NATO Science Partnership Subseries 3: High Technology – serie

In this text, specialists in silicon-on-insulator technology from both East and West meet, giving the reader the chance to become acquainted with work from the former Soviet Union, hitherto only available in Russian and barely available to western scientists. Keynote lectures and state-of-the-art presentations give a wide-ranging panorama of the challenges posed by SOI materials and devices, material fabrication techniques, characterization, device and circuit issues.

Bioremediation - the use of microorganisms for environmental clean-up - is a technology that is experiencing a rapid phase of development. The authors of this text an understanding of the current progress and limitations of technologies that are designed to help nature herself. The book draws together many different aspects of environmental remediation: the environmental engineer is introduced to the bacteria of contaminated environments and the ideas developing from genetic engineering; the environmental microbiologist can grasp site assessment and the predictive kinetic analysis of potentials. The book provides an introduction to the nature of and potential for bioremediation to contribute to a critical global effort in eliminating contamination of the world's resources and to start to reverse decades of environmental mismanagement and neglect.

This study focuses on the development and application of computer models for the analysis of various solid materials at the atomic, molecular and macroscopic levels. Many of the papers incorporate environmental effects in the computer models, including space effects such as atomic oxygen, radiation, charged ions, microparticle impacts, temperature and photoexcitation. To better understand the topics covered and their interaction with the various elements presented, the book incorporates a flowchart detailing the contents of the papers and their relationship to the subject areas. The three main sections of the book cover: atomic and molecular processes; electronic structure and processes; and structure and properties.

Discussing some key scientific and technological developments in high performance computing, identifying significant trends, and defining desirable research objectives, this text covers general concepts and emerging systems, software technology, algorithms and applications. Coverage includes hardware, software tools, networks and numerical methods, new computer architectures, and a discussion of future trends. Beyond purely scientific/engineering computing, the book extends to coverage of enterprise-wide, commercial applications, including papers on performance and scalability of database servers and Oracle DBM systems. Most papers are research level, but some are suitable for computer literate managers and technicians, making the book useful to users of commercial parallel computers.

The study of high critical temperature superconductors (HTS) is one of the most prominent research subjects in solid state science. An understanding of the role of fluctuations is also believed to be necessary in advance of technological applications, since the fluctuations may destroy the superconducting state. The discussions focus on: superconducting fluctuations in the vicinity of the critical transitions; superconductivity fluctuations near the percolation transition; and fluctuations of the vortex lattice at the lattice melting temperature. The effects of fluctuations on static properties and on electrical and thermal transport, properties in the ab plane and along the c axis, the effect of a magnetic field on phenomena, specifically in layered compounds are still undecided. The effect of a magnetic field is still not clear. Specific fluctuations of the vortex lattice in HTS ceramics as compared to conventional superconductors are still intensely debated.

This work contains 16 papers dealing with the failure of structures and components subjected to cyclic loading, ranging from detailed theoretical analyses of particular topics to very broad surveys of particular applications.

The materials dealt with in this volume include wood, concrete, various metals, composites, ceramics, and porous geological media. Obviously, the properties and serviceability of such materials vary widely, and an almost universal theme in their testing is that the properties depend on the scale at which the analysis or observation is made. At each scale, "probability" plays an important role, where the word "probability" is used in a wider sense than the classical one. The book begins with a review of progress over recent years, identifying key questions that remain open. One point is how to observe/measure material properties at different scales, and whether a probabilistic approach, at each scale, is always applicable and advantageous. Obstacles to the identification of a universal approach include the wide range of materials and the diversity of applications. The hierarchical nature of materials and implications for modelling, testing and application are discussed extensively. Most contributions present both experimental and analytical/numerical results. A few are purely theoretical, and some are purely numerical.

This text covers the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop which is devoted to the technical aspects of advanced interconnections and microassembly and also includes papers on the education issues needed to prepare students for work in these areas. The future direction that such technologies may take is also dealt with. The basic issue is that the miniaturization of electronic systems continues, and performance must continue to improve. The newest packages are often based on the selection of an appropriate interconnection method. Advances in chip-scale, chip-flip, and direct chip attachments are described. Although wire bonding currently dominates the market, the consensus is that flip chip interconnection will rapidly increase its market share. Tape automated bonding is also discussed, primarily for special applications. Solder metallurgy and flip chip production technology receive attention in several papers. Solderability, reliability and fatigue of the joints are modelled, and mechanical stresses resulting from temperature cycling are reported. Multichip module and thick-film hybrid substrate interconnections are reported in several papers.These include thick and thin film metals, as well as low temperature polymer inks. Several papers describe diffusion and other metallurgical interactions in thick film surfaces.