Catalysts for accelerating burnout or organic materials

Claim 1

A method for accelerating the burnout in a wet, gaseous, inert atmosphere containing a very low level of oxygen of organic material from a body prior to sintering said body, said body comprising said organic material and an inorganic material selected from the group consisting of glasses, glass-ceramics, and ceramics, by incorporating in said body an effective amount of at least one metal-containing material wherein said metal is selected from the group consisting of Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, and Pt.

Claim 2

A method for accelerating the burnout in a wet, gaseous, inert atmosphere containing a very low level of oxygen of organic material from a body prior to sintering said body, said body comprising said organic material and an inorganic material selected from the group consisting of glasses, glass-ceramics, and ceramics, by incorporating in said body an effective amount of at least one metal-containing material wherein said metal is selected from the group consisting of Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, and Pt.

Claim 11

A method for fabricating microelectronic circuits consisting of interconnected, multilayer glass-ceramic substrates with conducting patterns and interconnecting vias produced from copper-containing thick-film inks comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a glass-forming batch of a desired composition; (b) melting said batch; (c) cooling said batch to a glass (d) comminuting said glass to very fine particles; (e) preparing a slurry of said glass particles in an organic vehicle system; (f) forming said slurry into thin green sheets; (g) cutting said sheets to desired dimensions and forming vias therein; (h) applying copper-containing, thick-film ink to said sheets and in said vias; (i) laminating said sheets together to form an integral monolithic substrate; (j) heating said substrate in a wet, gaseous, inert atmosphere containing avery low level of oxygen to a temperature and for a time sufficient to burn out said organic vehicle system; and (k) heating said substrate to a higher temperature for a time sufficient to sinter said glass particles together and simultaneously crystallize the glass in situ to a glass-ceramic; the improvement comprising accelerating the rate of burnout of said organic vehicle system by incorporating an effective amount of at least one metal-containing material into said thin green sheets, said metal being selected from the group consisting of Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, and Pt.

Claim 12

A method for fabricating microelectronic circuits consisting of interconnected, multilayer glass-ceramic substrates with conducting patterns and interconnecting vias produced from copper-containing thick-film inks comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a glass-forming batch of a desired composition; (b) melting said batch; (c) cooling said batch to a glass (d) comminuting said glass to very fine particles; (e) preparing a slurry of said glass particles in an organic vehicle system; (f) forming said slurry into thin green sheets; (g) cutting said sheets to desired dimensions and forming vias therein; (h) applying copper-containing, thick-film ink to said sheets and in said vias; (i) laminating said sheets together to form an integral monolithic substrate; (j) heating said substrate in a wet, gaseous, inert atmosphere containing avery low level of oxygen to a temperature and for a time sufficient to burn out said organic vehicle system; and (k) heating said substrate to a higher temperature for a time sufficient to sinter said glass particles together and simultaneously crystallize the glass in situ to a glass-ceramic; the improvement comprising accelerating the rate of burnout of said organic vehicle system by incorporating an effective amount of at least one metal-containing material into said thin green sheets, said metal being selected from the group consisting of Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, and Pt.