MONOLITHIC PRESTRESSED CERAMIC DEVICES AND METHOD FOR MAKING SAME brbrbr Patents-stay tuned to the technology MONOLITHIC PRESTRESSED CERAMIC DEVICES AND METHOD FOR MAKING SAME

摘要

The present invention discloses a monolithic internal asymmetric stress biased electrically active ceramic device and a method of manufacturing the same. The first step in the method of the present invention is to produce a ceramic element having first and second opposing surfaces. Next, only the first surface is chemically reduced by the heat treatment in the reducing atmosphere. This produces an electrically inductive, chemically reducing layer on the first surface, which is used as one of the electrodes of the device and the internal asymmetric stress biased ceramic element of the concave shape. In another embodiment of the present invention, the two domed ceramic elements are arranged to form a complete clam-shell or accordion-like structure. In another embodiment, a pair of dome-shaped ceramic elements having opposite temperature characteristics are disposed on top of each other to produce an opaque ceramic element.