Filing Information

Inventor(s)	Timothy R. Knowles · Christopher L. Seaman ·
Assignee(s)	Energy Science Laboratories, Inc. ·  View assignee updates
Attorney/Agent(s)	Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP ·
Primary Examiner	Elizabeth M. Cole ·
Assistant Examiner	Matthew Matzek ·
Application Number	US10464830
Filing date	06/17/2003
Issue date	11/07/2006
Prior Publication Data	US20040071870 - 04/15/2004
Predicted expiration date	09/28/2020
Patent term adjustment	107
U.S. Classifications	428/364  · 442/330  · 428/376  · 428/379  · 977/DIG.1  · 428/401  · 442/334  · 442/340  · 165/185  · 428/903  ·
International Classifications	B82B100  · B82B300  ·
Kind Code	B2
Related U.S. Application Data	CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/390,239, titled Dendritic Adhesive, and filed on Jun. 17, 2002 and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/593,587, titled Thermal Interface, and filed on Jun. 13, 2000, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/139,443, entitled Thermal Interface, and filed on Jun. 14, 1999. The entire disclosures of all of these applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Patent Family

Abstract

A fiber velvet comprising nano-size fibers or nanofibrils attached to micro-size fibers is disclosed. Methods of manufacturing the velvet as well as various uses of the velvet are also described. For example, the fiber velvet can be used as a thermal interface or as an adhesive material. The nanofibrils may be attached to a flat base or membrane, or may be attached to the tip portions of the micro-size or larger diameter fibers. Various attributes of the micro-size fibers and of the nano-size fibers, for example, geometry (e.g. size, length, packing density) material type (e.g. carbon, metal, polymer, or ceramic) and properties (e.g. conductivity, modulus, surface energy, dielectric constant, surface roughness) can be selected depending on the desired attributes of the fiber velvet. The nanofibrils have a diameter of less than about 1 micron, and may advantageously be formed from single walled and/or multi-walled carbon nanotubes.

Independent Claims | See all claims (21)

1. 1. An adhesive material for attaching to a mating surface, comprising: a base; an array of electroflocked first fibers bonded to the base, each having a cross sectional diameter of less than approximately 15 microns; and an array of second fibers bonded predominantly to a distal portion of at least some of said first fibers and having a cross sectional diameters of less than about 1 micron, said second fibers being arranged and configured to form an intermolecular (e.g. van der Waals) bond when pressed against the mating surface.
2. 21. A fabricated microstructure, comprising: a base; a shaft with a length of about 500 microns and being connected to the base, said shaft having a diameter of between about 3 and 15 microns; and an array of whiskers having terminal ends formed at an end of said shaft distal from said base, said array of whiskers having a width of less than about 10 microns.