Abstract: The present invention relates to the electrodeposition and photochemical deposition of one or more material layer that protects metal surfaces from unwanted redox reactions. The deposited layer materials are composed of silicon oxide prepared in the presence of tetraalkylammonium shape directing agent. The deposited layer can be cathodically electrodeposited onto a metallic material. The deposition results in a uniform and acid-tolerant thin layer (15 nm-100 nm), which functions as a membrane to prevent dissolved gaseous reactants and various ions from penetrating. The silicon oxide protection layer also prevents corrosion underneath the layer. In the present invention, a process for producing these membranes is disclosed, with an example exhibiting the selective hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) excluding the reaction of coexisting redox ions and oxygen (corrosion inhibition).

Abstract: A programmable logic device (PLD) in a microprocessor system is programmed with minimal load on system resources. A microprocessor reads programming data from a first memory using a parallel bussed interface and writes the programming data to a programming hardware assist engine using the parallel bussed interface. The programming hardware assist engine directs a portion of the programming data to a specified serial interface signal, and outputs a serial bit stream from the programming hardware assist engine to a serial programming interface of the PLD using the specified serial interface signal.