Ceramic-containing bodies can be bonded to other ceramic-containing
bodies, or to metals or metal-containing bodies, by way of an
aluminum-silicon brazing alloy. Such alloys feature high thermal
conductivity and a melting range intermediate to Cu--Sil and Au--Si. By
metallizing the surface of an aluminum- or silicon-containing ceramic
body, for example, with silicon or aluminum, the formation of deleterious
intermetallic phases at the brazing interface is avoided. This technique
is particularly useful for joining reaction-bonded silicon carbide (RBSC)
composite bodies, and particularly such composite bodies that contain
appreciable amounts of aluminum as a metallurgical modification of the
residual silicon phase. Interestingly, when the RBSC body contains minor
amounts of the aluminum alloying constituent, or none, the metallization
layer is not required. The resulting bonded structures have utility as
mirrors, as packaging for electronics, and in semiconductor lithography
equipment, e.g., as electrostatic chucks for supporting a silicon wafer
during the lithography process.