The Scientist Behind Supercooled Solder Pastes | SafiTech

Allow me to introduce myself; I am Ian Tevis, the inventor and lead developer of supercooled liquid metal particle technology of SAFI-TECH, now part of the Indium Corporation®, a global manufacturer and supplier for the electronics industry.

From a young age, I have always been interested in all things science, and that interest has carried me through to my dream of becoming a PhD scientist and inventing something useful and ‘supercool.’ Quite literally, ‘supercool!’ My first contact with supercooling was in my 3rd-grade elementary school class. The classroom was next to a small courtyard, and we could see all four seasons play out while we learned about multiplication and cursive writing. One winter, my teacher, Mr. Sapienza, pointed to a bucket full of water outside, and he told us about the scientific fact that water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. He also said that if there was a thermometer inside that liquid water that read below 32 Fahrenheit, that thermometer must be broken. Little 8-year-old me stood up and said, “Mr. Sapienza, that is not true! The water could be supercooled”. He sat down, astonished, and then my classmates clapped. OK, that last part didn’t happen, but the part about the thermometer did. We are taught many scientific facts that are true until we learn that they are mostly true. This is where supercooling was for me, something I learned about in the grey areas around scientific facts. The grey area sprung the development of supercooling liquid metal particle technology and the creation of SAFI-Tech, powered by Indium Corporation. This is the first in a series of blogs discussing supercooling liquid metal particle technology and its use and impact on the electronics industry.

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