A fabrication process of a stepped circuit board comprises A) cutting a circuit board substrate, printing patterns on an inner layer of the circuit board substrate, stepped groove milling of the inner layer, washer milling a washer between the inner layer and an outer layer, brownification and lamination processing on the inner layer, and then drilling holes on an outer layer of the circuit board substrate; B) electroplating the entire circuit board substrate by depositing copper on the outer layer of the circuit board substrate with drilled holes; C) performing pattern transfer by means of through-hole plating of the drilled holes on the circuit board substrate processed by the copper depositing and the electroplating; D) after pattern transferring, grinding a shape of a connecting piece (SET) on the circuit board substrate after the electroplating; E) plugging the drilled holes to form plug holes and printing a solder mask and texts in a silk-screen manner after forming the plug holes; F) depositing nickel immersion gold on the entire circuit board substrate, then printing characters in a silk-screen manner, thereby forming the stepped circuit board; and G) testing and inspecting an electric performance and appearance of the stepped circuit board to fabricate a finished product of the stepped circuit board.

A method for material deposition includes providing a transparent donor substrate (34) having opposing first and second surfaces and a donor film (36) including a metal formed over the second surface. The donor substrate is positioned in proximity to an acceptor substrate (22), with the second surface facing toward the acceptor substrate, in an atmosphere containing oxygen. Pulses of laser radiation are directed to pass through the first surface of the donor substrate and impinge on the donor film so as to induce ejection from the donor film of droplets (44) of molten material onto the acceptor substrate, forming on the acceptor substrate particles (46) of the metal with an outer layer (54) comprising an oxide of the metal.

A method of making a security mesh comprises forming on a conductive substrate an alumina film having through-holes in which metal, e.g., copper, through-wires are formed. First surface wires are formed on one surface of the alumina film and second surface wires are formed on the second, opposite surface of the alumina film in order to connect selected through-wires into a continuous undulating electrical circuit embedded within the alumina film. The security mesh product comprises an alumina film having a continuous undulating electrical circuit comprising copper or other conductive metal extending therethrough. A stacked security mesh comprises two or more of the mesh products being stacked one above the other.

A method of forming a non-metallic coating on a metallic substrate involves the steps of positioning the metallic substrate in an electrolysis chamber and applying a sequence of voltage pulses of alternating polarity to electrically bias the substrate with respect to an electrode. Positive voltage pulses anodically bias the substrate with respect to the electrode and negative voltage pulses cathodically bias the substrate with respect to the electrode. The amplitude of the positive voltage pulses is potentiostatically controlled, whereas the amplitude of the negative voltage pulses is galvanostatically controlled.

A process for manufacturing an electronic component having attaches includes providing a first component having a first attach, forming trenches on a portion of the first attach with a laser to form a solder stop, and providing a second component comprising a second attach. The process further includes providing solder between the first attach and the second attach to form a connection between the first component and the second component, where the trenches contain the solder to a usable area. A device produced by the process is disclosed as well.

A transparent conductive electrode comprising metal nanowires and method of making is described, wherein the transparent conductive electrode has a pencil hardness more than 1H, nanoporous surface having pore sizes less than 25 nm and surface roughness less than 50 nm. The transparent conductive electrode further comprises an index matching layer, having a refractive index between 1.1-1.5 and a thickness between 100-200 nm.

A method includes providing an electronic assembly, where the electronic assembly has at least one electrical connection that includes at least a surface that is substantially pure tin metal and the pure tin metal has tin whiskers formed thereon and the pure tin metal has a thickness. The method includes exposing the tin metal to at least one mitigating agent selected to interact with the tin metal to oxidize the tin whiskers and mechanically removing substantially all the oxidized tin whiskers from the electronic assembly. The electronic assembly is exposed to the mitigating agent under appropriate conditions to oxidize the tin whiskers.

The disclosed embodiments include a method of integrating metal elements separated by gaps with a structure that conceals the metal elements and gaps. The method includes treating a metal substrate to a plasma electrolytic oxidation process to form a ceramic layer from a portion of the metal substrate, thereby providing the ceramic layer and an underlying metal portion of the metal substrate. The method further includes etching gap(s) in the underlying metal portion of the metal substrate to form metal elements separated by the gap(s), and backfilling the gap(s) with a non-conductive substance. As such, the metal elements, the non-conductive substance filling the gap(s), and the ceramic layer collectively form a structure whereby the ceramic layer at least partially conceals the metal elements and the gap(s).

An interconnect structure and method for manufacturing the same includes a substrate and a copper trace line defined on a surface of the substrate. The copper trace line includes a transmission line and a contact pad. The copper trace line is plated with a layer of metal which will oxidize if exposed to the atmosphere. The layer of metal is further plated with a layer of gold. The gold layer is selectively applied to the transmission line and the contact pad to define a gap on the transmission line at the contact pad. The metal layer is exposed in the gap. An oxide layer is formed on the metal layer in the gap. The oxide layer and the substrate surround the contact pad define a barrier to spread of solder.

A method of preparing a printing form precursor for printing, or a printed circuit board precursor or a semiconductor precursor, the method comprising the step of applying electromagnetic radiation having a pulse duration of not greater than 110.sup.6 seconds, in an imagewise manner, to an imagable surface of the precursor. The imaging process may cause ablation of the coating of the precursor or permit its development in a developer. In each case the imaging radiation needs not be tuned to imaging chemistry (if any) present in the coating. Alternatively the imaging process may induce a change of hydrophilicity or hydrophobicity, or other change of state, of an uncoated substrate.