The invention concerns an article comprising a nanolaminate coating, wherein the nanolaminate coating has a total thickness ranging from 20 to 500 nm and comprises at least one pair of layers constituted of adjacent first and second layers and a minimum of three layers, said first layer being an inorganic silica layer obtained by evaporation of silicon oxide, especially evaporation of SiO.sub.2, and the second layer being a silicon-based organic-inorganic layer obtained by deposition of an organosilicon compound or a mixture of organosilicon compounds under plasma or ionic assistance, and wherein the refractive index of the nanolaminate coating as a whole is lower than 1.58 at 550 nm.

A method for planning a beam path for material deposition is provided in which a structure pattern having features of varying size is analyzed to determine the size of each feature. A beam path throughout the structure pattern is determined and the beam current required for each point in the structure pattern is configured. Configuring the beam current required for each point involves determining the acceptable beam dose for that point. Relatively small features require a low beam current for high accuracy and relatively large features can be formed using a higher beam current allowing faster deposition. Each feature in the structure pattern is deposited at the highest beam current acceptable to allow accurate deposition of the feature.

The present application relates to a method for permanently repairing defects of absent material of a photolithographic mask, comprising the following steps: (a) providing at least one carbon-containing precursor gas and at least one oxidizing agent at a location to be repaired of the photolithographic mask; (b) initiating a reaction of the at least one carbon-containing precursor gas with the aid of at least one energy source at the location of absent material in order to deposit material at the location of absent material, wherein the deposited material comprises at least one reaction product of the reacted at least one carbon-containing precursor gas; and (c) controlling a gas volumetric flow rate of the at least one oxidizing agent in order to minimize a carbon proportion of the deposited material.

The process for producing an orthopedic implant having an integrated silicon nitride surface layer includes steps for positioning the orthopedic implant inside a vacuum chamber, mixing nitrogen gas and vaporized silicon atoms in the vacuum chamber, emitting a relatively high energy beam into the mixture of nitrogen gas and vaporized silicon atoms in the vacuum chamber to cause a gas-phase reaction between the nitrogen gas and the vaporized silicon atoms to form reacted precipitate silicon nitride molecules, and driving the precipitate silicon nitride molecules with the same beam into an outer surface of the orthopedic implant at a relatively high energy such that the precipitate silicon nitride molecules implant therein and form at least a part of the molecular structure of the outer surface of the orthopedic implant, thereby forming the integrated silicon nitride surface layer.

In one embodiment, an apparatus to selectively deposit a carbon layer on substrate, comprising a plasma chamber to receive a flow of carbon-containing gas; a power source to generate a plasma containing the carbon-containing gas in the plasma chamber; an extraction plate to extract an ion beam from the plasma and direct the ion beam to the substrate, the ion beam comprising ions having trajectories forming a non-zero angle of incidence with respect to a perpendicular to a plane of the substrate, the extraction plate further configured to conduct a neutral species derived from the carbon-containing gas to the substrate; and a substrate stage facing the extraction plate and including a heater to heat the substrate to a first temperature, when the ion beam and carbon-containing species impinge on the substrate.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: preparing a stepped structure being arranged on a substrate, the stepped structure including a first region and a second region, a height of the stepped structure of the second region being lower than a height of the stepped structure of the first region; and etching the first region and the second region of the stepped structure by irradiating the first region and the second region with an ion beam, an irradiation amount of the ion beam irradiating the first region is larger than an irradiation amount of the ion beam irradiating the second region.

The disclosed methods and apparatus improve the fabrication of solid fibers and microstructures. In many embodiments, the fabrication is from gaseous, solid, semi-solid, liquid, critical, and supercritical mixtures using one or more low molar mass precursor(s), in combination with one or more high molar mass precursor(s). The methods and systems generally employ the thermal diffusion/Soret effect to concentrate the low molar mass precursor at a reaction zone, where the presence of the high molar mass precursor contributes to this concentration, and may also contribute to the reaction and insulate the reaction zone, thereby achieving higher fiber growth rates and/or reduced energy/heat expenditures together with reduced homogeneous nucleation. In some embodiments, the invention also relates to the permanent or semi-permanent recording and/or reading of information on or within fabricated fibers and microstructures. In some embodiments, the invention also relates to the fabrication of certain functionally-shaped fibers and microstructures. In some embodiments, the invention may also utilize laser beam profiling to enhance fiber and microstructure fabrication.

The present invention relates to an information storage medium and a method for long-term storage of information comprising the steps of: providing a ceramic substrate; coating the ceramic substrate with a layer of a second material different from the material of the ceramic substrate, the layer having a thickness no greater than 10 ?m; tempering the coated ceramic substrate to form a writable plate or disc; encoding information on the writable plate or disc by using a laser and/or a focused particle beam to manipulate localized areas of the writable plate or disc.

The invention relates to a method of applying an anti-reflective coating to an optical surface of a mold, including providing a lens mold having an optical surface, forming a deposition layer of a fluoride or oxide material to the optical surface of the lens mold, forming a layer of a hydrophobic material over the deposition layer, wherein the hydrophobic material contains an amount of dipodal silane that is a relative percentage of the hydrophobic material, forming a first layer of SiO.sub.2 with a thickness of 5-40 nm over the layer of the hydrophobic material, forming an anti-reflective coating layered structure over the first layer of SiO.sub.2, and forming a layer of a silane coupling agent that is deposited with a monolayer thickness to the anti-reflective coating layered structure using vapor deposition under aprotic conditions or by dip coating using a solution of silane coupling agent in an aprotic solvent.

Methods of forming structures using a neutral beam, structures formed using a neutral beam, and reactor systems for forming the structures are disclosed. The neutral beam can be used to provide activated species during deposition of a layer and/or to provide activated species to treat a deposited layer.