Programmable ward-wiring of circuitry using spatially coupled bipolar electrochemistry

The hard-wiring of a simple electronic circuit without making physical cont act with any of the components was achieved. The method relies on spatially coupled bipolar electrochemistry, which involves the growth of a conductiv e path between selected copper rings on a commercial circuit board by the a pplication of an electric field. A device composed of an array of eight pla tinum pins was used to apply the electric fields within selected areas of t he circuit board. Two different circuits were constructed from an identical pair of circuit boards with presoldered diodes and leads, demonstrating th at electronic components can be present during the hard-wiring process. (C) 1999 The Electrochemical Society. S0013-4651(98)02-066-7. All rights reser ved.