E-beam Technology Research Articles

Ebeam Technology - Transfer Technology for Pre-Sterilized RTU Components.

With increased demand on sealed packed, pre-sterilized ready-to-use (RTU) components like Syringes & Vials, the ebeam technology is used as transfer technology with surface decontamination for transfer of the RTU in a GRADE A environment like an Isolator.

Investigations of In2O3 Added SiC Semiconductive Thin Films and Manufacture of a Heterojunction Diode

This study involved direct doping of In2O3 into silicon carbide (SiC) powder, resulting in 8.0 at% In-doped SiC powder. Subsequently, heating at 500 °C was performed to form a target, followed by the utilization of electron beam (e-beam) technology to deposit the In-doped SiC thin films with the thickness of approximately 189.8 nm. The first breakthrough of this research was the successful deposition of using e-beam technology. The second breakthrough involved utilizing various tools to analyze the physical and electrical properties of In-doped SiC thin films. Hall effect measurement was used to measure the resistivity, mobility, and carrier concentration and confirm its n-type semiconductor nature. The uniform dispersion of In ions in SiC was as confirmed by electron microscopy energy-dispersive spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry analyses. The Tauc Plot method was employed to determine the Eg values of pure SiC and In-doped SiC thin films. Semiconductor parameter analyzer was used to measure the conductivity and the I-V characteristics of devices in In-doped SiC thin films. Furthermore, the third finding demonstrated that In2O3-doped SiC thin films exhibited remarkable current density. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Gaussian-resolved spectra further confirmed a significant relationship between conductivity and oxygen vacancy concentration. Lastly, depositing these In-doped SiC thin films onto p-type silicon substrates etched with buffered oxide etchant resulted in the formation of heterojunction p-n junction. This junction exhibited the rectifying characteristics of a diode, with sample current values in the vicinity of 102 mA, breakdown voltage at approximately −5.23 V, and open-circuit voltage around 1.56 V. This underscores the potential of In-doped SiC thin films for various semiconductor devices.

Mitigating Gas Evolution in Electron Beam-Induced Gel Polymer Electrolytes Through Bi-Functional Cross-Linkable Additives.

The current high-capacity lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), reliant on flammable liquid electrolytes (LEs) and nickel-rich cathodes, are plagued by safety hazards, especially the risk of hazardous gas release stemming from internal side reactions. To address these safety concerns, an electron beam (E-beam)-induced gel polymer electrolyte (E-Gel) is introduced, employing dipentaerythritol hexaacrylate (DPH) as a bi-functional cross-linkable additive (CIA). The dual roles of DPH are exploited through a strategically designed E-beam irradiation process. Applying E-beam irradiation on the pre-cycled cells allows DPH to function as an additive during the initial cycle, establishing a protective layer on the surface of the anode and cathode and as a cross-linker during the E-beam irradiation step, forming a polymer framework. The prepared E-Gel with CIA has superior interfacial compatibility, facilitating lithium-ion diffusion at the electrode/E-Gel interface. The electrochemical assessment of 1.2 Ah pouch cells demonstrates that E-Gel substantially reduces gas release by 2.5 times compared to commercial LEs during the initial formation stage and ensures superior reversible capacity retention even after prolonged cycling at 55°C. The research underscores the synergy of bifunctional CIA with E-beam technology, paving the way for large-scale production of safe, high-capacity, and commercially viable LIBs.

Applicability of Electron Beam Technology for the Degradation of Microcystin-LR in Surface Waters.

Studies were performed to investigate the effects of surface water quality parameters on the degradation of microcystin-LR (MC-LR) using high-energy electron beam (eBeam) technology. Surface water samples were collected across different geographic locations in the United States. Water quality parameters including pH, alkalinity, TDS, and dissolved oxygen were measured in all samples. Degradation of MC-LR in all samples, regardless of parameter concentrations, was above 99%. The effect of natural organic matter (NOM) on MC-LR degradation was also investigated in the presence of fulvic acid. Similarly, the degradation efficiency of MC-LR exceeded 99% for all concentrations of fulvic acid at 5 kGy. This study suggests that surface water quality has a negligible effect on the degradation of MC-LR via eBeam treatment. The results indicate that eBeam technology is a promising technique for the treatment of water contaminated with microcystins.

Correlations on the Structure and Properties of Collagen Hydrogels Produced by E-Beam Crosslinking.

In this study, a collagen hydrogel using collagen exclusively produced in Romania, was obtained by electron beam (e-beam) crosslinking. The purpose of our study is to obtain new experimental data on the crosslinking of collagen and to predict as faithfully as possible, its behavior at high irradiation doses and energies. To pursue this, the correlations between macromolecular structure and properties of collagen hydrogels were determined by rheological analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), respectively. The gel fraction, swelling degree, and network parameters of the collagen hydrogels were also investigated at different irradiation doses. Through experimental exploration, we concluded that irradiation with e-beam up to 25 kGy induces crosslinking processes in collagen structure without producing advanced degradation processes. E-beam technology is a great method to develop new materials for medical applications without adding other chemical reagents harmful to human health. The future aim is to develop new wound dressings for rapid healing based on collagen, through irradiation technologies.

Electron beam technology for Re-processing of personal protective equipment

Beginning with the outbreak of COVID-19 at the dawn of 2020, the continuing spread of the pandemic has challenged the healthcare market and the supply chain of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) around the world. Moreover, the emergence of the variants of COVID-19 occurring in waves threatens the sufficient supply of PPE. Among the various types of PPE, N95 Respirators, surgical masks, and medical gowns are the most consumed and thus have a high potential for a serious shortage during such emergencies. Considering the unanticipated demand for PPE during a pandemic, re-processing of used PPE is one approach to continue to protect the health of first responders and healthcare personnel. This paper evaluates the viability and efficacy of using FDA-approved electron beam (eBeam) sterilization technology (ISO 11137) to re-process used PPE. PPEs including 3M N95 Respirators, Proxima Sirus gowns, and face shields were eBeam irradiated in different media (air, argon) over a dose range of 0–200 kGy. Several tests were then performed to examine surface properties, mechanical properties, functionality performance, discoloration phenomenon, and liquid barrier performance. The results show a reduction of filtration efficiency to about 63.6% in the N95 Respirator; however, charge regeneration may improve the re-processed efficiency. Additionally, mechanical degradation was observed in Proxima Sirus gown with increasing dose up to 100 kGy. However, no mechanical degradation was observed in the face shields after 10 times donning and doffing. Apart from the face shield, N95 Respirators and Proxima Sirus gown both show significant mechanical degradation with ebeam dose over sterilization doses (>25 kGy), indicating that eBeam technology is not appropriate for the re-processing these PPEs.

Dust removal from a variety of surface materials with multiple electron beams

Dust mitigation is one of the technical challenges to overcome for future lunar surface exploration. In our previous work, a new electron beam (e-beam) mitigation technology was introduced to remove dust particles from protected surfaces through an electrostatic mechanism developed based on a Patched Charge Model. This model shows that the emission and re-absorption of e-beam induced secondary electrons inside microcavities between dust particles can result in large charges on the particles and their subsequent ejections from the surface due to strong repulsive forces. It was shown that, due to random orientations of microcavities, varying the e-beam incident angle by rotating the sample surface can cause more microcavities to be exposed, thereby improving the cleaning effectiveness. In this paper, we present and test a new configuration to implement varying the beam angle. Here multiple e-beam sources are aimed at different angles simultaneously at a sample surface that is fixed in place. A large variety of surface material samples are tested to demonstrate the e-beam technology's application scenarios, including both insulating samples (spacesuit, glass, a photovoltaic (PV) panel, Kapton tape, thermal blanket and anodized aluminum) and a conducting sample (aluminum). It is shown that the multiple e-beam source configuration improves cleaning effectiveness by 10–30% in comparison to a single fixed beam and sample. Most of the insulating samples achieve 80–90% cleanliness after only the 2–3 min beam exposure, except for the PV panel that shows 50% cleanliness. The conducting aluminum sample shows relatively low cleanliness at 35–45% likely due to the attractive Coulomb mirror force between the charged dust and aluminum surface. Finally, various e-beam configurations are suggested depending on application scenarios.

ITO film stack engineering for low-loss silicon optical modulators

The Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) platform is one of the promising solutions for state-of-the-art integrated optical modulators towards low-loss silicon photonics applications. One of the key challenges on this way is to optimize ITO-based thin films stacks for electro-optic modulators with both high extinction ratio and low insertion loss. In this paper we demonstrate the e-beam evaporation technology of 20 nm-thick ITO films with low extinction coefficient of 0.14 (Nc = 3.7·1020 cm−3) at 1550 nm wavelength and wide range of carrier concentrations (from 1 to 10 × 1020 cm−3). We investigate ITO films with amorphous, heterogeneously crystalline, homogeneously crystalline with hidden coarse grains and pronounced coarsely crystalline structure to achieve the desired optical and electrical parameters. Here we report the mechanism of oxygen migration in ITO film crystallization based on observed morphological features under low-energy growth conditions. Finally, we experimentally compare the current–voltage and optical characteristics of three electro-optic active elements based on ITO film stacks and reach strong ITO dielectric permittivity variation induced by charge accumulation/depletion (Δn = 0.199, Δk = 0.240 at λ = 1550 nm under ± 16 V). Our simulations and experimental results demonstrate the unique potential to create integrated GHz-range electro-optical modulators with sub-dB losses.

High-resolution X-ray source with advanced e-beam technology: pushing the resolution limitation for lab-scale NanoCT

High-resolution X-ray source with advanced e-beam technology: pushing the resolution limitation for lab-scale NanoCT

Energy Evaluation of Electron Beam Treatment of Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Water: A Critical Review

Due to their recalcitrant nature and ubiquitous use, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) will continue to be major water treatment hurdles. Although effective water treatment technologies exist for physical removal of many PFAS from water (e.g., activated carbon and ion-exchange resin), a PFAS-concentrated waste stream is generated as an end product that can potentially reintroduce PFAS back into the environment. Thus, there is an increased interest in developing destructive technologies to decompose and mineralize PFAS directly in water or in these waste streams. High energy electron beam (e-beam) accelerators have been used for water treatment to degrade a wide range of recalcitrant contaminants, including PFAS, since the 1960s. However, large-scale applications of e-beam for water treatment are restricted due to its high energy consumption and inability to treat large flow rates. Considering there are very few available technologies for destructive removal of PFAS, this study provides a critical review on the treatment of PFAS by direct irradiation of contaminated water by e-beam from an energy consumption point of view. To date, very limited studies have been conducted to investigate the success of this technology to treat PFAS. Results from the limited studies were not directly comparable due to the variation in operating conditions and water quality parameters used in the studies. Here, for the first time, we develop and apply the concept of electrical energy per order (EE/O) to assess the performance of e-beam for PFAS treatment. Results show that EE/O is a better performance parameter than the G value of e-beam for interstudy comparisons and to evaluate the effects of water quality and operating parameters on e-beam performance. We additionally developed a kinetic scheme to predict the performance of e-beam to treat PFAS and revealed that the competition between species to react with aqueous electrons is the determinant factor influencing PFAS degradation efficiency. Comparison of EE/O values of e-beam (range: 31–176 kWh m–3 order –1) with other destructive technologies (range: 5–9595 kWh m–3 order –1) suggest that e-beam, for PFAS treatment, is a promising approach under favorable conditions. This review further elucidates the feasibility and limitations of e-beam technology that could be improved upon to potentially make e-beam viable for large-scale water treatment applications.

Enhancing Service Capabilities by Adding Electron-Beam Irradiator to Gamma Irradiation Facility.

In 2013, Sterigenics undertook the addition of a 10-MeV electron beam (e-beam) accelerator at its facility in Jarinu, Brazil. A gamma irradiator was already located at this facility, which processed materials and provided irradiation services in Brazil. The decision to implement an e-beam accelerator at the same facility was made in order to diversify the technology that could be offered and to rapidly increase the overall capacity of the facility. In addition, the e-beam technology was complementary to the existing gamma pallet irradiator and thus provided an internal backup for some processes. The main challenge for staff at the Brazil facility was cross-validating processes carried out by the existing gamma irradiator with processes performed with the new e-beam accelerator. The overall success rate in the cross-validation of processes between the two modalities was positive. Products for healthcare, laboratory testing, and other low-bulk-density products that basically consisted of commonly used polymeric materials were most suitable for cross-validation. Products of higher bulk density, greater heterogeneity, or variability between packaging systems and products with dose specifications for a tote rather than a pallet gamma irradiator presented limitations in the cross-validation success rate. This article focuses on the transition approach, discusses the types of products that were successfully cross-validated in e-beam from gamma, and presents examples where such cross-validation was not pursued.

PFOA and PFOS breakdown in experimental sand, laboratory-grade water, investigation-derived groundwater and wastewater effluent samples at 50 kGy electron beam dose

In recent years, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) have been recognized as widespread persistent organic pollutants and identified as a great concern to public health. Electron beam (eBeam) technology is a form of ionizing radiation that had been previously successful in mediating the breakdown of PFOA and PFOS. These studies report complete breakdown of PFOA and partial breakdown of PFOS in samples with high pH, nitrate content, alkalinity, and anoxic conditions when exposed to eBeam technology at a dose of 50 kilograys (kGy). In lab-spiked water and sand, the concentrations of PFOA were reduced by 87% and 86% respectively. PFOS was reduced by 16% in lab-spiked water and 28% in lab-spiked sand. In spiked IDW groundwater exposed to 50 kGy, PFOA and PFOS were reduced by 98% and 41% respectively. Groundwater samples were collected from a monitoring well at Randolph AFB in San Antonio, TX, USA. Similarly, PFOA was reduced by 94% and PFOS by 41% in spiked post-UV wastewater effluent collected at the Texas A&M water treatment plant in College Station, TX, USA. Although the aforementioned conditions facilitated the complete breakdown of PFOA, more optimization and higher doses will be needed to achieve the same in PFOS.

Reduction in microbial infection risks from raw milk by Electron Beam Technology

Consuming raw milk can be risky because of the possible exposure to a variety of infectious microorganisms. We hypothesized that at low doses, electron beam (eBeam) processing is effective at inactivating pathogens in raw milk. The log reduction of background microbial populations and inoculated pathogens (C. burnetii, C. jejuni, E. coli O157:H7, L. monocytogenes, and S. aureus) in raw milk was empirically determined. Risk assessment (β-Poisson models and exponential risk) models were utilized to quantify the infection risks associated with these pathogens. At 2.0 kGy dose, the background titers of aerobic and anaerobic microbial populations (8.06 × 104 and 2.89 × 103 CFU/mL respectively) in raw milk were reduced to below detectable limits, representing a 4 log and 3 log reduction of aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms respectively. At 2.0 kGy eBeam dose, significant reductions (between 13-logs and 28-logs) of raw milk-associated pathogens is achievable. Quantitative microbial risk assessment illustrated the significant reduction in infection risks (resulting from possible C. jejuni, E. coli O157:H7, or L. monocytogenes exposure) if raw milk is processed using eBeam technology. Without eBeam processing, ingestion of raw milk containing potentially ~40 CFU/mL (L. monocytogenes) or ~103 CFU/mL (C. jejuni and E. coli O157:H7) would result in ~8/10, ~8/10, and ~10/10 infections from these pathogens respectively. However, if raw milk were eBeam processed at 2.0 kGy dose, the infection risks from consumption of such potentially contaminated raw milk samples will decrease significantly to approximately less than 1 person out of 9.7 million individuals. This study suggests that 2.0 kGy eBeam dose is effective for inactivating microbial pathogens in raw milk.

Techno-economical evaluation of coupling ionizing radiation and biological treatment process for the remediation of real pharmaceutical wastewater

Abstract Pharmaceutical manufacturing industries produce a vast range of substances by using organic and inorganic compounds as raw material thereby gives rise to huge volume of toxic and complex organic liquid effluents comprised of high levels of dissolved solids. High and low strength wastewater streams originating from manufacturing unit often contains different types of contaminants, including organic compounds which can be difficult to treat with conventional methods of treatment. In this study, the sequential treatment process of coagulation, electron beam (E-beam) irradiation and biological treatment was employed on real pharmaceutical industrial wastewater to study the impact of combined treatment on remediation and detoxification of the wastewater. Combined treatment was performed on low (LOSW) and high (HOSW) organic strength wastewater collected from representative pharmaceutical industry. Operational parameters like pH, absorbed dose and use of oxidants were systematically investigated to achieve the enhanced treatment of wastewater streams using E-beam irradiation. Biological treatment was carried out using activated sludge process at laboratory-scale reactor by utilizing acclimatized consortia in the experiments. Sequential hybrid coagulation, E-beam irradiation and biological treatment lead to synergistic degradation and detoxification of both the recalcitrant wastewater streams with overall chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal of 94% and 89% for LOSW and HOSW, respectively. Cytotoxicity assessment revealed that the combined treatment of wastewater was effective in eliminating the toxicity when tested against the selected microorganisms. The treatment cost of E-beam radiolysis alone, biological treatment alone and E-beam + biological treatment for LOSW was found to be 0.50, 2.35 and 2.85 USD m−3; whereas, for HOSW, it was found to be 0.67, 0.7 and 1.37 USD m−3, respectively. The overall cost of the set-up of an E-beam unit and the treatment cost for real pharmaceutical wastewater was evaluated to establish the applicability of the E-beam technology at industrial scale. The feasibility of E-beam irradiation for wastewater remediation may ensure future smart cities with sustainable resource management.

Submicron gap reduction of micro-resonator based on porous silica ridge waveguides manufactured by standard photolithographic process

In this paper, we demonstrate a new method to obtain a low gap between the access waveguide and the racetrack cavity of a micro-resonator based on porous silica material and using standard photolithographic process. The photolithographic process is first carried out on porous silicon layers to obtain porous silicon ridge waveguides that constitutes the racetrack micro-resonator. Then the full oxidation of the micro-resonator is performed. Because of the volume expansion of silicon that occurs during its full oxidation, the gap is reduced. Lower gaps and then lower coupling distances can be obtained using a low cost photolithographic process compared to e-beam technology. This original method proposed in this paper allows to improve the miniaturization of such porous silica micro-resonators which is of great interest for integrated optical biosensor application.

Mechanics of wet adhesion in soft interaction with patterned morphology

Locking surfaces with a wet interface can enhance interactions between a grasped object and a soft pad. This paper presents a mechanical approach to understanding the role of morphological design in achieving wet adhesion for secure grasping by a soft pad. Two conditions were compared in modeling wet interfaces between an object and a soft pad: a pad with a flat surface, and a pad with a micropatterned surface. The latter was designed and analyzed based on the wet attachment between the surface of a tree-frog’s toes and its substrate. In this model, we proposed a method to estimate the contact force in both normal and tangential directions between a soft pad with a micropattern surface and a rigid flat surface substrate. A square mold containing 3600 85 μm × 85 μm cells interspaced by grooves 15 μm wide and 15 μm deep was fabricated, using e-beam technology, as the micropattern pad. The generated normal and tangential contact forces of the pad with a micropattern surface, and a pad with a flat surface were measured in both normal and tangential directions under wet conditions. Experimental results showed good agreement with theoretical results, indicating that the micropattern significantly enhanced the contact force of the pad by approximately two-fold for the normal and 1.2- to 1.4-fold for the tangential force. This theoretical approach can be potentially utilized to investigate the association of soft pad morphology with wet adhesion, and enhance efficient grasping by soft robotic hands in wet and high-moisture environments.

Microfabricated high temperature sensing platform dedicated to scanning thermal microscopy (SThM)

The monitoring of heat flux is becoming more and more critical for many materials and structures approaching nanometric dimensions. Scanning Thermal Microscopy (SThM) is one of the tools available for thermal measurement at the nanoscale and requires calibration. Here we report on a micro-hotplate device made of a platinum heater suspended on thin silicon nitride (SiN) membranes integrating specific features for SThM calibration. These heated reference samples can include a localized resistive temperature sensors (RTD) or standalone platinum membranes (typically 10 × 10 μm2) on which the temperature can be measured precisely. This functional area is dedicated to (1) estimate the thermal resistance between the SThM tip and hot surface contact; and to (2) evaluate the perturbation induced by the probe on the heat dissipation when the contact measurement is performed. The thermal design of these low-power calibration chips, their fabrication, including sensitive RTDs patterned using e-beam technology, as well as their electro-thermal and electro-mechanical characterizations are presented. Robust operation of the chips up to 500 °C has been demonstrated with their membrane mechanically stable up to 250 °C and a low-power consumption of 16 mW at this operating temperature. The temperature mapping of the active areas was performed using two physical principles: local SThM temperature measurement using a thermocouple-based micro-probe and optical imaging using Near-Infrared (NIR) microscopy. Measurements coupling on one hand SThM probe and the integrated RTD and, on the other hand, SThM probe with optical imaging, validated the functionality of the calibration chips. The latter open new perspectives in the calibration of SThM probes.

Semi-commercial scale production of carrageenan plant growth promoter by E-beam technology

The plant growth promoter (PGP) effect of different formulations of gamma-irradiated carrageenan solutions were tested on rice by foliar spraying. The best formulation was produced in large quantity for field application. Multilocation trials of around 1600ha rice field in different regions of the Philippines indicated increase in yield of an average of around 20%. Increased resistance to tungro virus was also noted. Likewise, there was extensive root growth, increase in number of tillers, and development of sturdy stems that prevented lodging of rice plant.E-beam irradiation of carrageenan PGP was also studied to increase its throughput of production. Degradation of carrageenan by e-beam irradiation is inhibited by the formation of crosslinks. Optimisation by addition of hydrogen peroxide to improve degradation is discussed. A continuous flow liquid handling system has been fabricated to increase throughput of the carrageenan PGP. Using the optimized parameters, the system can produce a volume of approximately 1700L/h.

High-resolution full-parallax computer-generated holographic stereogram created by e-beam technology

A high-resolution computer-generated stereogram for forming full-parallax three-dimensional (3-D) images is proposed. A full-parallax 3-D image is formed from 825 two-dimensional (2-D) projections and can be observed in a wide angular range. The stereogram is a reflective diffractive optical element (DOE) that consists of 50×50 μm2 hogels, where each hogel corresponds to one pixel of the 2-D frames. A phase-type kinoform is computed in every hogel by solving a nonlinear inverse problem. The DOE relief is fabricated using electron-beam technology with pixel size of 0.2×0.2 μm2. The effectiveness of the technology developed is illustrated by photographs and a video of a real DOE under monochromatic light and under white light. The new high-resolution full-parallax stereograms can be used for protecting bank notes, documents, and ID cards against counterfeit.

Fabrication of 45 nm high In component metamorphic In 0.7 Ga 0.3 As/In 0.6 Ga 0.4 As composite‐channel high electron‐mobility transistors on GaAs substrates

A 45 nm high In component metamorphic In0.7Ga0.3As/In0.6Ga0.4As composite-channel high electron-mobility transistor (mHEMT) on GaAs substrate with good DC and RF performance has been developed. The structure was grown by molecular beam epitaxy and exhibits a superior electron mobility of 10200 cm2/(V.s) and a sheet density of 3.5 × 1012 cm−2 at a room temperature. A combined optical and e-beam lithography technology was used to achieve the nanometre mHEMT device. The mHEMT device shows an extrinsic transconductance of up to 990 mS/mm and a maximum current density of 910 mA/mm. The unity current gain cutoff frequency fT and the maximum oscillation frequency f max are 187.94 and 258.62 GHz, respectively. These performances make the device well suited for millimetre-wave applications.