Cathode in a layered circuit and electrochemical cell for a measurement of oxygen in fluids
First Claim
1. An improved electrochemical cell that is useful in an oxygen sensor that measures the oxygen tension or concentration in a fluid including those that have small quantities of oxygen where the cell is part of a printed wiring board, comprising:
- a nonconducting substrate,at least one metallic layer overlying the said nonconducting substrate in a pattern to provide distinct cathode and anode and conductive pathways to both electrodes where the pathways are electrically isolated from each other and where they allow for eventual external electrical connection to the cell,an encapsulant layer overlying that portion of said metallic layer other than the anode to electrically isolate the conductive pathway to the anode from the conductive pathway to the cathode in the metallic layer and having at least one laser-produced finite-sided opening with a bottom and tapered walls, where the opening extends through at least said encapsulant layer, where at least a portion of the walls of said opening are formed by the encapsulant layer, where the opening exposes a portion of the metallic layer to act as a cathode, and where the opening is capable of ionic contact, andan electrolyte to provide ionic contact with the cathode and the anode for electrical ionic relationship between the electrodes.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The electrode of the present invention has metallic surface within a laser produced opening where the metallic surface extends into an electronic metallic conductive pathway and the pathway is covered for electric insulation by an encapsulant layer. The encapsulant layer around the metallic surface has the opening to allow the exposure of the metallic surface from the encapsulant layer. The metallic pathway and encapsulant are resident on a substrate, and are produced from layered circuitry. The electrochemical cell has the aforementioned electrode juxtaposed to another electrode. This electrode is part of the patterned metallic layer that is produced by layered circuitry. The electrode extends into an electronic metallic conductive pathway that is spaced apart and electronically insulated from the other pathway. The insulation can be supplied by a covering of encapsulant material that covers the pathway except does not cover the second electrode. The encapsulant would not cover the second electrode by virtue of its removal by laser and/or masking during production of the layered circuitry. Both of the electrodes are covered with an oxygen permeable fluid electrolyte that provides ionic contact between the two electrodes. The electrodes and electrolyte are covered with one or more oxygen permeable membranes, and these along with the metallic conductive pathways are resident on a substrate. The cell is useful in detecting oxygen in fluids when a negative potential is applied to the laser-produced electrode relative to the other electrode through the pathways that are in contact with leads for external electrical contact from the substrate.
39 Citations
31 Claims
-
1. An improved electrochemical cell that is useful in an oxygen sensor that measures the oxygen tension or concentration in a fluid including those that have small quantities of oxygen where the cell is part of a printed wiring board, comprising:
-
a nonconducting substrate, at least one metallic layer overlying the said nonconducting substrate in a pattern to provide distinct cathode and anode and conductive pathways to both electrodes where the pathways are electrically isolated from each other and where they allow for eventual external electrical connection to the cell, an encapsulant layer overlying that portion of said metallic layer other than the anode to electrically isolate the conductive pathway to the anode from the conductive pathway to the cathode in the metallic layer and having at least one laser-produced finite-sided opening with a bottom and tapered walls, where the opening extends through at least said encapsulant layer, where at least a portion of the walls of said opening are formed by the encapsulant layer, where the opening exposes a portion of the metallic layer to act as a cathode, and where the opening is capable of ionic contact, and an electrolyte to provide ionic contact with the cathode and the anode for electrical ionic relationship between the electrodes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A cathode in a layered circuit, comprising:
-
a multilayered composite having; nonconducting base, at least one patterned metallic layer associated with the nonconducting base where the layer has two ends and one end is remote from the other end and one end is capable of electric connection from the nonconducting base by an electrical lead, and at least one encapsulant layer, wherein the encapsulant is selected from the group consisting of glass, ceramics and a mixture thereof and the encapsulant layer overlays all of the metallic layer but for at least one laser-produced finite-sided opening with tapered sides in proximity to the end of the metallic layer that is distant from the end for attachment to the electrical lead, where the opening extends from the top of the encapsulant layer overlying the metallic layer to at least the surface of the metallic layer to form a bottom and walls to make the opening finite sided. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
-
-
30. A cathode in a layered circuit, comprising:
- a multilayered composite having;
nonconducting base, at least one patterned metallic layer associated with the nonconducting base where the layer has two ends and one end is remote from the other end and one end is capable of electric connection from the nonconducting base by an electrical lead, and at least one encapsulant layer overlying all of the metallic layer but for at least one finite sided opening with tapered sides in proximity to the end of the metallic layer that is distant from the end for attachment of the electrical connection from the nonconducting base, where the opening extends from the top of the encapsulant layer overlying the metallic layer to at least the surface of the metallic layer so that the sides of the opening have at least an upper most portion above the metallic layer composed of the encapsulant material selected from the group consisting of glass, ceramics and a mixture thereof and where the opening has a diameter between 0.001 and 0.0015±
0.0003 inch.
- a multilayered composite having;
-
31. An improved electrochemical sensor that is useful in measuring the oxygen tension in a blood where the sensor can be located on a planar printed wiring board, comprising:
-
a nonconducting substrate, at least one metallic layer overlying the said nonconducting substrate in a pattern to provide distinct cathode and anode and conductive pathways to both electrodes where the pathways are electrically isolated from each other and where they allow for eventual external electrical connection, an encapsulant layer overlying that portion of said metallic layer other than the cathode and anode to electrically isolate the anode from the cathode and their pathways of the metallic layer and having at least one laser-produced finite-sided opening with tapered walls and a bottom, where the opening extends through at least said encapsulant layer, where at least a portion of the walls of said openings is formed by the encapsulant layer, where the opening exposes a portion of the metallic layer to act as a cathode, and where the opening is capable of ionic contact, and an electrolyte to provide ionic contact with the cathode and the anode for electrical ionic relationship between the electrodes, and an external lead electrically connected to the pattern of the metallic layer that is connected to the cathode and an external lead electrically connected to the pattern of the metallic layer that is connected to the anode to carry an electrical current produced from the reduction of oxygen under the presence of an applied potential between the cathode and anode where the cathode is negative with respect to the anode.
-
Specification