Abstract: A method for etching a chromium layer in a vacuum chamber which may comprise introducing a halogen compound into the vacuum chamber, directing an electron beam onto the area of the chromium layer to be etched and/or introducing an oxygen including compound into the vacuum chamber. A further method for the highly resolved removal of a layer out of metal and/or metal oxide which may be arranged on an isolator or a substrate having poor thermal conductivity, may comprise arranging the layer inside a vacuum chamber, bombarding the layer with a focused electron beam with an energy of 3-30 keV, wherein the electron beam may be guided such that the energy transfer per time and area causes a localized heating of the layer above its melting and/or vaporization point and wherein the removal of the layer may be performed without the supply of reaction gases into the vacuum chamber.

Abstract: The invention refers to a procedure for etching of materials at the surface by focussed electron beam induced chemical reactions at said surface. The invention is characterized in that in a vacuum atmosphere the material which is to be etched is irradiated with at least one beam of molecules, at least one beam of photons and at least one beam of electrons, whereby the irradiated material and the molecules of the beam of molecules are excited in a way that a chemical reaction predetermined by said material and said molecules composition takes place and forms a reaction product and said reaction product is removed from the material surface—irradiation and removal step.

Abstract: A material processing system for processing a work piece is provided. The material processing is effected by supplying a reactive gas and energetic radiation for activation of the reactive gas to a surrounding of a location of the work piece to be processed. The radiation is preferably provided by an electron microscope. An objective lens of the electron microscope is preferably disposed between a detector of the electron microscope and the work piece. A gas supply arrangement of the material processing system comprises a valve disposed spaced apart from the processing location, a gas volume between the valve and a location of emergence of the reaction gas being small. The gas supply arrangement further comprises a temperature-adjusted, especially cooled reservoir for accommodating a starting material for the reactive gas.

Abstract: This invention provides an alternative source of ahas and pds nucleic acids for plant transformation and selection. In particular, the invention provides ahas and pds nucleic acids from cyanobacteria, for example, Synechocystis, and expression elements of these genes for control of expression in plastids. The invention further provides nucleic acids encoding the acetolactate synthase (ahas) large subunit and the ahas small subunit which were found to provide herbicide resistance to plants. The present invention also provides a novel Synechocystis mutant phytoene desaturase (PDS) gene conferring resistance to 4?-fluoro-6-[(alpha, alpha, alpha,-trfluoro-m-tolyl)oxy]-picolinamide, a bleaching herbicide. The present invention provides improved methods involving cyanobacteria for the screening of compounds, including a new high throughput protocol that is a rapid and cost effective way to identify target site genes.

Abstract: A process of generating transgenic plants or plant cells transformed on their plastome, comprising (a) introducing into plant plastids a first DNA molecule and a second DNA molecule, wherein said first DNA molecule contains a first region homologous to a region of the plastome for directing plastome integration and a first sequence of interest, and said second DNA molecule contains a second region homologous to a region of the plastome for directing plastome integration and a second sequence of interest, whereby a sequence segment of said first sequence of interest is homologous to a sequence segment of said second sequence of interest, and selecting transformants having an integration sequence stably integrated in the plastome, whereby said integration sequence contains at least a portion of said first and at least a portion of said second sequence of interest as a continuous sequence.

Abstract: A material processing system for processing a work piece is provided. The material processing is effected by supplying a reactive gas and energetic radiation for activation of the reactive gas to a surrounding of a location of the work piece to be processed. The radiation is preferably provided by an electron microscope. An objective lens of the electron microscope is preferably disposed between a detector of the electron microscope and the work piece. A gas supply arrangement of the material processing system comprises a valve disposed spaced apart from the processing location, a gas volume between the valve and a location of emergence of the reaction gas being small. The gas supply arrangement further comprises a temperature-adjusted, especially cooled reservoir for accommodating a starting material for the reactive gas.

Abstract: A method for etching a chromium layer in a vacuum chamber which may comprise introducing a halogen compound into the vacuum chamber, directing an electron beam onto the area of the chromium layer to be etched and/or introducing an oxygen including compound into the vacuum chamber. A further method for the highly resolved removal of a layer out of metal and/or metal oxide which may be arranged on an isolator or a substrate having poor thermal conductivity, may comprise arranging the layer inside a vacuum chamber, bombarding the layer with a focused electron beam with an energy of 3-30 keV, wherein the electron beam may be guided such that the energy transfer per time and area causes a localized heating of the layer above its melting and/or vaporization point and wherein the removal of the layer may be performed without the supply of reaction gases into the vacuum chamber.

Abstract: The invention relates to a procedure for etching of materials at the surface by focussed electron beam induced chemical reaction at the surface, with the following steps: a) in a vacuum atmosphere the material which is to be etched is irradiated with at least one beam of molecules and at least one first beam of electrons, whereby the irradiated material and the molecules of the beam of molecules are excited in a way that a chemical reaction takes place and forms a reaction product, which is not gaseous/not volatile—reaction step. The invention is characterized in that b) the reaction product is evaporated from said surface by an second beam of electrons, which heats the material locally to a temperature above the vaporisation temperature of the reaction product —removal step—.

Abstract: A telecommunication system having frequency-dividing optical components where light pulses having different frequencies are coupled out of a optical fiber by fiber grating and/or photonic crystals and imaged by focusing elements outside of the optical fiber. The fiber grating for different frequencies can be used in a single period or in different periods disposed one after the other. The photonic crystals can be used at the optical fiber extremity or etched in a channel or trench in a glass fiber. Delay elements are added to ensure that different frequency light pulses are imaged simultaneously in a given and desired time relation as required for further parallel processing.

Abstract: An optical multipath switch with electrically switchable photonic crystals.The invention involves the construction of optical multipath switches based on electrically switchable photonic crystals.A filled photonic crystal, switchable electrically and/or by light, is used as a tunable mirror. By creating selective optical deformations in the photonic crystal, its properties can be influenced in selected areas in terms of transmission capability. This is done preferably by application of a strong electrical field. Light is coupled in and out via fixed photonic mirrors located at an angle to the photonic crystal.The optical switches of the invention find application in switching networks and serve the purpose of service selection. A very high packing density may be achieved.

Abstract: A method for mechanically stabilizing and for tuning a filter having a photonic crystal structureThe cavities of the filter fabricated as a photonic crystal structure are filled with optically transparent material having an adjustable refractive index. The optical properties of the filter and, thus, the filtering action are adjusted by way of an electric field having a variable field strength.It is possible to produce small-dimensioned, narrow-band filter elements, which are finely tunable and tunable within a broad range, and to realize them as filter elements which are integrated with a high packaging density.

Abstract: A digital memory element having three miniaturized electron tubes, which is faster and smaller by at least one further order of magnitude than known digital memory elements, can be produced through conventional and additive lithography. The digital memory element is a small memory capacitor linked to the anode of a write-in tube, to the cathode of an erase tube, and to a deflection element of a read-out tube which deflects an electron beam, in dependence upon the charge state, to one of two detectors.

Abstract: An improved charged-particle beam optical apparatus for the irradiation of a specimen in a two-dimensional pattern having first areas which are unexposed to the particle beam and are surrounded at least almost entirely by second areas which are exposed to the beam. The improvement of the invention comprises a mask disposed in the path of the beam which is uniformly irradiated by the beam and has apertures disposed therein in an arrangement corresponding to the two-dimensional pattern. A support grid comprising a plurality of spaced-apart, parallel strip members is disposed beneath the mask and at least in engagement with the portions thereof which correspond to the unexposed areas of the two-dimensional pattern. Deflection means laterally deflect the image of the mask and the strip members projected onto the specimen in a direction approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the strip members at least through a distance which is equal to the width of the strip members.