Short Courses at UC Riverside June 23-24

In conjunction with the 68th Annual Physical Electronics Conference at UC Riverside, the SCCAVS will be offering the following 4 short courses:

- Operation and Maintenance of Production Vacuum Systems
- Sputter Deposition
- Surface Analysis, Interface and Thin Film Analysis: The Major Methods
- Analysis of Residual Gas Analyzer Spectra

For more information, please visit the following link:
http://www.sccavs.org/sccavsshortcourses08.html

Single-Crystal Semiconductor in an Optical Fiber

They came up with a device that will add new electronic capabilities to optical fibers. They managed to grow a single-crystal semiconductor inside the tunnel of a hollow optical fiber. If you would like to know more about this device, the article is in "Advanced Materials" vol. 20, Issue 6.

Strange Matter Exhibit

There is an exhibit "on tour" that your little ones, or yourself, might find interesting. It is called "Strange Matter Exhibit". It is currently in San Diego and Seattle. For more details, the website is www.strangematterexhibit.com.

New ASTM Tribology Manual

For the ones interested in tribology, ASTM has a new publication. It is manual 56 "Guide to Friction, Wear, and Erosion Testing".

Cars made of Biomaterials

I was glad to read today that it appears there are some advantages to the price of oil going up. The automobile industry is trying to lower their use of petroleum-based plastics and composites; to replace them with biomaterials which are lighter and "greener". A lighter car consumes less fuel, a greener car generates less carbon dioxide. It is reported that substituting 1 tonne of conventional plastics with its "bio" equivalent eliminates 3 tonnes of carbon dioxide. WOW! It is predicted that in 2015, each car will have approximately 200 pounds of biomaterials... I am telling you, the "organic" car is just around the corner :)