Patent ID: 8323800

Claim:
A method of bonding a gold surface to a second surface comprising heating to >50° C. a hybrid organic-inorganic melting gel prepared from a precursor of formula I R 1 m —Si(OR 2 ) 4 — m , (I) wherein m=0, 1, 2 or 3, R 1 can be the same or different and is ethyl, methyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, t-butyl, n-hexyl, n-heptyl, n-octyl, isooctyl, benzyl, trimethylsilylmethyl, n-decyl, octadecyl, methylheptacosane, methyltricosane, cyclohexyl, dodecyl, n-hexadecyl, eicosyl, docosyl, cyclopentyl, tolyl, and/or phenyl, and R 2 is methyl, ethyl, propyl, applying said melting gel to either the gold surface or the second surface, bringing the surfaces together, and heating the melting gel to above 130° C. until the melting gel has cured sufficiently to bond the gold surface and said second surface together.