Abstract: Copper oxide films can be reduced to copper with an atmospheric pressure argon and hydrogen plasma at temperatures between 25 and 300° C. A 50-nm-thick CuO layer on a Cu-coated Si wafer, 200 mm in diameter, can be fully reduced by the plasma in 200 seconds at 200° C. The activation energy for the reaction can be approximately 3.7 kcal/mol. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy can show the copper oxide reduced to metallic copper.

Abstract: A system for maintaining inventory in a retail store may comprise multiple wireless readers. The multiple wireless readers may be distributed throughout the retail store so that every location within a coverage area of the system is within boundaries of at least two wireless readers. Each of the multiple wireless readers may be configured to send polling requests to tags within the coverage area, read responses from the tags, the responses identifying the respective tags, and send identities of the tags to a remote server.

Abstract: The present invention generally relates to permitting an intended recipient to access snail mail in electronic format. A third party retrieves the snail mail and then converts the snail mail into electronic files. The electronic files are then made available to the intended recipient over the internet. The electronic files are digital images of each envelope as well as the contents of each envelope. The contents are associated with the envelope from which the contents are retrieved. If desired, the intended recipient can select a desired image resolution or quality. The intended recipient can select which envelopes to view based upon the day and also based upon the class of mail.