Sandia Corporation

John E Parmeter

Randy J Shul

Kevin L Linker

Carol I Ashby

Albert G Baca

Charles A Brusseau

David W Hannum

Peter Esherick

Dennis J Rieger

Jerry D Davis

A system for detecting particles on the outer surface of a vehicle has a housing capable of being placed in a test position adjacent to, but not in contact with, a portion of the outer surface of the vehicle. An elongate sealing member is fastened to the housing along a perimeter surrounding the wall, and the elongate sealing member has a contact surface facing away from the wall to contact the outer surface of the vehicle to define a test volume when the wall is in the test position. A gas flow system has at least one gas inlet extending through the wall for providing a gas stream against the surface of the vehicle within the test volume. This gas stream, which preferably is air, dislodges particles from the surface of the vehicle covered by the housing. The gas stream exits the test volume through a gas outlet and particles in the stream are detected.

Explosives screening on a vehicle surface

A method for dry etching of transition metals. The method for dry etching of a transition metal (or a transition metal alloy such as a silicide) on a substrate comprises providing at least one nitrogen- or phosphorous-containing .pi.-acceptor ligand in proximity to the transition metal, and etching the transition metal to form a volatile transition metal/.pi.-acceptor ligand complex. The dry etching may be performed in a plasma etching system such as a reactive ion etching (RIE) system, a downstream plasma etching system (i.e. a plasma afterglow), a chemically-assisted ion beam etching (CAIBE) system or the like. The dry etching may also be performed by generating the .pi.-acceptor ligands directly from a ligand source gas (e.g. nitrosyl ligands generated from nitric oxide), or from contact with energized particles such as photons, electrons, ions, atoms, or molecules. In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, an intermediary reactant species such as carbonyl or a halide ligand is used for an initial chemical reaction with the transition metal, with the intermediary reactant species being replaced at least in part by the .pi.-acceptor ligand for forming the volatile transition metal/.pi.-acceptor ligand complex.

Method for dry etching of transition metals

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Albuquerque, NM, United States of America

John E Parmeter