Ceramic-metal joining has become an extremely dynamic field of research as a consequence of the increasing importance of ceramic materials. In particular, recent progress in the electronic, automobile, and aerospace industry has been closely matched by the development of improved non-oxide ceramics, such as AIN, SiC and Si3N4, capable of better overall performance than traditional materials. Techniques to incorporate ceramic components into electronic and engineering devices are now available. Joining of non-oxide ceramics to metals can be achieved by a variety of well-established techniques as well as novel methods, some of which are still in their first stages of development. However, the majority of the currently available ceramic-metal structures makes use of two basic joining methods, namely brazing and solid state diffusion.
