I am seeking an IBM Technical Brief mentioning something informally
known as the 'lollipop' patent. The lollipop in question is a
structure consisting of a post with a blob of solder on top of it. The
context is microelectronics; specifically, connectors for ICs. Can you
find the IBM Technical Brief in question?

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Request for Question Clarification by maniac-ga on 27 May 2004 16:24 PDT

Hello Budfields,

Hmm. A quick search at the patent office
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=S&l=50&TERM1=lollipop&FIELD1=&co1=AND&TERM2=solder&FIELD2=&d=ptxt
finds only a few possible patents. I could guess patent 6,103,552 is
the one you are looking for (since it is the first describing such a
process) but a subsequent search of IBM using search phrases such as:
  site:ibm.com 6103552
(and similar variants) bring up no hits. Also note the patent I refer
to is not an IBM patent.

Does the patent I refer to looks like what you are looking for or
something else entirely?

  --Maniac