilizer, about three times said epoxy curative, and about six times said solvent.