Bookmarks

Recent Publications, Papers, and Patents by the Aerospace Technical Staff

Publications and Papers

(January 2008–September 2008)

M. J. Baxter, "Modeling of Serious Global Trends for Use with Combat Simulations," 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, pp. 1-6 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

P. M. Belden, G. H. Iyanu, R. W. Farley, S. M. Beck, R. F. Coleman, W. F. Buell et al., "Daytime Lidar Characterization of Subvisual Cirrus Layers," 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, p. 10 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

J. B. Blake et al., "Magnetospheric Electric Field Variations Caused by Storm-Time Shock Fronts," Advances in Space Research, Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 181-191 (July 2008).

J. B. Blake et al., "Relationship of the Van Allen Radiation Belts to Solar Wind Drivers," Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Vol. 70, No. 5, pp. 708-729 (March 2008).

J. B. Blake, J. F. Fennell, et al., "Magnetic Coupling of the Ring Current and the Radiation Belt," Journal of Geophysical Research—Space Physics, Vol. 113, No. A7 (July 2008).

G. J. Bloy, "Blind Camera Fingerprinting and Image Clustering," IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 532-535 (March 2008).

M. W. Chen et al., "Field-Line (Euler-Potential) Model of the Ring Current," Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Vol. 70, No. 2-4, pp. 482-489 (Feb. 2008).

J. A. Conway, G. A. Sefler, J. T. Chou, and G. C. Valley, "Phase Ripple Correction: Theory and Application," Optics Letters, Vol. 33, No. 10, pp. 1108-1110 (2008).

T. J. Curtiss et al., "Oxidation of Organic Films by Beams of Hydroxyl Radicals," Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol. 112, No. 2, pp. 535-544 (Jan. 2008).

R. B. Dybdal, "Monopulse Antenna Tolerance Errors," 2007 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, pp. 613-616 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

R. B. Dybdal and S. J. Curry, "Arraying Large Antennas," 2007 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, pp. 5973-5976 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

L. J. Gelinas, J. H. Hecht, et al., "A Seasonal Study of Mesospheric Temperatures and Emission Intensities at Adelaide and Alice Springs," Journal of Geophysical Research—Space Physics, Vol. 113, No. A1 (Jan. 2008).

Y. Golestani et al., "Optimized Bernoulli Trial Technique for M out of N Binary Integration of Radar Signals," 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, p. 8 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

E. Grayver, J. Chen, and A. C. Utter, "Application-Layer Codec Adaptation for Dynamic Bandwidth Resource Allocation," 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, p. 8 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

T. B. Guild, H. E. Spencer, et al., "Geotail and LFM Comparisons of Plasma Sheet Climatology: 1. Average Values," Journal of Geophysical Research—Space Physics, Vol. 113, No. A4 (April 2008).

T. B. Guild, H. E. Spencer, et al., "Geotail and LFM Comparisons of Plasma Sheet Climatology: 2. Flow Variability," Journal of Geophysical Research—Space Physics, Vol. 113, No. A4 (April 2008).

T. B. Guild, H. E. Spencer, et al., "Posteruptive Phenomena in Coronal Mass Ejections and Substorms: Indicators of a Universal Process?" Journal of Geophysical Research—Space Physics, Vol. 113, No. A2 (July 2008).

J. H. Hecht, T. L. Mulligan, et al., "Satellite and Ground-Based Observations of Auroral Energy Deposition and the Effects on Thermospheric Composition During Large Geomagnetic Storms: 1. Great Geomagnetic Storm of 20 November 2003," Journal of Geophysical Research—Space Physics, Vol. 113, No. A1 (Jan. 2008).

J. H. Hecht, P. R. Straus, et al., "Evidence for Significantly Greater N-2 Lyman-Birge-Hopfield Emission Efficiencies in Proton Versus Electron Aurora Based on Analysis of Coincident DMSP SSUSI and SSJ/5 Data," Journal of Geophysical Research—Space Physics, Vol. 113, No. A4 (April 2008).

H. Helvajian et al., "Aspect Ratios, Sizes and Etch Rates in Photostructurable Glass-Ceramic," Proceedings of the SPIE—The International Society for Optical Engineering Conference, Vol. 6882, p. 68820J-1-11 (Feb. 2008).

H. Helvajian et al., "Laser Alteration of the Mechanical Properties of Photostructurable Elass-Ceramic," Photon Processing in Microelectronics and Photonics VII (San Jose, CA, 2008).

Y. Hong. D. B. Kunkee, et al., "Analysis and Characterization of the SSMIS Upper Atmosphere Sounding Channel Measurements," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 962-983 (2008).

F. R. Hoots, "Radar-Optical Observation Mix," Advances in the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 129, No. 1, pp. 567-588 (2008).

F. R. Hoots et al., "50 Years of Satellite Tracking and Cataloging in the US," Advances in the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 129, No. 2, pp. 1251-1278 (2008).

A. R. Hopkins, R. A. Lipeles, et al., "Morphology Characterization of Polyaniline Nano- and Microstructures," Synthetic Metals, Vol. 158, No. 14, pp. 594-601 (Aug. 2008).

A. B. Jenkin et al., "Global Positioning System Upper Stage Disposal and Collision Risk Analysis: Part 2," Advances in the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 129, No. 1, pp. 551- 566 (2008).

H. A. Katzman, R. M. Castaneda, and H. S. Lee, "Moisture Diffusion in Composite Sandwich Structures," Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, Vol. 39, No. 5, pp. 887-892 (May 2008).

T. J. Kopp et al., "Distinguishing Aerosols From Clouds in Global, Multispectral Satellite Data with Automated Cloud Classification Algorithms," Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 501-518 (April 2008).

R. Kumar, "A High-Order Analysis of the Distortion Effects of Nonlinear Amplifiers on CDMA Signals," 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, pp. 1-10 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

D. B. Kunkee et al., "A Comparison of Near-Concurrent Measurements From the SSMIS and CoSMIR for Some Selected Channels Over the Frequency Range of 50-183 GHz, The DMSP Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 923-933 (2008).

D. B. Kunkee et al., "Evaluation of Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) Environmental Data Records, The DMSP Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 1006-1016 (2008).

D. B. Kunkee et al., "Foreword to the Special Issue on the DMSP Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 859-861 (April 2008).

D. B. Kunkee et al., "Geolocation Error Analysis of the Special Sensor Microwave Image/Sounder," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 913-922 (April 2008).

D. B. Kunkee et al., "Intense Tropical Thunderstorms Detected by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder, The DMSP Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 996-1005 (2008).

D. B. Kunkee et al., "Intercalibration Between Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder and Special Sensor Microwave Imager, The DMSP Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 984-995 (2008).

D. B. Kunkee et al., "Observations of Tropical Cyclones With the SSMIS, The DMSP Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 901-912 (2008).

D. B. Kunkee et al., "The Assimilation of SSMIS Radiances in Numerical Weather Prediction Models, The DMSP Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 884-900 (2008).

D. B. Kunkee et al., "The DSMP Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, p. 177 (2008).

D. B. Kunkee, D. J. Boucher, Y. Hong, J. E. Wessel, et al., "Design and Evaluation of the First Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 863-883 (April 2008).

D.B. Kunkee, Y. Hong, D. A. Thompson, M. F. Werner, et al., "Analysis of the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) Fields-of-View on DMSP-16," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 934-945 (April 2008).

D. B. Kunkee, Y. Hong, M. F. Werner, et al., "Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS) Radiometric Calibration Anomalies. Part I. Identification and Characterization," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 1017-1033 (April 2008).

C. Lee et al., "Special Section: Selected Papers From the 7th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Grid Computing (Grid2006)," Future Generation Computer Systems—The International Journal of Grid Computing Theory Methods and Applications, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 402-403 (May 2008).

C. L. Lemon et al., "A Solar Wind Driven Model of Geosynchronous Plasma Moments," Advances in Space Research, Vol. 41, No. 8, pp. 1226-1233 (2008).

S. F. Liu et al., "The Geodesic Dome Phased Array Antenna for Satellite Operations Support—Antenna Resource Management," 2007 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, pp. 3161-3164 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

F. E. Livingston, L. F. Steffeney, and H. Helvajian, "Genotype-Inspired Laser Material Processing: A New Experimental Approach and Potential Applications to Protean Materials," Applied Physics A: Materials Science and Processing Laser Processing, Vol. 93, No. 1, pp. 75-83 (Oct. 2008).

D. Lynch, R. Rudy, R. L. Pearson, R. W. Russell, et al., "Metallicity and Effective Temperature of the Secondary of RS Ophiuchi," Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 485, No. 2, pp. 541-545 (2008).

V. N. Mahajan et al., "Orthonormal Polynomials for Hexagonal Pupils: Addendum," Optics Letters, Vol. 33, No. 10, p. 1077 (May 2008).

V. N. Mahajan et al., "Orthonormal Polynomials in Wavefront Analysis: Error Analysis," Applied Optics, Vol. 47, No. 19, pp. 3433-3445 (July 2008).

J. M. Martin, "Using Architecture Modeling to Assess the Societal Benefits of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)," 2008 IEEE International Systems Conference Proceedings, pp. 36-41 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

J. E. Mazur et al., "Abundances and Energy Spectra of Corotating Interaction Region Heavy Ions Observed During Solar Cycle 23," Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 678, No. 2, pp. 1458-1470 (May 2008).

E. J. McDonald, "Runtime FPGA Partial Reconfiguration," 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, p. 7 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

R. A. Monzingo, "Multipath Effects in GPS Receivers with Correlation Operations," 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, p. 6 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

S. Nagano, "Space Systems Verification Program and Management Process," Systems Engineering, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 27-38 (Winter 2008/2009).

T. R. Norton, K. A. Conner, R. K. Covington, H. V. Ngo, and C. M. Rink, "Development of Reprogrammable High Frame-Rate Detector Devices for Laser Communication Pointing, Acquisition and Tracking," 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, p. 7 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

R. P. Patera, "Space Event Detection Method," Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 554-559 (May-June 2008).

R. P. Patera, "Space Vehicle Conflict Probability for Ellipsoidal Conflict Volumes," Advances in the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 129, No. 3, pp. 2257-2272 (2008).

R. G. Pettit IV, "Increasing Confidence in Concurrent Software Through Architectural Analysis," 13th Ada-Europe International Conference on Reliable Software Technologies (Venice, Italy, 2008).

S. H. Raghavan, N. E. Feldman, S. Lim, and D. P. Olsen, "8175-8215 MHz MILSATCOM Band for the GOES-R PDU Signal and the 8025-8400 MHz Band for the SD: Downlink," 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, p. 9 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

J. A. Roden, S. L. Johns, and J. J. Sacchini, "An Improved Time-Domain Near-Field to Far-Field Transform in Two Dimensions," Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society Journal, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 1-4 (March 2008).

M. N. Ross, M. F. Werner, S. M. Mazuk, et al., "Infrared Imagery of the Space Shuttle at Hypersonic Entry Conditions," 46th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit (2008).

R. J. Rudy, R. L. Pearson, R. W. Russell, et al., "Metallicity and Effective Temperature of the Secondary of RS Ophiuchi," Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 485, No. 2, pp. 541-545 (July 2008).

R. W. Russell, R. J. Rudy, S. M Mazuk, C. C. Venturini, R. C. Puetter, et al., "Variability of Disk Emission in Pre-Main-Sequence and Related Stars. I. HD 31648 and HD 163296: Isolated Herbig Ae Stars Driving Herbig-Haro Flows," Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 678, No. 2, pp. 1070-1087 (May 2008).

J. N. Schulman et al., "Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging Module with Preamplified Zero-Bias Detection," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 56, No. 7, pp. 1592-1600 (2008).

R. Scrofano et al., "Accelerating Molecular Dynamics Simulations With Reconfigurable Computers," IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Vol. 19, No. 6, pp. 764-778 (June 2008).

R. Scrofano et al., "Area-Efficient Arithmetic Expression Evaluation Using Deeply Pipelined Floating-Point Cores," IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 167-176 (Feb. 2008).

Y. Sin, N. Presser, B. J. Foran, and S. C. Moss, "EBIC and HR-TEM Study of Catastrophic Optical Damaged High Power Multi-Mode InGaAs-AlGaAs Strained Quantum Well Lasers," 2008 Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference, p. 2 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

Y. Sin, N. Presser, B. J. Foran, and S. C. Moss, "Investigation of Catastrophic Degradation in High Power Multi-Mode InGaAs Strained Quantum Well Single Emitters," High-Power Diode Laser Technology and Applications VI (San Jose, CA, 2008).

K. Siri and M. A. Willhoff, "Independently-Sourced Series-Input Connected Converters with Uniform Current-Sharing," 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, p. 11 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

J. N. Tanzillo, C. B. Dunbar, et al., "Development of a Lasercom Testbed for the Pointing, Acquisition, and Tracking Subsystem of Satellite-to-Satellite Laser Communication Link," Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XX (San Jose, CA, 2008).

M. M. Tong, "Efficient Treatment of Gyroscopic Bodies in the Recursive Solution of Multibody Dynamics Equations," 6th International Conference on Multibody Systems, Nonlinear Dynamics and Control (Las Vegas, NV, 2007).

D. M. Tratt et al., "Promoting Robust Design of Diode Lasers for Space: A National Initiative," 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, pp. 1-9 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

D. M. Tratt, J. M. Neff, and A. Valinia, "Analysis of Laser Remote Sensing Technology Needs in the Earth Sciences: a Decadal-Scale Outlook," Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, Vol. 2, 023546, doi:10.1117/1.3036940, 2008.

D. M. Tratt, J. M. Neff, and A. Valinia, "NASA Laser Remote Sensing Technology Needs for Earth Science in the Next Decade and Beyond," Lidar Technologies, Techniques, and Measurements for Atmospheric Remote Sensing III (Florence, Italy, Sept. 17-19, 2007), Proc. SPIE, Vol. 6750, Art. 675016, doi:10.1117/12.740063, 2007.

E. L. Valles, "Constellation Design for Improved Iterative LDPC Decoding," 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, pp. 1-7 (Piscataway, NJ, 2008).

J. A. Vedda, "Challenges to the Sustainability of Space Exploration," Astropolitics, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 22-49 (Jan. 2008).

R. L. Walterscheid and D. G. Brinkman, "Spin-Down Circulation of High-Latitude Ion Drag-Driven Gyres," Journal of Geophysical Research—Space Physics, Vol. 113, No. A4 (April 2008).

B. H. Weiller et al., "Construction of a Polyaniline Nanofiber Gas Sensor," Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 85, No. 8, pp. 1102-1104 (Aug. 2008).

J. E. Wessel, R. W. Farley, A. A. Fote, Y. Hong, B. H. Thomas, D. J. Boucher, et al., "Calibration and Validation of DMSP SSMIS Lower Atmospheric Sounding Channels," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 946-961 (April 2008).

H. T. Yura et al., "Speckle Dynamics Resulting From Multiple Interfering Beams," Journal of the Optical Society of America A (Optics, Image Science and Vision), Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 318-326 (Feb. 2008).

M. A. Zurbuchen et al., "A Thin Film Approach to Engineering Functionality into Oxides," Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 91, No. 8, pp. 2429-2454 (Aug. 2008).

Patents

(May 2008–September 2008)

G. F. Hawkins, C. H. Tang, "Force Diversion Apparatus and Methods and Devices Including the Same," U.S. Patent No. 7,367,898, May 6, 2008.

There are many instances where it would be desirable to redirect or absorb forces during a collision. This invention provides a means of doing so through a system of machines configured to convert compression force to shear force and a layer of material that spreads the compression forces over the machines. The layer of material connected to the machines may also be configured to control the dynamic motion of the apparatus. An apparatus can be configured to impart a predetermined rotation to an object by including both a force conversion portion and a force spreading portion. Compression forces can be absorbed by converting at least some of them into shear forces while the object is in contact with the surface and simultaneously imparting a rotational force. This invention can be applied to protecting the body, protecting a vehicle (tanks, light vehicles, helicopters), or designing sports equipment (golf clubs).

M. J. O'Brien, B. A. Nelson, M. R. Hilton, "Ceramic Ball Bearing Acoustic Test Method," U.S. Patent No. 7,370,537, May 13, 2008.

Silicon-nitride hybrid bearings, which combine ceramic balls with steel races, have been proposed for satellite use to improve momentum control wheels and flywheels; however, the silicon-nitride balls have low tensile strength, which makes them vulnerable to cracking. Current inspection methods find it difficult to differentiate between cracked and uncracked material in ceramic. This invention proposes a new, more reliable way to test these balls for flaws. To run the test, the ball is placed between platens that have hemispherical sockets with radii equal to that of the ball, but which do not completely cover the ball when pressed together. The two platens are compressed, increasing the load upon the ball until a tensile hoop stress develops at the equator that is intense enough to cause any preexisting crack or flaw to grow, generating acoustical emissions that are monitored by a microphone. If no crack growth is detected through acoustical emissions, an upper bound can be placed on the maximum possible size of a crack or flaw that might be present. The test method is specialized for testing small bearings.

R. B. Dybdal, M. A. Rolenz, "Method of Determining Communications Link Quality Employing Beacon Signals," U.S. Patent No. 7,373,105, May 13, 2008.

This method of determining communication link quality involves providing communication satellites with beacon transmitters and users with a real-time display of link performance. The beacons transmit two types of signals—a stable, continuous wave tone that provides a reference signal level, and a coded waveform. The user's equipment processes the two signals to provide a real-time determination of link impairments and, from this, a determination of the type and quality of service that is available to the user. The communications device determines link loss, scintillation effects, Doppler offsets, and noise and interference levels, and controls the transmitter signal level so that each user has an equitable share of the satellite's downlink transmitter. With this added functionality, the user can understand the limitations of the existing communication capabilities and user transmission levels are controlled to reduce the dynamic range of signals received and processed by the satellite, thereby increasing system effectiveness.

R. Kumar, "Power Controlled Fading Communication Channel System," U.S. Patent No. 7,373,168, May 13, 2008.

Existing closed-loop power control algorithms in the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Universal Mobile Telephone System ignore the round-trip delay incurred in the measurement of the received signal power. This assumption of zero round-trip delay may be valid when the delay is negligible, but not in the case of satellite channels. Any power control algorithm based on a zero delay assumption will not have satisfactory performance, resulting in interrupted communication, and may result in a drastic reduction in the capacity of the CDMA system. This invention provides a system for improving the reception of communication signals and to maximize the system capacity by adjusting the power level of a transmitted signal by predicting the amount of fading in a fading channel. A power-control algorithm accounts for the propagation delay by including an adaptive nonlinear predictor. The fading channel power gain is modeled in terms of a parameterized nonlinear model with memory. The model parameters are adaptively estimated by a recursive least-squares algorithm, from which a power controller derives the required prediction of the channel power gain and the requisite transmitted power level.

W. E. Lillo, "Dual Code Spread Spectrum Communication System," U.S. Patent No. 7,397,840, July 8, 2008.

Spreading codes have long been used to isolate channel signals so that only receivers with predetermined codes can receive them. This invention relates to use of multiple correlated codes for demodulating a single spread spectrum signal, allowing for different levels of access to different users. Some of the receivers get the channel signal first using one spreading code, and others get it later using a second spreading code. The first group of receivers generate a replica of the first spreading code, and the second group generate replicas of the first and second spreading code. Thus, all of the receivers correlate the first channel signal during a first time period, but only a portion of the receivers fully correlate the second channel signal during the second time period. In this manner, the first message is communicated in the first channel signal to all of the receivers, while a second message is communicated in the second channel signal to only a subset of all of the receivers. Hence, the broadcast communication system can be used for sending secret messages to certain receivers at one time and for sending public messages to the entire group at another time.

R. Kumar, "Generalized Polyphase Channelization System," U.S. Patent No. 7,403,577, July 22, 2008.

This invention describes a digital channelizer for channelizing a broadband input signal into a number K of channel signals using a complex mixer for converting the input signal into a complex baseband signal, an analog-to-digital converter, a bank of filter blocks, and a bank of FFT (fast Fourier transform) processors. The sampling rate of the individual channels is equal to 1/M times the sampling rate of the broadband signal where M is the decimation factor. The invented architecture deals with the case wherein K is higher than M, and one is not an integer multiple of the other, and permits allocation of seamless band comprised of multiple channels to a single user while avoiding any distortion due to the channelization process. The architecture is computationally very efficient as the number of computations increases only logarithmically with K. For broadband signals, such computational requirements may be one of the dominant factors in determining the overall cost, weight, and power requirements of a satellite system.

M. H. Abraham, H. Helvajian, S. W. Janson, "Laser Assisted Chemical Etching Method for Release Microscale and Nanoscale Devices," U.S. Patent No. 7,419,915, Sept. 2, 2008.

The global market for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanotechnology is greater than $8 billion per year. Most MEMS fabrication techniques are time-consuming and expensive, and do not lend themselves to nanoscale devices. This invention provides a method for creating buried patterned films in bulk material using a focused ion beam or a broad-area ion beam and a mask. It uses laser-assisted chemical etching for etching bulk silicon from a patterned buried film. More specifically, a laser is used to precisely heat an area about a buried film so that the localized heat enhances the chemical etching of the substrate for releasing nanoscale patterned structures that exist in or on the silicon wafer. Devices can be fabricated with microscale or nanoscale dimensions using implanted ions; resolution is defined by the ion-beam implant pattern resolution and dose. The resulting thicknesses are on the order of thousands of angstroms and may be patterned by lithography or by direct write with a focused ion beam. The method can be scaled up for mass production.

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