Manufacturing technology: A Sandia technology bulletin

This bulletin describes innovative manufacturing technologies being developed at Sandia National Laboratories. Topics in this issue include: new techniques to overcome barriers to large scale fabrication of vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), variability reduction in plasma etching of microcircuits, using neural networks to evaluate effectiveness of flux-cleaning methods and alternative fluxes for printed circuit boards, ion implantation to increase the strength and wear resistance of aluminium, and a collaborative project to improve processing of thin-section welded assemblies. (GH)