Accurate measure of laser irradiance threshold for near-infrared photo-oxidation with a modified confocal microscope

Femtosecond mode‐locked lasers are now being used routinely in multiphoton fluorescence and autofluorescence spectroscopy, are just beginning to be used in refractive surgery, and may be used in the future diagnosis of skin cancer. Pulses from these lasers induce non‐linear effects in resultant tissue interactions. Using a modified confocal microscope with dispersion compensation and accurate measurements of beam diameter, a very low threshold was measured for photochemical oxidation in cultured cells. The measured threshold showed non‐linear photo‐oxidation at a peak irradiance and photon‐flux density of 8.4 × 10⁸ W cm^?2 and 3.4 × 10²⁷ photons cm^?2 s^?1, respectively (90‐fs pulse). The impact of these findings is significant to those using ultrashort lasers because they provide a tangible reference point (microscope‐independent) for the generation of photo‐oxidative stress in laser‐exposed tissues, and because they highlight the importance of dispersion compensation in minimizing collateral tissue damage.     

Using the FIB to characterize nanoparticle materials

In the 1–100‐nm size regime, the properties of materials can differ significantly from those of their bulk counterparts. The present study applies the focused ion beam (FIB) tool to the characterization of nanoscale structures for scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The strength of this method is its ability to manufacture samples that cannot be produced using traditional means. The films of nanoparticles examined here are examples of such systems; the films are found to be not fully dense, composed of chemically heterogeneous areas and mechanically different from the substrate. Distinct advantages of the application of the FIB for characterization of nanoscale structures are highlighted for several nanoparticle structures. This successful application of FIB techniques provides a pathway to integrate the study of nanoscale production techniques and their resulting structure–property relationships.     

α-β Sialon Ceramics Made from Different Silicon Nitride Powders

The present work is concerned with the sintering of an α-β sialon ceramic using five different silicon nitride powders from a single source. The parameters varied in the silicon nitride were the amount of "free' silicon, iron content, α:β ratio, and grain size as measured by BET surface. The sintering atmosphere was varied by use of protective powder beds with passive (boron nitride) and active (SiO-generating) properties. Five sintering temperatures between 1600° and 1800°C were used. Microstructural characterization as well as density, hardness, and fracture toughness measurements were carried out. The sintering conditions were found to be critical for obtaining fully dense materials and low weight change. The optimum sintering temperature was 1750°C. The silicon nitride powder with a high content of free silicon resulted in a material which was more susceptible to the sintering atmosphere conditions. An α-β sialon made from a silicon nitride powder with a high β-α phase ratio resulted in a higher β-α ratio in the sintered material.     

Identification of faces obscured by noise: comparison of an artificial neural network with human observers

Face identification is easily accomplished by humans but is an exceptionally difficult task for machine vision algorithms. This report is the first to directly compare the face identification performance of humans with that of an artificialneural network,Dystal, using digitized images of the faces of eight individuals in an eight-alternative forced-response paradigm. The test images differed from the training images in facial expression, head tilt and rotation, amount and correlation of added noise, and the presence of a stocking mask in some of the images. The images were deliberately not preprocessed by a feature extraction algorithm to avoid confoundingthe performance of Dystal with the performance of the feature extraction algorithm.While human observers outperform Dystal at low noise levels, at high levels of correlated noise Dystal outperforms human observers, who score just above the chance level. The greater sensitivity to noise exhibited by human observers is attributed to the local feature extraction performed by human observers, but not by Dystal.     

DEPOSITION OF SUBMICRON AEROSOL PARTICLES DURING INTEGRATED CIRCUIT MANUFACTURING: THEORY

ABSTRACT

Submicron (≤1μm) particle contamination can produce unacceptably low yields in the manufacture of integrated circuits. Calculations were made to predict deposition velocities of 0·01-lOμm particles, incorporating gravitational, dlffusional, and electrostatic effects. The results were summarized in equations that correlate non-dimensional deposition (Sherwood number) with convective-diffusion (Peclet number) and with electrostatics (Boltzmann and Fuchs charge distributions). These equations were used In conjunction with particle size distributions to predict particle deposition. In a companion paper |25| the predictions were shown to compare well with limited experimental data. To reduce deposition product surfaces should not be electrically charged and, where possible, these surfaces should be at higher temperatures than the ambient gas. For quality control purposes, the deposition flux predictions could serve to link the specifications of gas cleanliness with the specifications of surface cleanliness.     

Comparison between Measured and Model ( LBLand BRE) Predicted Infiltration Rates for a Passive Solar Test Cell

The pressurization technique is applied to the test cell at the JRC, Ispra, and important parameters for the LBL and BRE air infiltration models are calculated. The predictions of these models are compared with the tracer gas (SF₆) measurements. The differences between measured and predicted values of the air infiltration rates axe quite large. When the model parameters calculated from the tracer gas measurements are used, both models predict infiltration rates in good agreement with the field measurements. This means the physical models are acceptable but there is a need to refine the procedure for determination of model parameters.     

Using Metallic Coatings to Enhance Thermal Contact Conductance of Electronic Packages

Recently a new thermomechanical model for coated contacts has been developed and shown to be quite accurate. After a brief overview of the theory, this paper concentrates on illustrating the utility of the new model by applying it to a common electronics packaging problem: heat transfer across an aluminum joint. Several soft metallic coatings are considered, and the thermomechanical model is used to predict the improvement in the contact conductance over that for a bare aluminum-to-aluminum joint. For each coating material, heat transfer performance is presented as a function of the coating thickness, the surface roughness, and the applied pressure. Finally, a parameter is proposed that allows candidate coating materials to be ranked.     

HEURISTIC NONSERIAL DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING FOR LARGE PROBLEMS

Dynamic programming is an extremely powerful optimization approach used for the solution of problems which can be formulated to exhibit a serial stage-state structure. However, many design problems are not serial but have highly connected interdependent structures. Existing methods, for the solution of nonserial problems require the problem to possess a certain structure or limit the size of the problem due to storage and computational time requirements. The aim of this paper is to show that nonserial problems can be solved by the use of dynamic programming incorporating algorithms based on heuristics. Two such algorithms are developed using artificial intelligence concepts of estimating the likelihood of future results on present decisions. The algorithms are explained in detail, A small problem is solved and the results of testing them on large scale problems are given. The method is then used to solve a problem drawn from the literature.