Abstract: A microwave cooking appliance performs controlled beverage warming using a temperature sensor to capture a thermal image of a beverage in a cooking cavity. One or more sensing locations within the thermal image that are suitable for determining the temperature of the beverage are determined in part by ordering temperature readings from the thermal image by temperature to determine a temperature function and then determining locations in the thermal image that correspond to the beverage by calculating a derivative function over at least a portion of the temperature function.

Abstract: Methods for magnetically enhanced physical vapor deposition are disclosed. The methods include providing a magnetically enhanced vapor deposition device defining a vapor deposition chamber, having a magnetic field source proximate a magnetron target that is positioned within the vapor deposition chamber and coupled to a power source, and having a substrate holder positioned within the vapor deposition chamber, placing a substrate in the substrate holder, activating the magnetic field source to provide a magnetic field that controls a charged particle flux within the physical vapor deposition chamber, and activating the power source thereby depositing a few-layer film of the material comprising the magnetron target onto the substrate. The few-layer film may be a transition metal dichalcogenide, such as MoS2.