Fabrication of small-scale cylindrical articles
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- forming a pattern of a self-assembled monolayer on an exterior surface of a cylindrical article, the pattern including at least one continuous, isolated portion that encircles the cylinder; and
contacting the article with an etchant that reacts chemically with the article thereby removing a portion of the article in a pattern dictated by the pattern of the self-assembled monolayer.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques for fabrication of small-scale metallic structures such as microinductors, microtransformers and stents are described. A chemically active agent such as a catalyst is applied from an applicator in a pattern to an exterior surface of an article, metal is deposited according to the pattern and optionally, removed from the substrate. Where the substrate is cylindrical, the pattern can serve as a stent. Alternatively, a pattern of a self-assembled monolayer can be printed on a surface, which pattern can dictate metal plating or etching resulting in a patterned metal structure that can be cylindrical. In another embodiment, a structure is patterned on a surface that serves as a phase-modulating pattern or amplitude-modulating pattern. The article subsequently is exposed to radiation that can induce a change in refractive index within the article, and the phase-modulating or amplitude-modulating pattern results in different indices of refraction being created in different portions of the article. By this technique, a grating can be written into a core of an optical fiber.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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forming a pattern of a self-assembled monolayer on an exterior surface of a cylindrical article, the pattern including at least one continuous, isolated portion that encircles the cylinder; and contacting the article with an etchant that reacts chemically with the article thereby removing a portion of the article in a pattern dictated by the pattern of the self-assembled monolayer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method comprising:
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forming, on an exterior surface of a cylindrical substrate, a discontinuous, interconnected, cylindrical, metallic article by providing a layer of metal on the exterior surface of the substrate and removing a first portion of the layer of metal from the exterior surface of the substrate while allowing a second, discontinuous, interconnected portion of the metal layer to remain on the substrate and to define the discontinuous, interconnected, metallic article, the step of removing the first portion comprising transferring to the second portion of the layer of metal, from an application surface of an applicator, a precursor of an etchant resist, forming the resist at the second portion, and exposing the substrate to an etchant that removes the metal at the first portion; and removing the metallic article from the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method comprising forming, on an exterior surface of a cylindrical substrate, a discontinuous, interconnected, cylindrical, metallic article by providing a layer of metal on the exterior surface of the substrate, removing a first portion of the layer of metal from the exterior surface of the substrate while allowing a second, discontinuous, interconnected portion of the metal layer to remain on the substrate, and depositing a metal that defines the discontinuous, interconnected metallic article on the second portion of the metal layer;
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removing the metallic article from the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification