Silicon in the Modern Age

Unlike some other elements, silicon is not found in its pure form in nature but rather as oxides or silicates. Examples of these materials include flint, jasper, sand, mica clay, asbestos, quartz, amethyst, and granite. Silicon was first isolated from other materials by Swedish chemist Baron Jöns Jakob Berzelius in 1823.

One of the greatest aspects of Silicon is that it can be combined with a wide variety of other elements in order to make useful products, ranging from soap, shampoo, glass materials, medical implants and enamel to most notably semiconductors. Silicon wafers are used in electronic devices because of silicon's natural semiconducting properties.

Silicon wafer preparation requires a great deal of expertise and a plethora of steps. In general, the first step of wafer preparation is to ensure that all materials are produced in what is known as a clean room, that is, a room completely free of contaminants. Silicon cylinders, or ingots are chemically produced, polished and cut into wafers of desired thickness, etched and polished again. The actual procedure is a great deal more painstaking and complicated and results in a variety of wafers to be used for a host of electronic devices. Adding impurities, called dopants, to silicon controls the conductivity of the element.

The result of such work though cannot be understated, for without silicon and silicon grinding techniques computers, televisions, phones, satellites and the myriad of trappings of the digital age that are so essential to our daily lives would simply not exist. In fact, Silicon Valley is so named because of this element's amazing usefulness in the modern era.

The result of such work though cannot be understated, for without silicon and silicon grinding [http://www.disolutions.biz] techniques computers, televisions, phones, satellites and the myriad of trappings of the digital age that are so essential to our daily lives would simply not exist. In fact, Silicon Valley is so named because of this element's amazing usefulness in the modern era.

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The Multi-faceted Uses of Silica

People attribute silica to sand. Some of the lesser intelligent beings consider silica to be the produce of the Silicon Valley! I am sure that most of you might have heard about silicon based breast implants. Think about semiconductor wafers that are used in computers and mobile phones - they also contain silica. In short, silica is widely used in our day-to-day lives. As usual, we tend to ignore the benefits of silica (who has the time and energy to sit and ponder about those aspects of silica?). In the succeeding sections, I will be emphasizing on certain multifaceted uses of silica in our day-to-day lives.

Silica is often termed as the second most mineral found in the crust of the earth. We can find sand everywhere in this planet, and hence we cannot dispute the placement of this mineral at the second spot! Although research is still at its infancy, we have conclusive evidence to prove that regular consumption of silica supplements can prove to be highly effective for the human body. The same mineral can aid in the calcification process of the bones. Stronger bones will lead to a healthier skeletal system. You can start experiencing lesser fractures and pain in the joints.

Silicon is the primary mineral, but it is present in various forms in our environment. For example, we have heard a lot about quartz crystals. These crystals are nothing but silicon dioxide. Similarly, when silica is processed within the stomach, it will be converted into orthosilicic acid. There are precise differences between organic silicon and natural silicon. Only the former is fit for consumption, the latter is not. Eating sand is not going to bring about any vantages. I do realize that you are interested about the various sources of organic silicon.

Fruits, vegetables, nuts and cereals are the primary sources of organic silicon. Any vegetative plant that is fitting for consumption contains organic silicon. The naturally occurring silicon (present in the sand) is converted to organic silicon within plants. When we consume them, we get to enjoy the benefits. You will have to take note of another factor - too many processing of the food will lead to a drastic reduction in the inherent levels of silica. In simpler terms, although vegetables have a good share of organic silicon, we cannot assimilate the benefits in a proper manner, because we cook them to extreme temperatures.

If you are searching for options to beautify your hair and the nails, you must be in the grocery section (not in the cosmetic section) of your nearest supermarket! Organic silicon will facilitate in the proper growth of the skin. The scalp will be supplemented with additional nutrients. These nutrients will help in imparting an additional glow to the hair. Similarly, the hair growth will be augmented. Usually people attribute various kinds of side effects to the excess consumption of these minerals. The reality is something else. No marked side effects have been noted in the lab tests (as well as on the real world tests).

Hope this article enlightens you with various uses of silica and quartz crystal.

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Advancements in Atomically Precise Manufacturing

Nanotechnology is at the heart of a great number of breakthroughs that will power the future economy. Materials that will be manufactured using atomically precise technologies will offer performance and prices far superior to conventional materials.

For example, the state of the art in semiconductor technology is photolithographic manufacturing. Photolithography uses light to remove material on a chip wafer, layer by layer. It has been done that way for decades even as the chip density has increased and chip size has decreased.

One of the leading manufactures of capital equipment for the semiconductor industry is playing a big part in photolithographic manufacturing. The technology improvements have enabled them to pile an increasing number of components on semiconductor "real estate." Right now, advanced photolithography qualifies as nanotechnology, however there are theoretical size limits being approached.

This is because light is used to "cut" the electrical pathways and components on the chip. This gets harder to do if the features that are requested are smaller than the wavelength of light being used to do the job. As an example, you don't shave with a chain saw.

New technologies are being developed that don't rely on etching or otherwise removing unwanted materials. Increasingly, they will rely on the self-assembling capacities of carefully engineered molecules.

For example, MIT researchers have recently developed a molecular manufacturing technique that facilitates the adoption of electron beams in chip manufacturing. Beams of electrons can be far more narrowly focused than beams of light. This allows smaller chip features and more powerful, compact electronics.

This same progression is evident in scientific instruments. In the late 1500s, optical microscopes began the quest to see smaller and smaller objects. Eventually, the limits of optical resolution were reached; for the same reasons, we are hitting the limits of light-based lithography.

During the Great Depression, electrical engineers developed methods for using electrons to view very small objects. The scanning electron microscope became one of the most transformational scientific instruments of the 20th century. The insights it provided revolutionized many fields from biology and medicine to materials sciences.

However, in photolithographic chip fabrication, light has one advantage over electrons. An entire layer can be etched by simply exposing the layer to a project image with the desired pattern. This isn't much different than old-school darkroom photography. You expose photosensitive paper to an image pattern projected through the negative. After developing the picture, you have an entire image. Electron beams require that patterns be drawn one line at a time; like the Etch A Sketch we had as kids. Electron beam lithography allows higher resolution but it is much slower.

This is where the MIT researchers brought molecular self-assembly into the picture. They created a technique using electron beams to etch nano-sized posts on semiconductor wafers. They then exposed them to polymers that attach to the posts and spontaneously self-arrange into predictable but not particularly useful patterns.

To get useful patterns, some of the polymers were fabricated using silicon. After self-assembly, an electrically charged gas burned away the non-silicon polymers. Only the silicon polymers, in the desired pattern, remained.

Since the polymers can repel and attract each other in different ways, and since the individual links in a polymer chain can be tailored to fit an application, the patterns can be manipulated. The shapes that are formed can also be controlled by varying the spacing and number of posts created by the electron beam.

To date, the researchers have been able to create seven different shapes. As this breakthrough technology becomes more workable, it will increase the speed at which chips can be manufactured. Products using these chips will experience a short product development lifecycle and will come to market faster.

I trust this post has provide some background and evidence that powerful efforts are underway with breakthrough technology for precise manufacturing. These activities will soon provide alternative wealth creating opportunities and our economy will become significantly stronger.

In closing, I favor a quote from Steve Forbes. Forbes says that pursuing additional financial education and the resulting increase in our financial literacy (including the investment potential of breakthrough technology) will open our eyes to alternative wealth creating strategies and this will be the key to resolving our global financial crisis.

To gain the necessary financial education, it is best to obtain association with, access to, and membership in a wealth creation community. As a result, you will learn and have the knowledge to use alternative wealth creating strategies such as Bank on Yourself, debt reduction, and asset protection. You will be exposed to wealth acceleration investments in areas (discussed in this and previous blog posts) such as atomically precise manufacturing, nuclear power generation, commercial space ventures, Carrier Ethernet technologies, nanotech lithography, robotics, nano-based next-generation battery technology, precious metals, water rights, oil, natural gas, potash mines, food commodities, and gold mines. You will have the knowledge to consider investments in assets that are inherently useful like oil rigs, hydropower, or methanol plants; things that are hard to build, difficult to replace, and costly to substitute; definitely not financial stocks, definitely not retail stocks, definitely not commercial property.

Another benefit of membership in a wealth creation community is exposure to entrepreneurial leadership and business opportunities. Many of these leaders suggest that if you don't focus on being a digital entrepreneur, being self-employed, or being a small business owner, it will be a very tough road in the months and years ahead; actually it will be an uphill battle. As a result, the innovative wealth creation communities provide education and training on B2B, and B2C, eCommerce enabling a new breed of professionals that are creating six figure second incomes.

It is wise to monitor breakthrough technology as there are truly exciting developments afoot in the field of nanotechnology for precise manufacturing and related business activities. I will continue to monitor developments and provide updates in future articles and at my blog.

Until the next time, I invite you to learn more about me and my various activities by checking me out at the links below.

Have a Great Day and More Later,

Mike Farrell

Meet me here: http://www.facebook.com/mifarrell
Follow me here: http://www.twitter.com/mifarrell

When not traveling for business or pleasure, Mike operates his own internet marketing company and consulting firm from the mountains of Colorado.

4 Key Parts Needed For Solar Power Electricity

Solar power electricity installations are gaining moment all over the world. Stock of fossil fuels is fast depleting and alternate natural energy solutions, like solar power electricity is becoming popular.

Natural energy solutions are environment friendly with little or no air pollution and no emissions or greenhouse effects. Solar power electricity production is also free of noise pollution.

How is solar power electricity produced?

It is produced by converting light from the sun into electrical energy using a silicon wafer / semiconductor called a photovoltaic cell. This technology is simple and easy to maintain.

What are the main parts of a typical residential solar power electricity system?

A typical residential system would have 4 key Parts:

1) Solar panel array

2) Charging controller

3) Batteries

4) Inverter

Solar panel array: Solar panel array is made up of several solar panels. A series of photovoltaic cells working in unison in a module form the solar panel. The solar panel array needs to be exposed to sunlight, and the array is normally installed on rooftops where sunlight exposure is more. The solar array converts light energy into solar power electricity. Electrical energy in the form of 12 volts (DC) is produced by the solar panel array.

Charging controller: The charging controller is the device that controls the amount of charging for the batteries. Batteries should not be overcharged, neither should they be undercharged. This device, which sits between the solar panel array and the battery bank, controls the charging.

Batteries: These are deep cycle batteries used for storage of solar power electricity produced by the solar array panel. The 12 volts (DC) produced by the solar panel array is stored in the batteries. The charging controller regulates charging, thus extending the life of these batteries.

Inverter: The output from batteries is 12 volts (DC) and can run only devices that work on 12 volts (DC). Most home appliances work on 110 / 220 volts (AC). Hence 12 volts (DC) needs to be converted into 100 / 200 volts (AC). The inverter does the job of converting 12 volts (DC) into 110 / 200 volts (AC).

Along with these four main components several other hardware accessories, wires and connectors would be required to have the complete solar power electricity system functional.

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Electronic Components

Electronic components form parts of electronic circuitry, and are used or manufactured in the field of electronics, which is the study of electrical devices used for controlling electrically charged particles or the flow of electrons to execute any electrical operation. Some of the most common electronic components are as follows:

Resistor: A resistor resists electric current, and the resistance is measured in ohms. Colors on the body of the resistor are a code for the value. Different colors represent the numbers from 0 to 9. In a variable resistor, resistance can be varied by moving a knob or slider. A variable resistor is used to control volume in many devices.

Capacitor: This is measured in farads. A capacitor is used for storing electrical charges that can be released upon demand. Capacitors can be of different types - electrolyte and ceramic disc are two of them.

Diode: A semiconductor device, diodes allow current to flow in one direction only.

Small, cheap and lasting, light emitting diodes (LEDs) are special diodes that give out light and allow current to flow in one direction.

NPN bipolar transistor: Used for current control, they can amplify currents with a small amount of heat dissipation and very little spatial waste.

PNP bipolar transistor: Its functions are the same as NPN, but construction is slightly

different.

Crystal: When a voltage is applied, crystals can accurately vibrate a specific frequency.

Integrated circuit: Having circuits etched into it, an integrated circuit is a semiconductor wafer that can hold capacitors, resistors, transistors, etc. in a large quantity. By allowing the chips to have millions of transistors, integrated circuits are capable of saving space.

Triac: A dual silicon controlled rectifier (SCR), triac is used to control alternating current (AC). Mostly used in dimmers and touch lamps, it controls the amount of electricity reaching an appliance.

Tapped secondary transformer: Used for transforming voltages, a plug-in transformer, the wall type, changes 120 volts AC into about 12 volts DC for small appliance needs. In a tapped secondary transformer, the secondary winding of the transformer is connected to a wire so that it can be used for multiple voltages, or more current.

Speaker: A speaker converts electrical energy into sound energy.

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Precision Manufacturing Of Silicon Wafers in a Nutshell

Silicon wafers are probably the single most important component in the modern electronics industry. Millions of wafers are used in electronics devices and produced daily on a mass scale. The process of developing these essential little items took years to develop, but now it has become a fairly routine process to manufacture them efficiently and economically.

Silicon is a simple element that can be naturally found in abundant quantities. In fact, this brittle substance is one of the most common elements known on the planet. It is present in many rocks and is used in a wide variety of applications that can range from cement to glass and synthetic rubber products.

As a semiconductor for electronic usage, it has the ability to control the passage of electricity in an extremely precise manner. By adding assorted other materials to it in its processed crystalline form, its conductivity properties can be altered as needed to produce a highly controlled way to channel minute amounts of electrical impulses in electronic gear.

Making a wafer is actually a complex process in its entirety, but the basics are quite easy to understand. To put the procedure into simple terms, the silicon is used to grow a crystal substance which will contain desired amounts of other materials which give it the desired properties for its specific application.

These crystal composites are then ground into any number of specific shapes which are uniformly sliced into wafers and polished. The wafers can be created in many different shapes and sizes, depending on what type of semiconductor devices they are required to be inserted into. The ultimate factors that determine their function are decided by their shapes, thicknesses and added ingredients.

In addition to the raw material of silicon, arsenic, boron and other elements are introduced. All of the components are essentially melted together inside specialized furnaces that form ingots ready for processing. Once the individual ingots are cooled and thoroughly inspected for defects, they are ready for grinding and slicing.

Each ingot will be ground into a relatively rough shape that is larger than the finished product. A diamond saw is most commonly used to slice the piece into a flat and uniform part. At this point, they will need to be lapped, or rough finished, to remove marks from the sawing process along with any other defects. This is basically a method of polishing and smoothing the material.

After this step, mild acids are used to further remove any surface imperfections that might be present. Special water solutions are applied to rinse and remove these acids. In most cases, addition grinding will be needed to round off corners to remove areas that could be easily broken during installation into the device for which they may be designed.

After being shaped, smoothed and cornered, each piece is finely polished and cleaned with chemicals such as ammonium hydroxide. Finally, they are all carefully inspected and are approved or rejected. While the exact details of the manufacturing process that silicon wafer suppliers use are quite complicated, the overall method is fairly straightforward.

Jessica entered the Semiconductor Manufacturing field in 1998. Jessica has held positions at Integrated Micromachines and Xponent Photonics prior to founding Rogue Valley Microdevices, and establishing it as one of the leading silicon wafer suppliers and MEMS Foundry Services.

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Semiconductors: An Important Element Available in Every Electronic Device!

Semiconductors are available in every electronic device which is used in the modern days including computers, telephones, radio etc. These semiconductors have entered every electronic device and now every human's life that are using these electronic gadgets. This has greatly increased the demand of semiconductor manufacturing companies. There are many top semiconductor manufacturing companies in the world who manufacture high quality silicon wafers. They are running business to provide various semiconductor turnkey solutions to the customers.

Today these semiconductors have become a part of our life and without these devices we can't survive. Whether you talk of computer which is lifeline or telephones which keep us connected, all have semiconductor in some form or the other. Basically, a semiconductor is a material which is having the special characteristics that enables it to conduct small amount of electrical current in a controlled manner. This electrical conductivity can be controlled either permanently or dynamically, depending on the requirement of the device it is used in. The devices like diodes, transistors and photovoltaic cells contain these semiconductors. It is found that these semiconductor materials have much lower resistance to the flow of electrical current in one direction than in another.

It's are made of several materials, not any single material forms these semiconductors. It is a known fact that semiconductors should not be a very good conductor of electricity, nor should it be a bad conductor of electricity. One amazing thing associated with these semiconductors is that their properties can be changed with the help of atoms. By adding or removing the atoms, one can do that. While creating semiconductors the materials used are many but the most widely used semi-conductor material is silicon. Other materials which aid to the development of this element are gallium arsenide, germanium and silicon carbide. Companies which provide semiconductor turnkey solutions make use of all of these materials in optimum quantity.

Whether you want integrated circuit test and assembly services or any other service related to semi-conductors, you will find numerous companies world over. Few of the popular names which are into the manufacturing of these semiconductors include AMI Semiconductor, Analog Devices, Amtel, Cosmic Circuits, Dynex Semiconductor, Elpida Memory, Fujitsu, IBM, Intel Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, Luxtera, Materials Research Corporation, Microchip Technology, National Semiconductor, Numonyx, Oramir, Sanyo, Seiko, Sitronics, Sony, Texas Instruments, Toshiba, Winbond to name a few. All these companies are related to the semiconductor manufacturing services, one or the other way.

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Company Profiles - ASML

This story is about change and growth. A company that came out-of-the-blue and is now number one in the field of wafer steppers. This is the so-called back-end part of the semiconductor-device fabrication. This phase is dominated by a lithographical process in which the circuit is projected on the silicon slices. In the adjacent phase -- the front-end -- the transistors and other components are being placed on the chip. ASML produces the back-end machines.

It all started in 1984 as a "spin-out" of Philips and ASM International. In 1990 ASMI divested the operation into a separate company because of the money-losing lithographic business at that time.

"In retrospect, it may have been the biggest blunder in ASMI's corporate history. ASML, after a rough patch in the early 1990s, began to find favor outside of its traditional base in Europe with American and Taiwanese chip makers." (1)

The company went public in 1995 and acquired SVG in the US in 2001. The lithographic market started in the US, but soon the Japanese producers Nikon and Canon dominated the market until the end of the 20th century. In 2003 that picture is changed completely:

"While - in 2003 -- ASML and No. 2 player Nikon are embroiled in bitter legal battles over intellectual property issues in the United States and Japan, Canon, the No. 3 lithography player, has declared publicly that its goal is to unseat ASML from its top spot within five years." (2)

In this market, innovation is the way to keep up with the heavy competition.

In this sense the type of technological changes do matter. Basically there are two types of technological innovations: one that has a focus on improvements, they are called sustainable technologies the other is disruptive. These latter are based on a new paradigm that changes the idea of the process completely.

A famous example of disruptive technology is the digital camera that replaced the analogue camera that required a film. In order to be successful, the disruptive technology must add more value to the client. In the beginning the lenses and the number of pixels were of a lower quality than the traditional cameras, but the ease of use and other functionality -- printing at home -- compensated the new technology. After years, digital cameras get the same quality as the previous cameras offered.

In the lithographical business, the sustainable development continue with the lithographic projections and the use of masks by which the light is filtered. Decreasing the size of the nodes (now as small as 45 nanometers) is the ultimate goal. The question is whether with the same technology this process of miniaturization remains possible...

A new - disruptive technology - is being developed in which the mask is no longer required by "writing the circuits on to silicon wafers with electron beams. Mapperlithography utilizes a Multi-Aperture Pixel-by-Pixel Enhancement of Resolution (MAPPER) technology that is based on deep ultraviolet (DUV) technology. It was founded in 2000 and is based in Delft, The Netherlands." (www.mapperlithography.com)

"John Cossins, product manager for ASML ... said in an interview that "for next generation lithography, ASML has narrowed the focus down to extreme ultraviolet solutions, while Canon and Nikon are looking more at electron beam-related solutions."

As for Mapper's technology, he said, "the alternative they're working on, though promising, is nowhere near a real product yet, and therefore not serious competition in the short term." - march 2003"

Where change and growth go often together becomes visible in the dividends policy of the company. After twelve year in business the company pays it first dividends to the shareholders and is intent to continue this new pattern. For the investor this may be a signal that the high growth of the company is now bend into a more stable growth. But what about the market entry of new parties?

IT is possible that the other parties also feel the pressure from the market. If ASML could beat the competition once why wouldn't it possible that another (new) party will do this too in the near future.

On the site of ASML we read about a collaborative intent:

"... December 21, 2007 - ASML Holding NV (ASML) and Carl Zeiss SMT (Zeiss) today announce that each has signed an agreement with Canon Inc. (Canon) for the global cross-license of patents in their respective fields of semiconductor lithography and optical components, used to manufacture integrated circuits, or chips..."

"ASML and Zeiss with their large current research and development efforts and resulting know how, welcome this agreement with Canon, with its substantial patent portfolio. There will be no transfer of technology, which means ASML and Zeiss will continue to compete with all players in the market on the basis of their capability to bring leading technologies to market."

"The cross-license helps the three companies to compete more freely in the area relevant to their customers, which is technology expertise and implementation, rather than on intellectual property (IP) rights. ASML and Zeiss are strongly committed to investing in research and development and will continue their build-up of know how and IP. "

Growth is also done by takeovers. Besides the large acquisition of CVG in 2001, the company continues the acquire other parties that add value to their process, like "Brion Technologies ... a leading provider of semiconductor design and wafer manufacturing optimization solutions for advanced lithography... Brion's computational lithography technology enables semiconductor manufacturers to simulate the realized pattern of integrated circuits and to correct the mask pattern to optimize the manufacturing process and yield."

"This combination extends significantly ASML capabilities to support the semiconductor industry as our complementary technologies can enhance further the efficiency of chip manufacturing," said Eric Meurice, president and CEO of ASML. "Brion's simulation technology combined with ASML's lithography systems will generate value for customers through faster time to market, better imaging quality and higher yield in wafer manufacturing."

(1) - http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EKF/is_n2206_v44/ai_20323849/pg_1

(2) - [http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/marketing-advertising-measures/6344072-1.html]

H.J.B

? Hans Bool

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Thin Film Solar Panels - An Exciting Breakthrough in Solar Technology

The thin film solar panels are one of the newest breakthroughs in the booming solar industry.  Compared to their predecessor, they are much thinner and affordable and may well lead to a much wider use of solar energy in near future.

The working mechanism behind the thin film solar panels is the same as their "thick" counterparts.  Both use photovoltaic cells to collect sunlight and convert it into electric current through the interaction between the sunlight and the semiconductor material contained in the PV cells.    The  electricity thus generated can be put into use right away at your home or office.  You can also store it with batteries to back up the power at nights or on cloudy days.

What exactly has enabled the thin film PV cells to work with the same efficiency but at a much reduced cost?  The answer is in the semiconductor material.  The first generation of solar panels, which are the thick ones that we are all used to seeing, use crystalline silicon as the semiconductor material.  Each solar cell is produced on a different silicon wafer, one by one.  This is an extremely labor-intensive process, which makes the solar panels unaffordable by mass people.

The semiconductor material used in thin film PV cells, as a contrast, is much thinner and cheaper.  What's better, it can be mass produced with an automated system and thereby cuts down the labor work by 3 times. You can imagine that, with this reduced cost, more and more businesses will be encouraged to enter the manufacturing of solar panels.  If this happens, the prices of solar panels will become even more affordable.

And, there are more exciting applications.  With the solar cells being smaller, they are also more light-weighted and can be flexibly placed onto various smaller and light-weighted objects.  For instance, the solar roof shingles are produced by covering the traditional asphalt roof with a layer of thin file solar cells.  Now,  instead of holding your solar panel with the large and heavy steel arrays, your solar roof can look almost the same as that of your neighbors.

Portable solar panels are another product of the thin film technology.  They are being manufactured to power up just any type of electric appliances, from cell phones, GPS devices, MP3 players, to televisions and laptops.   How handy it will be if you can install a solar panel on your backpack or in your purse?  You can carry it wherever you go and charge your portable electric devices whenever needed.

If the thin film solar panels still sound to you like a complex technical innovation rather than an easily accessible daily product, don't worry.  Think about the digital watches.  They cost dearly a few decades ago, but can be  purchased today at a very friendly price.  This will be the future of our solar panels!

Click here to check out various hot discussions about alternative energy power.

Click here for a related article about home wind power.

Important Facts About and Uses of Deionized Water

Deionized water is also spelled deionised water or called DI water. Another name for it which sounds a little more understandable for many people is demineralised water. However it is called or spelled, it means water that has extremely little ions or minerals in it. Ions are charged atoms. Atoms become charged after gaining or losing at least one electron. A sodium atom (Na) becomes a sodium ion after losing an electron (Na+). A chlorine atom (Cl) becomes a chloride ion (Cl-) after gaining an electron. Metallic salts are composed of ions and not molecules. That is why they are called ionic compounds. The popular example has just been given. Table salt is sodium chloride (NaCl) and it is a popular household ionic substance. For those who have forgotten basic chemistry, NaCl is not composed of molecules of NaCl but is actually composed of ions of Na+ and Cl- bound tightly together by strong electrostatic forces. However, water does the trick in separating these ions. As table salt dissolves in water it dissociates to its component ions. The same thing happens to any other salts in water, and because water is a remarkable solvent, it is never found in pure form, but has always impurities. Filtration and chlorination of water may remove organic impurities and bacteria, but minerals may still be present. These minerals are present in form of ions like calcium (Ca++) and magnesium (Mg++) as well as chlorides, nitrates and carbonates. Though water that contains minerals or ions may not be a health concern, it has some industrial drawbacks. For instance, tap water, which has lots of ion impurities leaves stains or spots on surfaces when used as a cleaning agent. This is where deionization steps in.

Deionization is the process of removing ionic impurities in water. It is also called demineralization. In the industrial scene, this may involve two phases. The first phase removes positive ions of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron. They are displaced by hydrogen ions (H+). The second phase removes negative ions like chloride, nitrate, and bicarbonate. These are then displaced by hydroxyl ions (OH-). The resulting water teems with hydrogen and hydroxyl ions, which actually fuse to form water molecule. Both phases use resin beads which serve as an ion exchange site.

The resulting water is said to have no pH value since there are no ions to measure the pH by. However, water that is stripped of its ions is a more aggressive solvent. If left in an open container, it sucks carbon dioxide from the air. This results to an acidic solution causing water to assume a lower pH value. Nevertheless, heating the solution to the boiling point may remove carbon dioxide and restore water's deionized quality.

There are controversies as to the effects of demineralised water upon drinking it. There is a fear that because it is too pure it may actually be harmful to humans. Extremely pure water will rob the body off its useful electrolytes or ions. The matter with this claim is that it is based upon little evidence.

Industrial purposes of deionized water can never be refuted. It claims extensive application in the semiconductor industry as it is used during processing and cleaning of materials like silicon wafers. The optics industry also relies on this type of highly pure water, since optical surfaces are supposed to be extremely clean as a requirement for coating. Laboratory glasswares are rinsed in DI water as tap water is never recommended for this purpose. Water that is devoid of ions is also used in car wash shops. It is also very suitable and is in fact used in window cleaning. The efficacy of this pure water as a cleaning agent is due to its aggressiveness as a solvent, since water that contains no dissolved ions will tend to draw ions or solutes from the surroundings and surfaces. This means no spots or stains is left on surfaces.

Furthermore, in the manufacture of pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, DI water is often used because it does not contain impurities that may cause unwanted reactions with other substances used in these products.

Jo is an author and publisher for 'The-Water-Company.com', a well-known UK stationed high quality water manufacturer for more than thirty years, providing products like deionized water and demineralized water to a wide variety of consumers in UK, Europe and all over the world. If you have a high quality autoclave water needs then take a look at The-Water-Company.com.

How to Boost Your Solar Power Efficiency

Are Fossil fuels forever?

Fossil fuel is finite. That means it would not last forever. There is only so much oil that can be pumped out of the ground or seabed. Burning fossil fuel releases harsh pollutants into the environment. You can contribute to environment conservation by using cheap solar energy. But I have heard many complaints about solar energy efficiency.

Engineering Solar Energy

You can basically tap into the sun energy in one of two ways: convert sunlight into electricity or collect the sun heat for heating purposes. The solar thermal approach to solar energy reflects the sun heat from mirrors onto a pipe filled with fluid. As the fluid heats up, it can boil water to supply your home. On the other hand, photovoltaic cells or solar panels utilize silicon as a semiconductor to absorb the sun rays and produce electricity.

There have been plenty of advances in engineering that have boosted solar power efficiency. Solar thermal power is about 30% efficient in converting the heat of the sun into electricity. This is double the efficiency of solar panels. So that makes solar thermal systems a lot cheaper than solar panels. But the solar dishes have to be very large to capture enough sunlight to concentrate for heating. That is definitely not practical for your home. That is why most houses use compact solar panels instead.

New Advances

Compared to the early 2000 years, the silicon wafers on solar panels are now 40% thinner. Up to 36 silicon wafers are located on one solar panel which is now about 20% - 40% efficient in converting solar energy to electricity. The sort of electricity you get is called direct current or D.C. This has to be converted to alternating current, or A.C, before you can use it to power your toaster and washing machine. There is an inverter that does the job for you. So that means solar power efficiency from solar panels becomes very much reduced due to the electricity conversion process.

Scientists argue that the maximum efficiency you can get from present day technology for silicon based solar panels is only 40%. Therefore, to get the highest amount of returns from your solar energy systems, you should use passive solar heating techniques coupled with direct sunlight for day lighting in your home. By using the highest efficiency level solar panels for your other energy requirements such as household appliances you can maximize solar power efficiency.

Solar Power Efficiency Rates

Although many folks have switched to using solar panels and solar water heating systems, current solar power efficiency rates mean that solar power can only provide about 70% of the energy requirements of your household. Despite the ability of storing energy in batteries, you can not rely on solar energy during prolonged periods of cold weather with weak sunshine. So you should also be connected to a utility network that provides you with power at the flick of a switch.

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Renewable Sources of Energy

All About Rubber O Ring

A rubber O ring is generally made up of synthetic rubber called elastomer. One would rarely found a rubber O ring made up of natural rubber. Though the elastomers resemble a lot to natural rubber by giving similar look, feel and behavior. Hence, often people misunderstand synthetic rubber O ring as natural rubber O ring.

Synthetic rubber or elastomers are made to withstand higher temperatures and greater pressure ranges. These are manufactured for industrial purposes where the environment and conditions are tougher to sustain. Thus, elastomers are tailor made to absorb and sustain the abrasion and exposure to the hazardous chemicals and ultra violet rays.

Once you make a decision of buying O rings for an industrial application, you have to be extremely careful while picking the elastomer as it renders whatever you expect it to. One should be certain that the amount he is paying is not wasted in some kind of attributes which aren't any useful for him. For example, Kalrez and Viton are highly sophisticated space age elastomers which are used in semiconductor wafer processing and aerospace hence, it is pointless to invest in such elastomers if a lower grade of elastomer can fit your prescribed job.

Also, there are certain specialized rubber O rings made up of neoprene and silicone for the unique properties these elastomers hold. China is the largest manufacturer of neoprene and silicon rubber o rings which are further distributed by other distributors all over the world.

The most popular rubber o ring amongst all is the nitrile or buna-n O ring. It is the cheapest and most demanded elastomer of all. Used for various purposes, it is easily available at the local hardware store.

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Man Made Diamond Applications

The top spot of the gemstone market has long been occupied by the brilliant, lustrous, diamond. Technology, too, ranks diamonds very high, but because of the stone's ability to conduct heat, its hardness (a perfect 10 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness) and its stability. The automotive industry uses diamond-edged saws and cutting tools. Medicine utilizes diamonds in lasers. Though in great demand, diamonds aren't in great supply. Mining is expensive and the quality can't be guaranteed, making pure diamonds quite rare. As a result, the world's scientific minds began developing ways to create man made diamonds. Molecularly identical to the diamond, man made diamonds are appropriate for the same applications. Due to the lower cost and the ability to "grow" to specifications, synthetics may even surpass naturally occurring diamonds.

Since man made diamond applications are the same as for natural diamonds, they can be used as electrodes. Diamonds are chemically inert (non reactive), allowing the electrodes to be used in situations where normal electrodes would be destroyed. Detecting redox (reduction/oxidation) reactions that normally can't be studied is another application for man made diamonds. Additionally, in water supplies, diamonds can sometime degrade the redox-reactive organic contaminants.

Diamond is radiation hard and possesses a wide bandgap, making its use as a radiation detection device another man made diamond application. In fact, especially due to its density mirroring that of soft tissue, diamond has already been utilized in some physics experiments, particularly in the area of quantum physics and matter/anti-matter particles.

Semiconductor use tops the list of man made applications. Already possessing thermal conductivity, man made diamonds can be made more so by adding boron and phosphorus during the creation process, resulting in n-type or p-type semiconductors. The advantage over current semiconductors is that diamonds as transistors aren't vulnerable to radiation or chemical damage and can handle much more heat than silicon. These traits give man made diamonds a promising future in the electronics industry, especially concerning power.

HPHT, high pressure, high temperature, is the original method of creating man made diamonds. Using large presses that can weigh several tons, HPHT uses pressures of 5 GPa (giga pascals) and temperatures of 1,500 degrees Celsius to recreate the earth's method of creating natural diamonds. Small, non gem-worthy chips and dust are the result of this process, and usually in a polycrystalline structure (unlike single crystal natural diamonds.)

These pressure created diamonds (PCD), in micrometer bits, are encased in a metal matrix, hardening it and applying the result to tools. Machining tools, especially when machining non-ferrous alloys is another prime use of PCD. Drilling for oil is also a man made diamond application for PCD, but machining aluminum is the principle use of PCD. In the automotive industry, PCD are used to machine aluminum alloys that can cause tools extreme wear. The only cost-efficient way to machine these alloys is diamond.

As the method of man made diamond production improves, so will man made diamond applications. Now with the recent breakthrough in CVD to grow diamonds, the stones can be cut by scientists into wafer shapes for use in technology. Conductivity can be improved, too. The possibilities are endless, as time will tell.

James Chartwell writes for a variety of topics, including travel and science. Please visit his interesting resource all about man made diamonds at http://www.manmadediamondinfo.com

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The Evolution of Microchips

Since 1960, the number of elements that could be manufactured in an IC has doubled every 18 months. State-of-the-art silicon chips in 1979 contained 29,000 transistors, but by 1996 this figure had risen to 5.5 million. As every new generation of silicon chip squeezes more components into a circuit, electronic devices become smaller. When portable computers first became commercially obtainable, they were the size of a suitcase. Now, modern lap-top computers are the size of A4 notepads, and they have far higher processing and memory capabilities.

Some silicon chips have just one function. Memory chips in computers, for example, are created solely to store and retrieve information. Other silicon chips have many functions and act like minicomputers in their own right. They are known as microprocessors or microchips and contain extremely complex integrated circuits.

Microchips can be taught, or programmed, to do a variety of activities, including controlling the actions of other pieces of electrical equipment. In many modern cars, for instance, microchips monitor the engine's temperature and pressure, and adjust the amount of fuel injected into the engine accordingly. Typical silicon chips are between five and seven millimetres square and they're thin enough to pass via the eye of a needle. Every chip can include thousands of miniature circuits connected by tiny tracks of conductive aluminium, copper or tungsten.

Inside the chip

Pure silicon has a crystal structure similar to diamond, and is electrically insulating. Nevertheless, if impurity atoms (dopants), for example phosphorus, are implanted into its crystal structure, silicon becomes a semiconductor - it conducts tiny electrical currents. When silicon is doped, it is given either a negative or a positive charge, and is known as n- or p-type silicon, depending on its charge. Transistors, capacitors and resistors are made by combining patterned sections of this doped silicon with layers of conductive and insulating materials.

Every layer of material is built up in particular places on the chip by masking off sections of wafer that don't need to be covered - in much the same way as a decorator uses masking tape to protect glass from stray splashes of paint. Integrated circuits include tens of thousands of different elements linked together by circuit tracks. Often, it takes at least 50 procedure steps to make a microprocessor, and their manufacture is known as Large Scale Integration (LSI).

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Imagination Movers - Stir it Up

Scott, Dave, Rich, and Smitty--the Imagination Movers--make music that's as much for parents as kids. While their lyrics are aimed at the short set, their bouncy tunes evoke pop and funk acts like Smash Mouth, Devo, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (without any profanity or sexual innuendo). The first DVD from the New Orleans-based quartet, Stir It Up, features a heaping helping of material from both their CDs, Good Ideas and Calling All Movers. Lively videos alternate with energetic live performances, many of which feature audience participation. Some songs, like "I Want My Mommy (Time for Bed)," combine both approaches. Fans of the Wiggles and Bob the Builder are sure to find themselves tapping their toes with abandon, while learning some useful lessons along the way, like the importance of remembering your manners ("Please and Thank You") and tidying up ("Clean My Room"). (Ages 2 to 7) --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Semiconductors Device Fabrication

Semiconductor device fabrication is the process by which chips are made. These chip are integrated circuits that are present in electrical and electronic devices and appliances. The process of semiconductor device fabrication is of multiple steps during which a wafer is created using pure semi conducting material. Usually Silicon is used to make integrated circuits. However, Gallium arsenide and Germanium are also used.

The entire fabrication process takes six to eight weeks. This includes the packaging of the chips.

A wafer is made from pure silicon ingot. These ingot are sliced into 0.75 mm thick wafers. Then they are polished to get a flat and even surface. After this many steps are required to make this wafer into an integrated circuit.

With time the integrated circuits have gone smaller and smaller, leading to them being produced in clean rooms. These clean rooms are called fabs. Fabs are pressurized with filtered air to remove even the smallest particle as it might rest on the wafer and make it defective. People working in the manufacturing facilities are required to constantly wear clean room suits to protect the chips from contamination.

With the demand increasing, semiconductors are now being manufactured in a number of countries like Ireland, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, China and the US. Intel is the world's leading manufacturer and has manufacturing facilities in Europe, Asia and the US. Other top manufacturers of semiconductors are Samsung, Texas Instruments, Advanced Micro Devices, Toshiba, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Sony and NXP Semiconductors.

According to US Industry & Market Outlook, there are approximately 5,000 semiconductor and electronic component manufacturers in the United States alone and they contribute $165 billion in terms of sales.

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Semiconductor Wafer Inspection System

Introduction of new surfscan SP2XP, a new monitor for wafer inspection system for the integrated circuit has built a success upon its predecessor tool with the same name. The new wafer inspection system features improved sensitivity to defects on silicone, poly and metal films. It also has the ability to sort defects by the type and size. This new semiconductor wafer inspection system also features vacuum handling and best-in-class throughput.

This system is designed and manufactured to enable facilitate chipmakers to bring in their devices to the market with superior quality and in minimal amount of time. This system has an integrated ultra high sensitivity operating mode to speed up the process of development of next generation devices.

This SP2 system is designed for 65 and 45 nm nodes and below. This slip in new UV laser technology, dark field optics and advanced algorithms. This tool is developed to continuously provide reliable and accurate defects in engineered substrates. This tool is designed to detect defect patterns of 6 nm or higher in a multilayered wafer patterns at a relatively higher speed. The false alarm rate is designed to be less than 0.5 occurrences per chip. The performance is achieved by using the optical set up and the digital design pattern data. The main function of the digital design pattern data is to isolate the defective areas into different layers, so as to facilitate the isolation of the defects. The image is processed in one pass by an image processer that has high speed pipeline structured and which can detect for defects at a video rate of 7 mega hertz.

This semiconductor wafer inspection system technology is designed to address the needs to quickly detect the defective materials so that the problem can be rectified sooner. To sooner lesser is the wafer scrap, yield loss and market delay. This technology is believed to actually improve the production of leading edge devices with minimal defects at a lesser period of time.

The advantages of the surfscan SP2XP monitor wafer inspection system include thirty six percent increases in the throughput resulting from changes in opto-mechanics, electronics and software. The multi channel architecture enables the wafer inspection system to automatically separate particles from micro scratches, voids, water marks etc. Ultra high sensitivity mode enables the system to be used for development of next generation chips. The introduction of Opto-mechanics has proved to be effective in detecting defects even over rough films. The new differential interference contrast channel enables capture of shallow, flat and faint defects which can result in failure of devices at advanced devices. The defect sizing capability enables detecting defects at higher speed with greater accuracy.

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Integrated Circuit Design Flow

The process of chip design is very complex and its understanding requires many years of study and practical experience. From a digital integrated circuit design perspective, it could be divided into different hierarchies or stages where the problems are examined at several different levels: system design, logic design, circuit design, layout design, fabrication and testing. These steps are not necessarily sequential; interactions are done in practice to get things right.

System Design: This stage provides the specifications and main operations of the chip. It examines such issues like chip area, power, functionality, speed, cost and other design factors while setting these specifications. Sometimes, the resources available to the designer could act as a constraint during this stage. For instance, a designer may like to design a chip to work at 1.2V, but available process technology can only support a voltage of 5V. In this situation, the designer has to adjust these specifications to satisfy the available tools. It is always a good habit to understand the process technology available before system design and specifications. Process technology is basically the specific foundry technology rules where the chip would be fabricated. Typical examples are AMI 0.5um, TSMC 0.35um and IBM 0.13um. A design based on one process technology is unique to that process and accordingly should be fabricated in a foundry that supports that process. At the system design level, the main sections of the system are illustrated with block diagrams, with no details on the contents of the blocks. Only the input and output characteristics of the sections are detailed.

Logic Design: At this stage, the designer implements the logic networks that would realize the input and output characteristics specified in the previous stage. This is generally made of logic gates with interconnecting wires that are used to realize the design.

Circuit Design: Circuit design involves the translation of the various logic networks into electronic circuitries using transistors. These transistors are switching devices whose combinations are used to realize different logic functions. The design is tested using computer aided design (CAD) tools and comparisons are made between the results and the chip specifications. Through these results, the designer could have an idea of the speed, power dissipation, and performance of the final chip. An idea of the size of the chip is also obtained at this stage since the number of transistors would determine the area of the chip. Experienced designers optimize many design variables like transistor sizes, transistor numbers, and circuit architecture to reduce delay, power consumption, and latency among others. The length and width of the transistors must obey the rules of the process technology.

Layout Design: This stage involves the translation of the circuit realized in the previous stage into silicon description through geometrical patterns aided by CAD tools. This translation process follows a process rule that specifies the spacing between transistors, wire, wire contacts, and so on. Violation of these rules results to malfunctioning chips after fabrication. Besides, the designer must ensure that the layout design accurately represents the circuit design and that the design is free of errors. CAD tools enable checks for errors and also incorporate ways of comparing layout and circuit designs provided in form of Layout Versus Schematic (LVS) checks. When errors are reported, the designer has to effect the corrections. A vital fundamental stage in layout design is Extraction, which involves the extraction of the circuit schematic from the layout drawings. The extracted circuit provides information on the circuit elements, wires, parasitic resistance and capacitance (a parasitic device is an unbudgeted device that inserts itself due to interaction between nearby components). With the aid of this extracted file, the electronic behavior of the silicon circuit is simulated and it is always a good habit to compare the results with the system specification since this is one of the final design stages before a chip is sent to the foundry.

Fabrication: Upon satisfactory verification of the design, the layout is sent to the foundry where it is fabricated. The process of chip fabrication is very complex. It involves many stages of oxidation, etching, photolithography, etc. Typically, the fabrication process translates the layout into silicon or any other semiconductor material that is used. The result is bonded with pins for external connections to circuit boards.

Fabrication process uses photolithographic masks, which define specific patterns that are transferred to silicon wafers (the initial substrate used to fabricate integrated circuits) through a number of steps based on the process technology. The starting material, the wafer, is oxidized to create insulation layer in the process. It is followed by photolithographic process, which involves deposition of photoresist on the oxidized wafer, exposure to ultra-violet rays to form patterns and etching for removal of materials not covered by photoresist. Ion implantation of the p+ or n+ source/drain region and metallization to form contacts follow afterwards. The next stage is cutting the individual chip from the die. For external pin connection, bonding is done. It is important to emphasize that this process steps could be altered in any order to achieve specific goals in the design process. In addition, many of these functions are done many times for very complex chips. Over the years, other methods have emerged. A notable one is the use of insulators (like sapphire) as starting materials instead of semiconductor substrate (the silicon on which active devices are implanted) to build the transistors. This method called Silicon on Insulator (SOI) minimizes parasitic in circuits and enable the realization of high speed and low power dissipation chips.

Testing: The final stage of the chip development is called testing. Electronic equipment like oscilloscopes, probes, pattern generators and logic analyzers are used to measure some parameters of the chip to verify its functionalities based on the stated specifications. It is always a good habit to test for various input patterns for a fairly long time in order to discover possible performance degradation, variability, or failures. Sometimes, fabricated chip test results deviate from simulated results. When that occurs, depending on application, the designer could re-engineer the circuit for improvement and error corrections. The new design should be fabricated and tested at the end.

Dr. Ndubuisi Ekekwe blogs at Nkpuhe
http://goafrit.wordpress.com

Solar Cells - An Intro and Overview

To understand the field of solar energy, one must begin with solar cells (otherwise known as photovoltaic cells.) Basically, these are devices that convert light directly into electricity. The photovoltaics market is generally invested in the manufacture of cells made of wafer-like pieces of silicon. Typically, many individual cells are assembled together in frames, forming a solar array. There are currently three types of solar cell commonly available for practical residential and personal use.

The cheapest and least efficient type of solar cell is known as amorphous silicon. This is a form of silicon that can be applied to a material (usually glass) in a thin film. It is therefore much cheaper to manufacture. A strong disadvantage of this material is that it lacks the well-ordered crystalline pattern of other forms of silicon, and features a large drop-off in conversion efficiency.

The highest efficiency comes from monocrystalline silicon cells, constructed of single crystals cut from large cylindrical ingots, resulting in circular wafer-like cells. This rounded shape comes with one disadvantage: multiple cells can't be framed snugly together, resulting in some wasted space. This raises some contention as to whether or not, when framed together in a larger arrays, these cells produce notably more electricity than the polycrystalline cell variety. Panels made with monocrystalline cells also come with a higher price tag.

Based on sales, the most common type of photovoltaic cell is polycrystalline. These are made from multiple silicon crystals and cut into square wafers to be mounted together in an array. They are cheaper and easier to manufacture than monocrystalline cells, but slightly less efficient.

Solar power is one of the fastest growing fields in energy production, and new developments are being made all the time. R&D labs around the world are developing cells boasting higher conversion rates. Panels are being developed made from cheaper forms of silicon, and a process has even been developed to recycle or "re-purpose" suitable material from scrapped semiconductor wafers. The AIST, a Japanese research facility, has been able to develop transparent panels that convert UV light into electricity while allowing visible light to pass through. Such a material could one day be used to replace windows. Bottom line, solar energy is a massive field, and the small, unassuming solar cell has the potential to carry the world into a cleaner and easier future.

Edmund E. Taylor has researched and writes on a number of topics including solar energy, the green movement, renewable resources and recycling. His background is in teaching and higher education. For more of Edmund's articles on green energy, please visit PV Power, a supplier of residential and commercial solar power information.

A Brief History on Silicon Chips

Most silicon chips are smaller than the nail on your little finger, yet they are the hidden 'brains' discovered inside almost every electronic device. These tiny slithers of material are proving to be a bigger influence on modern life than the steam engine during the industrial revolution.

Silicon chips are utilized for a wide range of applications. They guide satellites into orbit close to the Earth. They control signals and monitor train movements around railway networks. They record and control the flow of cash between banks, shops and building societies. They can even wake us up in the morning with a fresh pot of coffee. This revolution in electronic wizardry began in 1948 in the Bell Telephone Laboratories, USA. Here research scientists produced the first semiconductor transistor - a pea-sized component created by adding (implanting) impurities into different sections of a pure silicon crystal.

The new transistors carried out the same function as old-fashioned thermionic valves - they amplified or strengthened electric signals fed into them - but they took up far less space and used much less energy. Semiconductor transistors soon started to replace thermionic valves in all sorts of electronic equipment, from radio sets to computers. At first, transistors had been used as individual elements on printed circuit boards (PCBs). Nevertheless, in 1958, Texas Instruments developed a technique of making separate elements on a single crystal of silicon. Transistors, resistors and many other elements were made by adding impurities into various sections of the crystal. These new electrical circuits were called integrated circuits (ICs), and also the wafer of silicon on which they were formed became known as a silicon chip.

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MOBI 70119 4-IN-1 INFRARED THERMOMETER

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Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Seventh Season

The seventh season of Everybody Loves Raymond serves up a delightful mix of comedy and pathos as the Barones deal with cults, theft, marriage, and death. The season opener (which aired on CBS in 2002) starts where season 6 ended: with Debra (Patricia Heaton) and Marie (Doris Roberts) feuding, and Ray (Ray Romano) and Robert (Brad Garrett) conjuring up a plan to get them to make up. This 5-disc set includes all 25 episodes, including the two-part wedding finale between Robert and Amy (Monica Horan). In typical Marie fashion, she has a shocking and inappropriate comment to make when the priest makes the rhetorical statement, "If anyone can think of any reason why these two should not be joined, speak now or forever hold your peace." There is very little peace when Marie is around. A fantastic cook and a loving mother, Marie is the reason why women worldwide dislike mama's boys. When things go wrong on the home front, Ray isn't above comparing Debra to his mother. Sometimes it's unintentional. But at other times, it's calculated as a means of getting his way. The show's saving grace is the likeability of the characters and the strong writing, which makes up in humor what it lacks in subtlety.

The relationship between woebegone Robert and Amy is a delight, especially because viewers get to meet her parents this season. Fred Willard (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy) and Georgia Engel (The Mary Tyler Moore Show) play Amy's conservative parents who'd rather see their daughter remain single than marry into the Barone family. Chris Elliott also guest stars as Amy's spoiled, unemployed brother who likes to stir things up between the two clans. The show's success always has been less about completely out-there premises than taking a slice of everyday life--helping the kids with their homework, sharing chores, dealing with in laws--and presenting them in a comical manner. In the real world, a lazy husband like Ray wouldn't be nearly as cuddly. And an interfering mother-in-law like Marie would not be tolerated by most wives. But on Everybody Loves Raymond, they're two of the main reasons why viewers consistently tuned in to this hit sitcom. --Jae-Ha Kim

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Product Information

Game Room Excitement brings the fun of the arcade home to your PC!  All ofyour favorite games are gathered together for the whole family to enjoy!  Test your coordination skills as you shoot the puck past your opponent in an ultra-realistic game of Air Hockey.  Strap on your kneepads for some fast kicking fun inFoosball, or wax up the board for some competitive Shuffleboard.


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Piezoresistive Strain Gauge

The arrangement is as follows:

The sensing element is rectangular filament made as a wafer from silicon or geranium crystals. To these crystals, boron is added to get some desired properties and this process is called doping and the crystals are called doped crystals. This sensing element is attached to a plastics or stainless steel backing. Leads made of gold are drawn out from the sensing element for electrically connecting the gauge to a measuring instrument (wheat stone bridge).

There are two types of sensing element namely:

* Negative or n-type (resistance decrease with respect to tensile strain).

* Positive or P-type (resistance increase with respect to tensile strain).

Operation

With the help of an adhesive material, the strain Gauge is pasted or bonded on the structure under study. Now the structure is subjected to a force (tensile or compressive). Due to the force, the structure will change the dimension. As the strain Gauge is bonded to the structure, the stain Gauge will also undergo change in both in length and cross-section (that is, it strained). When the sensing element (crystal) of the semiconductor Gauge is strained, it's resistivity changes contributing to a change in the resistance of the strain Gauge. The change in the resistance of the strain Gauge is measured using a wheat stone bridge. This change in resistance of the strain Gauge becomes a measure of the extent to which the structure is strained and a measure of the applied force when calibrated.

Advantages

* These Gauges have high Gauge factor and hence they can measure very small strains.

* They can be manufactured to very small sizes.

* They have an accuracy of 2.3%

* They have excellent hysteresis characteristics.

* They have a good frequency of response.

* They have good fatigue life.

Limitation of semi-conductor

* These gauges are brittle and hence they cannot be used for measuring large strain.

* The gauge factor is not constant.

* These gauges have poor linearity.

* These gauges are very costly and are difficult to be bonded onto the structure under study.

* These gauges are sensitive to change in temperature.

Check out all types of Bonded Strain Gauge in my blog post on Bonded Strain Gauge

High Resolution Imaging by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)

Since its invention, AFM has become a technique of choice for the study of surfaces in materials science, nanotechnology and life sciences. To a great extent, it is its nanometer-level high resolution that has led to its tremendous popularity. Although new advanced uses of AFM have been developed, like molecular force measurement or mapping of a sample's magnetic characteristics, high resolution surface topography remains the main application of AFM.

The tip: the AFM core

The tip, with its control system, is the core of the AFM and largely determines its performances. Usually made of silicon or silicon nitride, the tip is like a nanofinger that gently scans the sample surface. It must be very sharpened to accurately survey the humps and troughs of the sample.

Three modes of operation

AFM can operate in three modes: contact, tapping and non contact. The contact mode utilizes the repulsive forces between the tip and the sample. The tapping mode, the most commonly used, makes the lever and the tip vibrate at its resonance frequency. The feedback system then follows the variations of the vibration amplitude, due to the tip-sample interaction. Finally, the non contact mode makes use of the attractive forces, but it is rarely used.

AFM, a versatile instrument

AFM has found applications in an impressive number of domains. In electronics and in the semiconductor business, technicians and engineers use the AFM to examine surface defects or to measure wafer roughness. In optics, AFM serves to measure the surface finish (or roughness) of a lens. In life sciences, AFM is the ideal tool to imagine proteins or DNA.

Benefits:

- Works with all types of samples (insulating, conductor, biological, etc)

- Excellent resolution (inferior to the nm)

- Can quantify roughness

Applications:

- Surface topography

- Roughness measurements

- 3D imaging.

Jean-Sebastien Tasse is business development manager - industry at the Thin Film Research Laboratory (GCM), a materials analysis laboratory based in Montreal, Canada. The GCM offers a comprehensive range of analytical services to industry including chemical analyses, microscopy and mechanical testing. For more information: http://www.gcmlab.ca/services-to-companies.php

The Many Processes of Silicon Wafer Processing

Most people have heard the term silicon wafer, but unless you are a science or Information Technology professional, you will be forgiven for not knowing what a silicon wafer is. This type of device is most common in the fields of IT, physics and chemistry and known to professionals such as physicists and chemists. The silicon wafer processing is an interesting one.

Technically, this device is a thin, circular disc used in the manufacture of integrated circuits and semiconductors. There are other types such as Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and SOI, which is silicon on insulator. These types are used in electronics, which require careful manufacturing to ensure high levels of efficiency.

Although the device is tiny, the manufacturing process is tedious and complicated. It is comprised of several sequential processes that are repeated in order to complete photonic or electrical circuits. Examples of their use include the production of central processing units for computers, optical components of computers, LEDs, and radio frequency amplifiers. During fabrication, the appropriate electrical structures are placed within the wafers.

Extensive work precedes the production and several important steps are to be followed preceding the manufacture. In itself, silicon is a unique element, due to its capacity to conduct both electricity and heat in a way that is very controlled. It is otherwise known as a semiconductor. These wafers can become efficient materials in the electronic sphere when they undergo processes such as photolithography and fabrication.

In microelectronics, these wafers are used in creating microchips or integrated circuits. The manufacturer of chips takes great care of many processes such as selecting the most reliable supplier to ensure efficient devices. Top consumer electronics and information technology companies have used SOI wafers to produce their microprocessors. Solar energy technology also uses GaAs, silicon and SOI wafers to create solar cells.

Electrical engineers start the process by designing the circuits and defining the essential functions. Signals, voltages, outputs and inputs are specified. Special software is used to determine these specifications. It is then exported to programs that lay out the designs of the circuits. These programs are similar to those for computer-aided design. During this process, the layers of the wavers are defined.

Firstly, a perfect crystal should be produced from silicon. It must be submerged slowly into a vessel with molten sand. Afterwards, the ingot (cylinder shaped pure silicon) is carefully withdrawn. The ingot is then thinly sliced, using a diamond saw and the sliced sorted, according the thickness of each wafer.

The manufacturers see to defects that occur during the slicing process. If the silicon surface is damaged or cracked after slicing, this is removed using a process known as lapping. If crystal damage is removed, they use etching to do so.

The wafers are checked for flatness and thickness. During this step, they are checked for defects that occurred during the etching and lapping. An automated machine checks the thickness of each disk.

A layer of damage is created in the back by grinding it to approximately thirty-five microns. The wafer is then heated to a temperature of up to more than one thousand degrees Celsius for up to three hours. It is then cooled to below six hundred degrees Celsius.

Uneven surfaces of the wafers need to be polished to create a flat and smooth surface. A final qualification check is done during which the manufacturer ensures the smoothness and thickness. During this check, specifications of the consumer will also be ensured before the products will be ready to produce. The price of wafers is determined based on the thickness and quality.

The wafers are blank when started and then built up in clean rooms. Photosensitive resistance patters are photo masked onto the surface. They are measured in micrometers or fractions right at the beginning of the process; therefore, the density is increased during each step.

It is then exposed to UVB (short-wave) light. The areas that are unexposed are cleaned and etched away. Heated chemical vapors are then deposited onto the required areas and they are baked. The high heat permeates the vapors into the necessary areas. RF-driven sources of ions deposit 0+ or 02+ onto the zones in particular patterns.

The process is repeated several hundreds of times. During each step, the resolution of the circuits is greatly increased. The technology is constantly changing and with new technology comes denser packing of the features.

The semiconductor waves or chips are manufactured at foundry for companies, which sell the chips. The system of silicon wafer processing is an interesting one and when we think about all the ways in which it affects our lives, it is truly amazing.

Jessica entered the Semiconductor Manufacturing field in 1998 and is now the founder of Rogue Valley Microdevices in 2003. As Founder and CEO, Jessica has established the company as a world-class silicon wafer supplier and MEMS Foundry Services.

Honeywell HHT-011 Compact Air Purifier with Permanent HEPA Filter

Helps Remove/ Captures Up to 99% of Airborne/ Microscopic Particles Such as*:
Tobacco smoke
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Pollen
* (from the air that passes through the filter). Overall particle reduction depends on many factors including the amount of air processed, the pollutant type, and the pollutant's introduction rate into the environment.
Permanent Filter**- just vacuum to clean (** permanent claim is based on normal household usage.
Physicians First Choice- doctors recommend Honeywell HEPA air purifiers for patients that suffer from the allergy and asthma symptoms.***(Market Research Survey "Study of Physician and Nurse Preference of Type and Brand of Portable Room Air Cleaners", AQS Corp., 2005
AHAM Certified- Clean Air Delivery Rate ( verified by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers to meet strict room air cleaning standards.
Room size: small (up to 80 sq.ft) 5 air changes per hour**, medium (up to 149 sq.ft) 2.8 air changes per hour, large (up to 300 sq.ft) 1 air changes per hour.
** base on AHAM CADR Certification, when operated at the high fan speed setting. Air circulation depends on many factors, such as room size and configuration, and there is no guarantee that all of the air in a room will pass through the filter. Air changes per hour are based on AHAM CADR number x 60 minutes divided by the listed room size (volume) assuming an 8 ft. ceiling.
Compact size is ideal for the: nursery, bedrooms, kitchen or den.
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Extremely Effective Air Cleaning: 99% Efficient, Permanent HepaClean™ Filter, 3 Cleaning Power Selections, Optional on/ off Ionizer, Electronic Filter Clean Indicator, Illuminated Control Panel.
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Solar Power Home Electricity: A System on the Frontier of Renewable Energy

There is no denying that for the past 110 years, electricity has been the key in providing the resources for the comprehensive developments and advancement achieved by mankind. Now, we look for systems that push forward renewable energy. Solar power home produced electricity is one energy source system.

Look all around us, and you will see that there are new technologies and inventions being developed with a dependence upon electricity. In addition, as the expansion of the world's economy amplifies so does the huge requirement for electricity. This massive demand is being met by hydroelectric generators, nuclear stations, solar farms, wind systems and other conventional methods of producing electricity.

Electricity producing methods of fossil fuels like coal and oil so far have given us the basic assets to create electricity with the use of steam turbine generators in utility power facilities. However, these techniques have been confirmed to be dangerous to the living ecosystems on earth, and have been mathematically shown to be a limited source of energy. In other words, fossil fuels for generating electricity are not renewable.

You would have to agree, in our present world, we cannot live without electricity. Our demand for electricity power is increasing almost daily and we clamor that new research which will lead us to the creation and expansion of safer and cleaner energy sources. Just as mentioned earlier, solar power home produced electricity is one valuable energy source system.

Basically, in use today for harnessing solar power energy, the two methods of employing solar electricity systems are indirect and direct.

Direct methods

use photovoltaic cells, termed solar cells.
made from wafer-thin slices of crystalline gallium arsenide, silicon, or other semiconductor materials which transfers solar radiation into a flow of electrons or electricity.
solar cells are connected in large numbers into clear anodized aluminum alloy and glass flat panels.
modern advancement of solar photovoltaic power cell panels has reduced cost of electricity to 20 - 30 cents per kilowatt-hour.
solar technology has been used from the beginning of space exploration to provide electricity energy to satellites both that orbit the earth and travel out into far deep space.
solar electricity systems provide a long-term and sustainable energy resource because there are no moving mechanical parts.
solar cells have relatively low efficiency rating.
solar power panels are dependent on the time of day, weather conditions and often seasonal changes.
solar electricity systems need to have an inverter to switch the DC voltage into AC current in order to be consumed in commercial enterprises and in homes.

Indirect methods

concentrates solar radiation into a focus so that the energy heats to boiling liquids (often water) which in turn drives turbines to rotate in magnetic field and produces electricity
employment of a parabolic trough that is made up of a linear parabolic reflector to concentrate solar energy into a receptor positioned on a focal line from the receiver; then, tubing connected to the turbine filled with liquid that takes in the heat generated through the application of the solar energy
this type of solar electricity generating systems has a higher efficiency because the sun's radiation is pinpointed utilized.
other developed technologies extend the indirect power generating efficiency rating by using solar energy towers along with sun reflecting dishes

We have realized through experience that even though fossil fuels are power producing beneficial, they are used with long-term negative consequences.

These realizations of negative outcomes have moved us towards a trend of renewable, non-pollutant sustainable energy to help guarantee life on earth is continued.

Plant life has used solar energy since time immemorial, so why can't we as intelligent human beings harness this solar power without negative consequences.

In many popular opinions, the big energy companies seem to be holding back progress, and in the intervening period, also are digging up the earth and polluting the oceans. It's up all earthlings to start looking to the heavens.

Solar power and wind generated electricity systems provide the methods to achieve the goal of sustainable living.

Paul Armenta wants to help you save lots of money by learning about solar power from others and the free electricity generating process so you can generate your own electricity power at home. Go to http://www.Best-SolarPowerHome.com The best solar power electricity information on how people want solar power panels for their homes are revealed. Solar power is an important way to help build a sustainable world. See blog for more solar info http://bestsolarpowerforhome.blogspot.com/