1307 results about "Pure metals" patented technology

An implantable medical device and methods for making the implantable medical device are disclosed. The implantable medical device includes a substrate. At least a portion of the substrate is coated with a first layer including a polymer containing a drug. A barrier overlies the first layer. The barrier significantly reduces the rate of release of the drug from the polymer, thereby sustaining release of the drug from the medical device for a longer time.The barrier may be a homogeneous layer overlying the first layer, or a number of discrete deposits over the first layer. Alternatively, the barrier may be intermixed with an outer portion of the first layer. The barrier material is biocompatible, and typically has a thickness ranging from about 50 angstroms to about 20,000 microns. Suitable materials for the barrier include, but are not limited to, inorganic compounds, such as inorganic silicides, oxides, nitrides, carbides, as well as pure metals such as aluminum, chromium, gold, hafnium, iridium, niobium, palladium, platinum, tantalum, titanium, tungsten, zirconium, and alloys of these metals. The barriers disclosed may be applied to the first layer by several techniques, depending on the material being applied. Exemplary deposition techniques include physical vapor deposition, alkoxide hydrolysis, and electroless plating.The implantable device may be a stent or a graft, among other possibilities.

A semiconductor structure (and method for forming) having transistors having both metal gates and polysilicon gates on a single substrate in a single process is disclosed. The method forms a gate dielectric layer on the substrate and forms the metal seed layer on the gate oxide layer. The method patterns the metal seed layer to leave metal seed material in metal gate seed areas above the substrate. Next, the method patterns a polysilicon layer into polysilicon structures above the substrate. Some of the polysilicon structures comprise sacrificial polysilicon structures on the metal gate seed areas and the remaining ones of the polysilicon structures comprise the polysilicon gates. The patterning of the polysilicon gates forms the sacrificial gates above all the metal gate seed areas. Following that, the invention forms sidewall spacers, and source and drain regions adjacent the polysilicon structures. Then, the invention protects the polysilicon gates, removes the sacrificial polysilicon structures, and plates the metal gate seed areas to form the metal gates. The sidewall spacers self-align the metal gates. The plating process forms the metal gates of pure metal. All thermal processing that raises the temperature above a damage threshold for the metal is performed before the plating process.

Coatings for implantable electrodes consisting of single- or multi-walled nanotubes, nanotube ropes, carbon whiskers, and a combination of these are described. The nanotubes can be carbon or other conductive nanotube-forming materials such as a carbon-doped boron nitride. The nanotube coatings are grown “in situ” on a catalytic substrate surface from thermal decomposition, or they are bonded to the substrate using a metal or conductive metal oxide thin film binder deposited by means of a metal compound precursor in liquid form. In the latter case, the precursor / nanotube coating is then converted to a pure metal or conductive metal oxide, resulting in the desired surface coating with imbedded nanotubes.

The electrode material for a lithium secondary battery according to the present invention includes particles of a solid state alloy having silicon as a main component, wherein the particles of the solid state alloy have a microcrystal or amorphous material including an element other than silicon, dispersed in microcrystalline silicon or amorphized silicon. The solid state alloy preferably contains a pure metal or a solid solution. The composition of the alloy preferably has an element composition in which the alloy is completely mixed in a melted liquid state, whereby the alloy has a single phase in a melted liquid state without presence of two or more phases. The element composition can be determined by the kind of elements constituting the alloy and an atomic ratio of the elements.

A nano-particle comprising: an interior region comprising a mixed-metal oxide; and an exterior surface comprising a pure metal. In some embodiments, the mixed-metal oxide comprises aluminum oxide and a metallic pinning agent, such as palladium, copper, molybdenum, or cobalt. In some embodiments, the pure metal at the exterior surface is the same as the metallic pinning agent in the mixed-metal oxide in the interior region. In some embodiments, a catalytic nano-particle is bonded to the pure metal at the exterior surface. In some embodiments, the interior region and the exterior surface are formed using a plasma gun. In some embodiments, the interior region and the exterior surface are formed using a wet chemistry process. In some embodiments, the catalytic nano-particle is bonded to the pure metal using a plasma gun. In some embodiments, the catalytic nano-particle is bonded to the pure metal using a wet chemistry process.

The production of ultrafine metal carbide powders from polymeric powder and metallic precursor powder starting materials is disclosed. In certain embodiments, the polymeric powder may comprise polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, polyester, polybutylene, nylon, polymethylpentene and the like. The metal precursor powder may comprise pure metals, metal alloys, intermetallics and / or metal-containing compounds such as metal oxides and nitrides. In one embodiment, the metal precursor powder comprises a silicon-containing material, and the ultrafine powders comprise SiC. The polymeric and metal precursor powders are fed together or separately to a plasma system where the feed materials react to form metal carbides in the form of ultrafine particles.