Electric circuits having repairable circuit lines and method of making the same

Claim 2

A circuit assembly comprising: a supporting insulating substrate; a plurality of conductive lines supported by said substrate and being adapted to interconnect circuit elements supported or to be supported by said substrate; a deposited phase-change material capable of being changed from an initially relatively disordered, relatively high resistance state to a more ordered, more crystalline, relatively low resistance state by application of sufficient energy, said deposited phase-change material being in electrical contact with at least portions of said conductive lines so as to be able to form electrically parallel paths between selected portions of said conductive lines wherein at least one of said conductive lines has a defective open circuit; at least a portion of said phase change material bridging said open portion of said conductive lines; and contact receiving means operatively associated with said conductive lines and adapted to receive at preselected discrete locations thereof exteriorly applied contact means for applying voltages between selected portions of said conductive lines and said phase-change material to cause the inducement of a phase change therein from said initially high resistance state to said low resistance state to form electrically shunting conductive paths around open circuit portions of said conductive lines.

Claim 3

A circuit assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said contact receiving means include probe pads.

Claim 4

A circuit assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said phase-change material is deposited on said conductive lines.

Claim 5

A circuit assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said conductive lines are deposited on said phase-change material.

Claim 6

A circuit assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said phase-change material includes silicon.

Claim 7

A circuit assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said phase-change material includes a chalcogenide element.

Claim 8

A circuit assembly as defined in claim 1 having a display having a plurality of pixels each having at least one circuit element associated with said pixel including a pair of electrodes with light influencing material disposed between said electrodes, wherein said conductive lines are adapted to interconnect circuit elements associated with the pixels to sources of operating potentials of said display.

Claim 9

A circuit assembly as defined in claim 1 for use in an electronic matrix array having a plurality of first spaced apart address lines, a plurality of second spaced apart address lines forming a plurality of cross over points with said first address lines, and selection means associated with each of said cross over points for establishing selectable current paths through respective pairs of said first and second address lines, wherein said conductive lines are address lines of said electronic matrix array.

Claim 10

A circuit assembly as defined in claim 8, wherein said phase-change material forms part of said selection means between each of said cross over points.

Claim 11

A circuit assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said given portion of said phase-change material has been changed to said low-resistance state to form an electrically shunting conductive path around said open circuit.

Claim 12

A circuit assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein said circuit assembly is an integrated circuit which is at least partially complete.

Claim 13

A circuit assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said circuit assembly is an interconnect substrate for supporting and electrically connecting integrated circuits.

Claim 14

A packaged circuit assembly comprising; (a ) an integrated circuit including: a supporting substrate; a plurality of conductive lines supported by said substrate and being adapted to interconnect circuit elements supported by said substrate; and a deposited phase-change material capable of phase change from an initially relatively disordered, relatively high resistance state to a more ordered, more crystalline, relatively low resistance state, said deposited phase-change material being in electrical contact with at least portions of said conductive lines to form electrically parallel paths between selected portions of said conductive lines wherein at least one of said conductive lines has a defective open circuit; at least a portion of said phase change material bridging said open portion of said conductive lines; (b ) packaging means for enclosing said integrated circuit; and (c ) connection means, extending from said integrated circuit through said packaging means and having a portions external to said packaging means, for receiving voltages applied to said external portions and for applying said voltages between selected portions of said conductive lines and said phase-change material to cause the inducement of a phase change therein from said initially high resistance state to said low resistance state to form electrically shunting conductive paths around open circuit portions of said conductive lines.

Claim 15

A packaged circuit assembly comprising; (a ) an integrated circuit including: a supporting substrate; a plurality of conductive lines supported by said substrate and being adapted to interconnect circuit elements supported by said substrate; and a deposited phase-change material capable of phase change from an initially relatively disordered, relatively high resistance state to a more ordered, more crystalline, relatively low resistance state, said deposited phase-change material being in electrical contact with at least portions of said conductive lines to form electrically parallel paths between selected portions of said conductive lines wherein at least one of said conductive lines has a defective open circuit; at least a portion of said phase change material bridging said open portion of said conductive lines; (b ) packaging means for enclosing said integrated circuit; and (c ) connection means, extending from said integrated circuit through said packaging means and having a portions external to said packaging means, for receiving voltages applied to said external portions and for applying said voltages between selected portions of said conductive lines and said phase-change material to cause the inducement of a phase change therein from said initially high resistance state to said low resistance state to form electrically shunting conductive paths around open circuit portions of said conductive lines.

Claim 16

A packaged circuit assembly as defined in claim 13, wherein said phase-change material is deposited on said conductive lines.

Claim 17

A packaged circuit assembly as defined in claim 13, wherein said conductive lines are deposited on said phase-change material.

Claim 18

A packaged circuit assembly as defined in claim 13, wherein said phase-change material includes silicon.

Claim 19

A packaged circuit assembly as defined in claim 13, wherein said phase-change material includes a chalcogenide element.

Claim 20

A packaged circuit assembly as defined in claim 13 having a display having pixels each including a pair of electrodes, wherein said conductive lines are adapted to provide operating potentials to the individual pixels of said display.

Claim 21

A packaged circuit assembly as defined in claim 13 having an electronic matrix array having a plurality of first spaced apart address lines, a plurality of second spaced apart address lines forming a plurality of cross over points with said first address lines, and selection means associated with each of said cross over points for establishing selectable current paths through respective pairs of said first and second address lines, wherein said conductive lines are address lines of said electronic matrix array.

Claim 22

A packaged circuit assembly as defined in claim 19, wherein said phase-change material forms part of said selection means between each of said cross over points.

Claim 23

A packaged circuit assembly as defined in claim 13, wherein said given portion of said phase-change material has been changed to said low resistance state to form an electrically shunting conductive path around said open circuit.

Claim 24

A portion of an electric circuit comprising: a conductive circuit element extending for least a given length; and a portion of phase-change material disposed in contact with said circuit element along said given length, said phase-change material being of the type capable of being changed from an initially relatively disordered, relatively high resistance state to a more ordered, more crystalline, relatively low resistance state by the application of sufficient energy , wherein said circuit element has an electrical open circuit defect within said given length, and said portion of said phase-change material which bridges said open circuit has been changed to said low resistance state to form an electrically shunting conductive path around said open circuit.

Claim 25

A portion of an electric circuit comprising: a conductive circuit element extending for least a given length; and a portion of phase-change material disposed in contact with said circuit element along said given length, said phase-change material being of the type capable of being changed from an initially relatively disordered, relatively high resistance state to a more ordered, more crystalline, relatively low resistance state by the application of sufficient energy , wherein said circuit element has an electrical open circuit defect within said given length, and said portion of said phase-change material which bridges said open circuit has been changed to said low resistance state to form an electrically shunting conductive path around said open circuit.

Claim 26

A portion of an electric circuit as defined in claim 22, wherein said phase-change material is deposited on said conductive circuit element.

Claim 27

A portion of an electric circuit as defined in claim 22, wherein said conductive circuit element is deposited on said phase-change material.

Claim 28

A portion of an electric circuit as defined in claim 22, wherein said phase-change material includes silicon.

Claim 29

A portion of an electric circuit as defined in claim 22, wherein said phase-change material includes a chalcogenide element.

Claim 30

A portion of an electric circuit as defined in claim 22 having a display of the type having several pixels, wherein said conductive circuit element is adapted to interconnect a plurality of said pixels of said display.

Claim 31

A portion of an electric circuit as defined in claim 27 wherein said display is a liquid crystal display whose pixels each have at least one circuit element associated therewith, and said conductive element is adapted to be an address line in said display.

Claim 32

A portion of an electric circuit as defined in claim 22 having an electronic matrix array having a plurality of first spaced apart address lines, a plurality of second spaced apart address lines forming a plurality of cross over points with said first address lines, and selection means associated with each of said cross over points for establishing selectable current paths through respective pairs of said first and second address lines, wherein said conductive circuit element is an address line of said electronic matrix array.

Claim 33

A portion of an electric circuit as defined in claim 29, wherein said phase-change material forms part of said selection means between each of said cross over points.

Claim 34

A portion of an electric circuit as defined in claim 22, wherein said portion of said electric circuit is an integrated circuit which is at least partially complete.

Claim 35

A portion of an electric circuit as defined in claim 22, wherein said portion of said electric circuit is an interconnect substrate for supporting and electrically connecting integrated circuits.