Coated nickel-containing powders, methods and apparatus for producing such powders and devices fabricated from same

1. A method for making coated nickel-containing particles, the method comprising:

preparing particles comprising a nickel-containing material, where the particles are dispersed in a flowing aerosol stream; and

after the preparing and while the particles remain dispersed in the aerosol stream, processing the particles, wherein the processing comprises forming a coating on the particles, the coating comprising a coating material that is different than the nickel-containing material.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating has an average thickness of not greater than 100 nanometers.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating has an average thickness of not greater than 50 nanometers.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the coating has an average thickness of at least 5 nanometers.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coated nickel-containing particles have a weight average particle size in a range of from 0.1 μm to 5 μm.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating material is an inorganic compound.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating material is a metal phase.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the metal phase is an elemental metal.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the metal phase comprises a noble metal.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the noble metal is platinum.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the noble metal is gold.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the metal phase is selected from the group consisting of elemental copper and copper alloys.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating material is a metal oxide.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the metal oxide is selected from the group consisting of ZrO 2 , SiO 2 , B 2 O 5 , TiO 2 , Cu 2 O, CuO, Bi 2 O 3 , V 2 O 5 and Al 2 O 3 .

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating material is a dielectric compound.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the dielectric compound is selected from the group consisting of titanates, silicates, aluminates and tantalates.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the dielectric compound is selected from the group consisting of barium titanate, neodymium titanate, magnesium titanate, calcium titanate, lead titanate and strontium titanate.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the dielectric compound is selected from the group consisting of a zirconate and a niobate.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the dielectric compound is selected from the group consisting of magnesium zirconate and calcium zirconate.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating material is a non-metallic compound.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the non-metallic compound is a boride.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating material is an organic compound.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating material is polymethylmethacrylate.

24. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating material is polystyrene.

25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating material is a surfactant.

26. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating material is hydrophobic.

27. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating material is hydrophilic.

28. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating is a monolayer coating.

29. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming comprises chemical vapor deposition.

30. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming comprises physical vapor deposition.

31. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming comprises gas-to-particle conversion.

32. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming comprises contacting the nickel-containing particles with a reactive gas composition.

33. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming comprises reaction at elevated temperature of a precursor selected from the group consisting of metal acetates, metal chlorides, metal alkoxides and metal halides.

34. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming comprises reaction of SiCl 4 .

35. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming comprises reaction of Si(OEt) 4 .

36. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming comprises reaction of Mg(O 2 CCH 3 ) 2 .

37. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming comprises reacting an organic or inorganic molecule with a surface of the particles to form the coating.

38. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming comprises reacting a surface of the particles with a functionalized organo silane compound.

39. The method of claim 38 , wherein the functionalized organo silane compound is a halo-silane.

40. The method of claim 38 , wherein the functionalized organo silane compound is an amino-silane.

41. The method of claim 38 , wherein the functionalized organo silane compound is hexamethyldisilazane.

42. The method of claim 38 , wherein the functionalized organo silane compound is trimethylsilylchloride.

43. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming comprises condensing a volatile coating material on the particles.

44. The method of claim 43 , wherein the volatile coating material is selected from the group consisting of PbO, MoO 3 and V 2 O 5 .

45. The method of claim 1 , wherein the preparing comprises forming the particles in a thermal reactor.

46. The method of claim 45 , wherein the thermal reactor is a furnace reactor.

47. The method of claim 45 , wherein the thermal reactor is a flame reactor.

48. The method of claim 45 , wherein the thermal reactor is a plasma reactor.

49. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

prior to the preparing, generating the aerosol stream, the aerosol stream as generated comprising droplets of flowable medium comprising liquid and a nickel-containing precursor; and

the preparing comprising removing at least a portion of the liquid from the droplets.

50. The method of claim 49 , wherein the precursor is dissolved in the liquid in the droplets.

51. The method of claim 50 , wherein the precursor is a nickel salt.

52. The method of claim 49 wherein, during the generating, the droplets are formed by a spray nozzle.

53. The method of claim 49 , wherein:

the generating comprises sweeping away with carrier gas the droplets from a reservoir of the flowable medium ultrasonically energized by a plurality of ultrasonic transducers underlying the reservoir.

54. The method of claim 53 , comprising:

after the forming, cooling the aerosol stream, the cooling comprising passing the aerosol through a perforated conduit while introducing a quench gas into the perforated conduit through openings in a wall of the perforated conduit.

55. A method for making a nickel-containing product feature, the method comprising:

making the coated nickel-containing particles according to claim 1 ; and

after the making, processing the coated nickel-containing particles to make a feature of a product comprising nickel from the coated nickel-containing particles.

56. The method of claim 55 , wherein the product is a microelectronic device.

57. The method of claim 55 , wherein the product is a multilayer ceramic.

58. The method of claim 57 , wherein the feature is a conductive trace.

59. The method of claim 58 , wherein the conductive trace has a line width of less than 25 μm.

60. The method of claim 55 , wherein the product is a multilayer ceramic capacitor and the feature is an internal electrode of the multi-layer ceramic capacitor.

61. The method of claim 60 , wherein the internal electrode has an average thickness of not greater than 2 μm.

62. The method of claim 55 , wherein the product is a flat panel display.

63. The method of claim 62 , wherein the flat panel display is a plasma display panel.

64. The method of claim 63 , wherein the feature is an electrode of the plasma display panel.

65. The method of claim 63 , wherein the feature is a bus line of the plasma display panel.

66. The method of claim 55 , wherein the product is an energy storage device.

67. The method of claim 66 , wherein the energy storage device is a battery.