A flexible printed circuit board according to an aspect of the present invention includes a base film having insulating properties and a conductive pattern laminated to one surface side of the base film. The conductive pattern forms part of a circuit and includes at least one fuse portion having a cross section smaller than the other part. The flexible printed circuit board includes at least one opening passing through front and rear surfaces on at least one of the right and left sides of the fuse portion in a two-dimensional view.

A novel temperature-triggered fuse device is configured to be activated at a designer-specified ambient temperature by utilizing wetting force among a pair of wetting material bays and a solder bridge or a solder ball. The solder bridge or the solder ball is typically positioned on top of the pair of wetting material bays separated by an electrically-insulated gap. Preferably, the wetting material bays are at least partly made of gold, nickel, or other elements suitable for generating an increased wetting force to the solder bridge or the solder ball upon increases in ambient temperature. The novel temperature-triggered fuse device can be integrated into various types of integrated circuits (IC's), or can function as a discrete fuse connected to one or more electronic components for robust protection from power surges and/or thermal runaway-related device malfunctions, meltdowns, or explosions. Various methods of producing the temperature-triggered fuse device are also disclosed herein.

A fuse production method includes the steps of forming a liquid film of a dispersion liquid, in which metal nanoparticles are dispersed in a solvent, on a principal surface of a substrate containing at least an organic substance, heating the liquid film so as to vaporize the solvent to melt or sinter the metal nanoparticles and to soften or melt the principal surface, and forming a fuse film on the principal surface by fusing the melted or sintered metal nanoparticles and the softened or melted principal surface with each other.

A fuse production method includes the steps of forming a liquid film of a dispersion liquid, in which metal nanoparticles are dispersed in a solvent, on a principal surface of a substrate containing at least an organic substance, heating the liquid film so as to vaporize the solvent to melt or sinter the metal nanoparticles and to soften or melt the principal surface, and forming a fuse film on the principal surface by fusing the melted or sintered metal nanoparticles and the softened or melted principal surface with each other.

An integrated circuit structure includes a first fuse line formed in a first metal layer; a second fuse line formed in the first metal layer; a first pair of fuse wings formed in the first metal layer on opposite sides of a first end of the first fuse line; a second pair of fuse wings formed in the first metal layer on opposites sides of a first end of the second fuse line; a third pair of fuse wings formed in the first metal layer on opposite sides of a second end of the first fuse line; and a fourth pair of fuse wings formed in the first metal layer on opposites sides of a second end of the second fuse line. The first and second pairs of fuse wings share a first common fuse wing and the third and fourth pairs of wings share a second common fuse wing.

An integrated circuit structure includes a first fuse line formed in a first metal layer; a second fuse line formed in the first metal layer; a first pair of fuse wings formed in the first metal layer on opposite sides of a first end of the first fuse line; a second pair of fuse wings formed in the first metal layer on opposites sides of a first end of the second fuse line; a third pair of fuse wings formed in the first metal layer on opposite sides of a second end of the first fuse line; and a fourth pair of fuse wings formed in the first metal layer on opposites sides of a second end of the second fuse line. The first and second pairs of fuse wings share a first common fuse wing and the third and fourth pairs of wings share a second common fuse wing.

An SMD-solderable component comprises a resistance element, a first contact element, and a second contact element, wherein the first contact element is connected with a first end section of the resistance element by means of a first soldered connection and the second contact element is connected with a second end section of the resistance element by means of a second soldered connection. At least one of the first soldered connection and the second soldered connection is a lead-free soldered connection that is made with a lead-free solder preform. Further disclosed is a method for producing an SMD-solderable component.

An SMD-solderable component comprises a resistance element, a first contact element, and a second contact element, wherein the first contact element is connected with a first end section of the resistance element by means of a first soldered connection and the second contact element is connected with a second end section of the resistance element by means of a second soldered connection. At least one of the first soldered connection and the second soldered connection is a lead-free soldered connection that is made with a lead-free solder preform. Further disclosed is a method for producing an SMD-solderable component.

An electronic assembly, has at least one circuit board with conductor tracks, at least one current-limiting arrangement in the form of a thermal predetermined breaking point in at least one of the conductor tracks, and a fire-containment device in the region of the current-limiting arrangement.

Structures of and methods for fabricating fine-scale interconnects and fuses are disclosed. A mushroom-type structure with a narrow stalk supporting a wider cap can be used for fine-scale interconnects with widths on the scale of hundreds of nanometers that have low resistivity. Micro-air bridges can be introduced by omitting the stalk in sections of the interconnect, allowing the interconnect to bridge over obstacles. The mushroom-type micro-air bridge structure can also be modified to create fine-scale fuses that have low resistivity overall and sections of significantly higher resistivity where the micro-air bridges exist. The significantly higher resistivity results in preferential fusing at the micro-air bridges. Both mushroom interconnects and mushroom fuses can be fabricated using electron beam lithography.