Abstract: An enclosed electrical circuit and method for manufacturing the electrical circuit are provided. Initially a flexible substrate is formed with a plurality of electrical circuits. By way of example, each circuit can contain a conductive trace, a battery and a die, all in electrical communication. During the manufacturing process, a barrier is placed on the substrate and a curable encapsulant is poured into a cavity formed by the barrier and the substrate to encapsulate each circuit. The barrier can be formed as a compartmentalized dam having a separate cavity for each circuit, as a perimeter dam having a single cavity, or as a spacer sheet having a separate cavity for each circuit formed by a pattern of cut outs. Following the encapsulation step, the electrical circuits can be singulated into separate encapsulated circuits.

Abstract: A method of forming a button-type battery includes: a) providing an electrically conductive sheet having an exposed surface which is divisible into a plurality of areas; b) depositing an uncured electrically insulative gasket material onto the conductive sheet into a plurality of the areas, the gasket material being deposited to define at least one discrete pattern within the respective deposited areas, the respective discrete patterns covering less than a total of their respective areas; c) curing the deposited gasket material; d) cutting and forming a plurality of discrete first terminal housing members from the areas of the conductive sheet, the respective first terminal housing members comprising at least a portion of one of the discrete patterns of gasket material; d) providing a discrete electrically conductive second terminal housing member in facing juxtaposition to one of the first terminal housing members; e) providing an anode and a cathode having a separator and electrolyte positioned therebetween

Abstract: An improved battery, an improved battery contact assembly and an improved method for attaching a battery to a substrate are provided. The battery includes a housing and a cover for attachment to the housing by crimping. During the crimping process a portion of the housing is bent over a portion of the cover such that a portion of the housing is substantially co-planar with a portion of the cover. Thus the two co-planar surfaces provide the positive and negative contact surfaces of the battery on a single side of the battery. The receiving portion of the contact assembly includes a substrate having a pair of contacts formed thereon. The contacts are shaped and sized to match the contact surfaces of the battery. The battery is attached to the substrate and traces using an electrically conducting adhesive.

Abstract: The present invention develops an opaque or translucent glass film for use in semiconductor fabrication processes, such as in EPROMs or radio frequency integrated circuits. The opaque or translucent film is developed by forming an glass layer while and introducing a light blocking pigment into the glass layer. The light blocking pigment is made up of a metal oxide, such as titanium oxide (TiO.sub.2), an organic dye, bone ash, or dispersed metal particles. The glass layer is made up of spin on glass.

Abstract: A method of forming a button-type battery terminal housing member sheet includes, a) providing an electrically conductive sheet having an exposed surface, the conductive sheet being divisible into a plurality of individual button-type battery terminal housing member regions; b) masking portions of the respective regions of the exposed sheet surface with a masking material; c) applying an uncured and flowable gasket material onto unmasked portions of the respective regions of the exposed sheet surface; d) allowing the applied uncured gasket material to at least partially cure; and e) after at least partially curing the gasket material, removing the masking material from the masked portions of the respective regions of the exposed sheet surface. The sheet is preferably utilized in formation of a plurality of button-type batteries. A plurality of discrete first terminal housing members are cut and formed from the electrically conductive sheet regions.

Abstract: A button-type battery includes: a) an anode; b) a cathode positioned adjacent to the anode; c) a separator and electrolyte between the anode and the cathode; d) a conductive first terminal housing member in electrical contact with one of the anode or the cathode, the first terminal housing member having a surrounding periphery and a concave central portion intermediate of its surrounding periphery; e) a conductive second terminal housing member in electrical contact with the other of the anode or the cathode, the second terminal housing member having a surrounding periphery and a concave central portion intermediate of its surrounding periphery which is opposingly concave to the concave central portion of the first terminal housing member; and f) the first and second terminal housing members being insulatingly joined and sealed at their respective peripheries to form an enclosed housing which retains and protects the anode, cathode, separator and electrolyte, with the concave central portions of the first and

Abstract: A communication system is simpler and conserves power by eliminating the need for a reference frequency oscillator in the transmitter circuit. In a battery operated transceiver of the present invention, the receiver portion includes a tracking oscillator. The tracking oscillator output is used to synchronize received data and as a reference frequency source for the transmitter. In a half duplex communication system a reply signal is transmitted while no command signal is being received. Therefore, the transceiver in such a system includes circuitry for maintaining the reference frequency during transmission. Thus, the frequency accuracy of the transmission is based on the frequency accuracy of the received command signal. The tracking oscillator in one embodiment includes a phase locked loop circuit having a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), an up-down counter, and a digital to analog converter (DAC) for determining the VCO frequency.

Abstract: An improved battery, an improved battery contact assembly and an improved method for attaching a battery to a substrate are provided. The battery includes a housing and a cover for attachment to the housing by crimping. During the crimping process a portion of the housing is bent over a portion of the cover such that a portion of the housing is substantially co-planar with a portion of the cover. Thus the two co-planar surfaces provide the positive and negative contact surfaces of the battery on a single side of the battery. The receiving portion of the contact assembly includes a substrate having a pair of contacts formed thereon. The contacts are shaped and sized to match the contact surfaces of the battery. The battery is attached to the substrate and traces using an electrically conducting adhesive.

Abstract: A button-type battery has an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte encased with two terminal housing members. The terminal housing members have respective peripheries that are crimped together to form a fluid-tight seal. An insulating gasket is provided between the peripheries to electrically insulate the two terminal housing members. A porous separator physically separates the anode and cathode and extends between the terminal housing member peripheries at least partially into the fluid-tight seal. According to one aspect, the separator overlaps the gasket in the seal. According to another aspect, the separator and gasket are formed of a single, integral piece of material.

Abstract: A method of forming a plurality of button-type electrodes includes: a) providing a release liner sheet having elemental lithium adhered thereto in the form of a series of discrete patterns having a size and shape of the lithium electrodes being formed; b) providing an electrically conductive sheet having an exposed surface which is divisible into a plurality of areas; c) laminating the release liner sheet with the conductive sheet to adhere the series of discrete elemental lithium patterns onto the respective sheet areas; d) pulling the release liner sheet from the conductive sheet and discrete lithium patterns, leaving the discrete lithium patterns adhering to the conductive sheet; and e) cutting and forming a plurality of discrete battery terminal housing members from the areas of the sheet, with each of the discrete battery terminal housings bearing one of the discrete lithium patterns.

Abstract: A button-type battery includes, a) a conductive first terminal housing member; b) a conductive second terminal housing member; c) an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte between the anode and cathode; the anode, the cathode and the electrolyte being collectively received intermediate the first and second terminal housing members; the first and second terminal housing members forming an enclosed housing which holds and protects the anode, the cathode and the electrolyte; and d) the anode having an operative surface within the enclosed housing which faces the cathode, the operative anode surface having been roughened prior to final assembly of the button-type battery.

Abstract: A method of forming a button-type battery includes: a) providing a sheet of cathode material bonded to solid electrolyte material; b) cutting the cathode material and solid electrolyte material from the sheet into a plurality of composite cathode/solid electrolyte pieces which are individually sized and shaped to constitute the electrolyte and cathode components of a single button-type battery; c) providing a pair of first and second terminal housing members in facing juxtaposition to one another, the first and second terminal housing members having respective peripheries; d) providing one of the composite cathode/electrolyte pieces intermediate the juxtaposed first and second terminal housing members; e) providing an anode intermediate the juxtaposed first and second terminal housing members, the anode being positioned to electrically connect with one of the first or second terminal housing members and the solid electrolyte, and the cathode being positioned to electrically connect with the other of the first

Abstract: A button-type battery includes: a) an anode; b) a cathode positioned adjacent to the anode.

Abstract: A process for manufacturing a low contact resistance electrical bonding interconnect having a metal bond pad portion and conductive epoxy portion. The conductive epoxy portion comprises a metal oxide reducing agent for reducing oxides formed during the fabrication of the bonding interconnect.

Abstract: A method of forming a button-type lithium electrode includes: a) masking an electrically conductive sheet with a material to which elemental lithium will not appreciably adhere to define a masked portion and an unmasked portion, the unmasked portion being in the shape of the desired electrode being formed; c) applying molten lithium to the masked sheet to cause elemental lithium to adhere to the unmasked portion but not appreciably adhere to the masked portion; alternately, directing a lithium stream onto the sheet; d) solidifying the lithium on the unmasked portion to in situ form a lithium electrode; and e) after solidifying, removing the masking material from the masked portion of the sheet.

Abstract: An enclosed transceiver includes an integrated circuit and a battery together laminated between two films. Printed conductors on each film couple operative power to the integrated circuit. Other-printed conductors form an antenna coupled to the transceiver for sending and receiving signals. In a preferred embodiment, the integrated circuit has three terminals. The first terminal is connected to a first side of a thin film battery. The second terminal is connected to a first side of a printed loop antenna. The third terminal serves two purposes being connected to the second side of the battery and to the second side of the loop antenna. The enclosing films are treated with silicon nitride for hermeticity. Enclosed transceivers of the present invention are suitable for mass production in web, sheet, and tape formats. Such transceivers are useful as stamps, labels, and tags in object tracking systems including systems for mail delivery, airline baggage tracking, and inventory control.

Abstract: A button-type battery has an anode, a cathode, a separator, and an electrolyte encased within a housing and surrounding by a fluid-tight peripheral seal. The battery is capable of being deflected such that a first portion of the battery is angled relative to a second portion through an internal angle between the first and second portions in a range from 175.degree. to at least 90.degree. without destroying operation of the button-type battery or rupturing the fluid-tight peripheral seal.

Abstract: A simple trip-wire or magnetic circuit associated with a shipping container monitors continuity, which is detected electrically. Simply, if continuity is disabled by a forced entry of the container, electrical detection means, such as a radio-frequency-identification (RFID) tag, will alert the owner or monitoring station. The trip-wire concept would require the replacing of a broken trip wire (resulting from forced entry), while the magnetic circuit concept can be reused repetitively. In a second embodiment a magnetic circuit and the detection device (RFID tag) are embedded into the shipping article during manufacturing. The preferred detection device, an RFID tag, could also be a battery backed transceiver type on which a replaceable or rechargeable battery could be mounted on the inside of the shipping container during manufacturing. The RFID tag would communicate with an interrogator unit, which could be connected to a host computer.