The monolithic integration of micromechanical devices with their controlling electronics offers potential increases in performance as well as decreases in cost for these devices. Analog Devices has demonstrated the commercial viability of this integration by interleaving the micromechanical fabrication steps of an accelerometer with the microelectronic fabrication steps of its controlling electronics. Sandia`s Microelectronics Development Laboratory has integrated the micromechanical and microelectronic processing sequences in a segregated fashion. In this CMOS-first, micromechanics-last approach, conventional aluminum metallization is replaced by tungsten metallization to allow CMOS to withstand subsequent high-temperature processing during the micromechanical fabrication. This approach is a further development of an approach originally developed at UC Berkeley. Specifically, the issues of yield, repeatability, and uniformity of the tungsten/CMOS approach are addressed. Also, material issues related to the development of high-temperature diffusion barriers, adhesion layers, and low-stress films are discussed. Processing and material issues associated with alternative approaches to this integration such as micromechanics- first, CMOS-last or the interleaved process are also discussed.

One of the major problems in three-dimensional (3-D) field computation is visualizing the resulting 3-D field distributions. A virtual-reality environment, such as the CAVE, (CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment) is helping to overcome this problem, thus making the results of computation more usable for designers and users of magnets and other electromagnetic devices. As a demonstration of the capabilities of the CAVE, the elliptical multipole wiggler (EMW), an insertion device being designed for the Advanced Photon Source (APS) now being commissioned at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), wa made visible, along with its fields and beam orbits. Other uses of the CAVE in preprocessing and postprocessing computation for electromagnetic applications are also discussed.

The application of laser ablation technology to the decontamination of radioactive metals, particularly the surfaces of equipment, is discussed. Included is information related to the design, capital and operating costs, and effectiveness of laser ablation technology, based on commercial excimer and Nd:YAG lasers, for the decontamination of production scale equipment.

A consortium of United States utility concerns led by the Southern California Edison Company (SCE) is conducting a cooperative project with the US Department of Energy (DOE), Sandia National Laboratories, and industry to convert the 10-MW Solar One Power Tower Pilot Plant to molten nitrate salt technology. The conversion involves installation of a new receiver, a new thermal storage system, and a new steam generator; it utilizes Solar One`s heliostat field and turbine generator. Successful operation of the converted plant, called Solar Two, will reduce economic risks in building initial commercial power tow projects and accelerate the commercial acceptance of this promising renewable energy technology. The estimated cost of Solar Two, including its three-year test period, is $48.5 million. The plant will begin operation in early 1996.

A high field quality in interaction region quadrupoles is crucial to the luminosity performance of high energy colliders such as the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The field quality in magnets is limited in part by manufacturing tolerances in the parts and assembly. A tuning shim method has been developed to reduce the relative field errors ({Delta}B/B) from {approximately}10{sup {minus}4} to {approximately}10{sup {minus}5} at 2/3 of the coil radius. Eight tuning shims having a variable thickness of iron are inserted after the construction and measurement of field harmonics in the magnet. In this paper the tuning shim technique is described for RHIC interaction region quadrupoles. The results of calculations and measurement are also presented.