T.N. Jackson's research while affiliated with University of Michigan and other places

An electrochemical technique allowing the protection of selected areas of silicon in ethylene diamine-based etchants is reported, and its application to the formation of silicon microstructures is described. Dissolution rates for passivated samples are less than 5 Å/minute, a factor of over 3000 times less than for unpassivated silicon.

The application of semiconductor process technology to the manufacture of inertial-confinement fusion targets is described. The use of optical and electron-beam lithography together with silicon etching technology allows the reproducible fabrication of a variety of target configurations for research and may provide a means for the high-volume production of low-cost targets for commercial reactor systems.

Initial investigations and laboratory experiments in the area of target fabrication using solid state circuit processing techniques to create special target components have indicated the feasibility of a unique advanced manufacturing concept. A question of the applicability of silicon integrated circuit technology and how it might be applied to the fabrication of inertial confinement fusion targets was posed. The combined efforts of the University of Michigan Electron Physics Laboratory, and the Division of Material Sciences of KMS Fusion, Inc. have provided some relatively quick and very encouraging answers and results. The initial efforts to demonstrate electron beam patterning and etching of micron‐high letters through the walls of glass microballoons, the fabrication of free‐standing thin‐walled flanged hemispheres joined to form spherical structures, and a pellet support membrane have been the proof‐of‐principle milestones and goals.