vol. 27 no. 1 jan./feb. 1982€¦ · 02/01/1982 · support, solid state division bill underwood...

Vol. 27 No. 1 Jan./Feb. 1982

Cover design by Louise Carr

Small world. Our cover shows the stylus -disc interface ofthe Capacitance Electronic Disc system. The stylizedcolor image, drawn from scanning electron micrographswith greater than 10,000 -times magnification, shows thecarbon -filled PVC VideoDisc surface and the diamondstylus with the thin metal electrode on one face.

Articles about the disc, by some of the interdisciplinaryengineers and scientists responsible for making and pro-tecting this pure and precise plastic part, reveal for us aphysical landscape where electricity and chemistry forma partnership. General interest papers in this issue main-tain the interdisciplinary flavor: microwaves for treatingcancer; mathematical modeling "to debug debugging:"and a brief history of analog -to -digital conversion.

In the center of this issue, we are especially proud ofthe easy -to -follow, special tear -out insert giving thenames, addresses, and photographs of our EditorialRepresentatives. Please store this four -page supplementnearby and call your Ed Rep frequently with ideas andcomments. Because ideas-large and small-make thispublication work for you.

-MRS

LIICELL EngineerA technical journal published byRCA Research and EngineeringBldg. 204-2Cherry Hill, NJ 08358TACNET: 222-4254 (609-338-4254)

RCA Engineer Staff

Tom King EditorMike Sweeny Associate EditorLouise Carr Art EditorFrank Strobl Contributing EditorBetty Gutchigian CompositionDorothy Berry Editorial Secretary

Editorial Advisory Board

Jay Brandinger Division Vice -President and GeneralManager, SelectaVisionVideoDisc Operations

John Christopher Vice -President. Technical Operations.RCA Americom

Bill Hartzell Division Vice -President. Engineering,Picture Tube Division

Hans Jenny Manager, Engineering InformationArch Luther Division Vice -President. Engineering

and Product Assurance,Commercial CommunicationsSystems Division

Howie Rosenthal Staff Vice -President, EngineeringEd Troy Director, Operations Planning and

Support, Solid State DivisionBill Underwood Director, Engineering

Professional ProgramsJoe Volpe Division Vice -President, Transmission

Systems. Commercial CommunicationsSystems Division

Bill Webster Vice -President, Laboratories

Ed Burke

Walt Dennen

Charlie Foster

John Phillips

Consulting Editors

Administrator, MarketingInformation and Communications,Government Systems DivisionManager, Naval Systems DepartmentCommunications and Information,Missile and Surface RadarManager. Systems and Procedures.RCA Laboratories

Manager, Business Developmentand Planning, RCA Service Company

To disseminate to RCA engineers technical information of professional value Topublish in an appropriate manner important technical developments at RCA. and the roleof the engineer To serve as a medium of interchange of technical information betweenvarious groups at RCA To create a community of engineering interest within thecompany by stressing the interrelated nature of all technical contributions To helppublicize engineering achievements in a manner that wit promote the interests andreputation of RCA in the engineering field To provide a convenient means by which theRCA engineer may review his professional work before associates and engineeringmanagement To announce outstanding and unusual achievements of RCA engineersin a manner most likely to enhance their prestige and professional status

H.S. Schlosser

QUALITY

DIVERSITY

+ AVAILABILITY

SUCCESS

One of the compelling factors in RCA's decision to introduce theVideoDisc was the conviction that an excellent supply of quality programscould be acquired to attract and hold consumer interest A diverse andever-growing selection of programs would be essential to the success ofthe new product

A strong program -acquisition team was assembled and, with a greatdeal of effort, many hundreds of programs have been acquired over thelast three years from 98 suppliers. When the VideoDisc came to market in

March, 1981, RCA's initial catalog contained 10C titles. That number grewto 154 by year's end and will more than double in 1982. Every segment of

the catalog will be expanded-with entertaining informative andeducational programs designed to please a wide variety of tastes andinterests.

In launching the VideoDisc, RCA used existing audio/visual material.But as the VideoDisc player population expands. new productions will bereleased specifically "made for VideoDisc.' Many projects are under way.Complete Tennis from the Pros, starring Arthur Ashe and 11 other tennisstars, is one example. The VideoDisc program staff is working closely with

RCA Records to develop music VideoDiscs, a new type of programmingwith great possibilities for growth. While we're expanding the catalog, newplayers are in development that during 1982 will offer the consumer such

features as stereo sound and remote control.The VideoDisc system represents a significant RCA achievement -

from research and development to production and marketing. Consumerscan now afford a simple and reliable audio/visual playback system for thehome. And they will be able to buy a wide variety of programs that willentertain and educate.

H. S SchlosserExecutive Vice -President

Mal EngineerVol. 27 No. 1 Jan. I Feb. 1982

4 "SelectaVision" VideoDisc Awards

disc technology 6 Manufacturing the VideoDiscs: An overviewH. Weisberg

11 VideoDisc mastering: The software to hardware conversionF.D. Kell IG. John IJ. Stevens

16 VideoDisc material compounding demands the right chemistryB. Whipple 1V.S. Dunn

19 Micro -molding is a VideoDisc requirementM. McNeely 1M. Bock

23 Design and manufacturing of the VideoDisc caddyL.A. Torrington

quality and reliability 27 VideoDisc performance in the real world:The role of VideoDisc Product AssuranceR.H. Huck

30 Automatic VideoDisc and stylus test equipmentJ.J. Kowalchik 1A.P. Selwa

35 Meet your Editorial Representatives

39 The Chemical and Physical Laboratory supports VideoDiscD. Hakala

general interest 43 Localized hyperthermia treatment of cancerF. Sterzer

53 Discovering how to ensure software reliabilityM. Trachtenberg

58 Linear integrated circuits are going digitalH.A. Wittlinger

departments 65 Patents

68 Pen and Podium

70 News and Highlights

Copyright c 1982 RCA CorporationAll rights reserved

in this issue ...disc technology

Awards: RCA recognizes engineers who showed outstanding tech-nical excellence and achievement in meeting the challengeof VideoDisc.

Weisberg: "The disc, in addition to its chemical complexity, is a plas-tic precision part."

Kell/John/Stevens: "In the effort to improve our substrate quality atthe beginning of VideoDisc mastering, maintaining the cutting -depthtolerances was our greatest technical problem."

Whipple/Dunn: "Most properties are obtained at the expense ofothers and every ingredient affects several critical parameters."

McNeely/Bock: "How do you mold a part one ten -thousandth of aninch wide and 12 miles long without any visual defects?"

Torrington: "In addition to protecting the disc during loading andunloading, the caddy performs mechanical functions within the player."

SUBSTRAT.. RECORDING

16414 Huck: "This role involves a comprehensive overview of all productperformance needs in the consumer environment."

Kowalchik/Selwa: "The ability to adapt both equipments to changesin system requirements is clearly a testimony to the power of micro-computers and the design skills of RCA engineers."

Ed Reps: A special pull-out section shows the people in your div-ision who will get your engineering ideas published.

Hakala: "it is the challenge of the chemicals ana materials analyst fobe expert in the intricacies of the manufacturing process in order to be

most effective."

Sterzer "In particular, a number of tumors that did not respond toconventional therapies responded well to combinations of localizedhyperthermia and reduced amounts of radiation therapy."

Trachtenberg: "The model we wanted would ideally permit earlycost and schedule trade-offs against all the functions that influencesoftware -error content." Wittlinger "Even the human body converts analog stimuli and han-dles the signal in a digital manner."

27 Product Assurance

43

CA3162EDIGIT DRIVERS CA316IE ---0)--

58BCD OUTPUTS

}O-0.

in future issues ...manufacturing engineeringelectro-opticsanniversary issue

"SelectaVision" VideoDisc Awards

RCA Laboratories and "SelectaVision" VideoDisc Operationsrecognized these engineers and scientists, who worked on the

VideoDisc project, for their technical excellence.

RCA Laboratories Achievement Awards

1965 - 1980

1967Robert W. Jebens.For ingenuity and versatility in the devel-opment of techniques for the generation ofprecision masking and high -densityrecording apparatus.

1970Lucian A. Barton, Orville E. Dow, LeonardP. Fox, Dennis L. Matt hies, and Richard W.Nosker.For contributions to a team effort in devis-ing and improving storage medium pro-cesses for high -density recoroing.

Jon K. Clemens, Marvin A. Leedom, andRichard C. Palmer.For contributions to a team effort in theconception and development of signal sys-tems and playback mechanisms for high -

density recording systems.

Jerome B. Halter, Robert W. Jebens, LorenB. Johnston, and William H. More wood.For contributions to a team effort in thedevelopment and use of sophisticatedtechniques and apparatus for high -resolu-tion electron -beam recording and elec-tromechanical recording.

1973David W. Fairbanks and Marvin A. Leedom.For outstanding contributions to the tech-nology of high -density recordingmechanisms.

1974Robert R. Demers, Joseph Guarracini, Wil-liam H. Morewood, John H. Reisner, Jr.,and George H.N. Riddle.For a team effort resulting in improvementsin the mechanisms and the optics of elec-tron -beam recordings.

c1982 RCA Corporation

Final manuscript received September 17. 1981Reprint RE -27-1-1

1975Jeremiah Y. Avins, Arthur H. Firester, W.Ronald Roach, and Joseph P. Walentine.For a team research effort resulting in thedevelopment of a VideoDisc defectdetector.

1976Richard W. Nosker.For leadership and technical contributions,arising from a high order of scientific integ-rity, resulting in significant improvements inVideoDisc performance.

W. Ronald Roach.For the invention and development of opti-cal instrumentation suitable for the rapidanalysis of VideoDisc groove and signalgeometries.

Charles B. Carroll, Arthur H. Firester, MacyE. Heller, John P. Russell, and Wilber C.Stewart.For the invention and development of opti-cal recording and reading techniquescompatible with the VideoDisc format.

1977Jon K. Clemens, John H. Reisner, andHoward G. Scheible.For contributions leading to a two-hourRCA VideoDisc.

Pabitra Datta, Leonard P. Fox, and Hiro-hisa Kawamoto.For the development and implementationof a novel capacitive VideoDisc whicheliminates the need for coatings.

1978John C. Bleazey, Anil R. Dholakia, RichardC. Palmer, and Raymond L. Truesdell.For contributions to a team effort in theconception and implementation of innova-tive approaches to improve the trackingperformance of VideoDisc pickups.

-Produced by E.O. Keizer

1979Charles B. Dieterich.For the development of a novel informa-tion -management system for VideoDiscplayer control.

Bernard J. Yorkanis.For the development of novel integratedcircuits for VideoDisc.

Edward P. Cecelski, James J. Gibson,David L. Jose, Frank B. Lang, Karen A. Pitts,and Michael D. Ross.For the development of advanced signal -processing circuits for VideoDisc.

Thomas Y. Chen, Arthur L. Greenberg,Jeremy D. Pollack, James J. Power, andCharles M. Wine.For imaginative applications of micro-processor technology to VideoDisc.

Maurice D. Coutts, and Dennis L. Matthies.For the development of analytical tech-niques and preparative procedures leadingto superior surface quality of VideoDisc.

Robert R. Demers, David W. Fairbanks, Wil-liam Z. Marder, and Bernardo E. Mesa.For the design and development of equip-ment for automatically manufacturingVideoDisc player cartridges.

1980Shiu-Shin Chio, David A. Furst, Rudolph H.Hedel, Michael J. Mindel, and Harry L.Pinch.For contributions to the development of amass-produced, durable VideoDisc styluselectrode.

Macy E. Heller, William C. Henderson, Ill,Grzegorz Kaganowicz, W. Ronald Roach,and John W. Robinson.For contributions to micro -machiningtechnology.

John H. Reisner, Robert E. Simms, JohnValachovic, and Corris A. Whybark.For contributions to the development ofimproved VideoDisc cutter heads.

4 RCA Engineer 27-1 Jan./Feb. 1982

David Sarnoff Awards for Outstanding Technical Achievement

The Selection Committee announced thefollowing David Sarnoff Awards for Out-standing Technical Achievement which RCAChairman Thornton F. Bradshaw pre-sented on July 20, 1981 in New York, "forkey contributions to the development of theCED VideoDisc System."

Todd J. ChristopherJon K. ClemensPabitra Datta

Leonard P. FoxJerome B. HalterEugene 0. KeizerMarvin A. LeedomMichael E. MillerFred R. Stave

In addition. Mr. Bradshaw presented aspecial award to Thomas 0. Stanley. Staff Vice -President, Research Programs, RCA Lab-oratories. for his contributions tc RCA's

VideoDisc developments. The plaque citedMr. Stanley as "a visionary, who not onlyfcresaw the CED VideoDisc system longbefore is time, but provided the technicalencouragement and management supportnecessaty to bring that vision to a re-ality." Wiliam M. Webster, Vice -President,RCA Let:oratories, also attended the pre-sentatio

"SelectaVision" VideoDisc Operations Technical Excellence Awards

The CriteriaThe purpose of the Technical Excel-lence Award is to recognize outstand-ing creativity, resourcefulness, and pro-ficiency in the application of technicaldisciplines. The selection criteria for theTechnical Excellence Committee involvethe followino considerations: technicalaccomplishment, creativity, significanceto VideoDisc, and discharge ofresponsibilities.

John W. Bowen andTimothy E. Farley

Bowen Farley

John W. Bowen and Timothy E. Farley*received the first Technical ExcellenceAwards of "SeectaVision" VideoDisc Oper-ations. On Jure 23. 1981, the awards werepresented at a luncheon by Dr. Jay J. Bran-dinger, Divisicn Vice -President and Gen-eral Manager of "SelectaVision" VideoDiscOperations. Those attending the luncheonincluded the winners' management, mem-bers of Dr. Brandinger's staff and membersof the Technical Excellence Committee.

Mr. Bowen and Mr. Farley were eachrecognized "by virtue of his outstandingcreativity, resourcefulness, and proficiencyin developing analytical techniques relatingto disc perforrr ance and defect analysis."

Although prior efforts had been made toestablish a defect analysis function, Johnand Tim were the first to develop the skillsand methods to dissect defects, analyzethem optically and chemically, and catego-rize them by sources. The methods Johnand Tim develcped have been the key inthe quantification of new carbons and othercompound ingredients and process pa-rameters in terms of micro -defect sizes andquantities. Such information has been ex-tremely important in the VideoDisc En-gineering and Manufacturing groups'achievement over the past two years of asignificant reduction (by a factor o' 20) inthe quantities of disc surface defects.

The analytica techniques John and Timhave developec will become even moreimportant in the near future. Stereo discdevelopment and introduction imposestringent new requirements for low disc -defect levels, and the characterizations ofdisc defects will be an integral part of thesedevelopment and introduction efforts.

* Timothy E. Farley, Engineerinc As-sistant at RCA 'SelectaVision" Video -Disc Operatiors, died as a result of atraffic accident on October 10, 1981. Tim,age 22, was a co -recipient of the firstTechnical Excellence Award at the In-dianapolis Roc Kville Road facility. A na-tive of Indianapolis, Indiana, he was anenthusiastic member of the technicalteam in "SelectaVision" VideoDisc Timstarted with RCA on February 14, '979,as a Lab analyst and advanced to Engi-neering Assistant in the Engineering or-ganization. He was an avid baseball par-ticipant and sports enthusiast. He willbe greatly missed, but happily remem-bered.

-R. H. Huck

Torrington

Leslie A. Torrington,Member Engineer-ing Staff, is the recip-ient of the September1981. "SelectaVision"VideoDisc Technical -Excellence Award byvirtue of his outstand-creativity. resource-fulness, and profic-iency in designinga VideoDisc Caddy

System which has been mass produced.The award was presented at a luncheon

on November 3. 1981. by Dr. Jay J. Bran-dinger, Division Vice -President and GeneralManager of "SelectaVision" VideoDiscOperatiors. Those attending the luncheonincluded Mr. Torrington's management, mem-bers of Do. Brandinger's staff, and membersof the Technical Excellence Committee.

The ViceoDisc Caddy System serves asa transpo-' mechanism for loading the discinto and oJt of the VideoDisc player, and itserves as 3 protection system for the ultra -sensitive cisc. The caddy system preventsdamage to the microscopic grooves of theVideoDisc by keeping dirt out and by pro-viding protection from scratches, fingerprirts, and abrasion.

Althougr the caddy system was originallydesigned at the RCA David Sarnoff Re-search Celter, Mr. Torrington has made aunique ccntribution by designing a caddysystem wnich has been mass produced.The system of caddy, lip seal, spine, andlabel has performed effectively even whenthe external components have changed ad-versely. Les has been granted 16 U.S. pat-ents since being with RCA; many of thepatents pertain to the VideoDisc player andCaddy System.

-Produced by J.A. DArcy

5"SelectaVision" VideoDisc Awards

H. Weisberg

Manufacturing the VideoDiscs: an overview

The RCA "CED" VideoDisc is the culmination of many years ofresearch and represents a triumph of plastics technology.

Abstract: The RCA "CED" VideoDiscan oil es advances in science, process tech-

nology, and manufacturing. This articledescribes the making of the disc includingspecifications, manufacturing processes,compound, material flow sequence andchemical treatments.

The RCA "CED" VideoDisc can be con-sidered only a distant cousin of the audiorecord. The technical and performancedemands were far greater than that requiredfor the highest quality audio record. Newground had to be broken in science, pro-cess technology, and manufacturing.

Some basic statistics will illustrate someof the demands the system puts on thedisc. Grooves have a width of about 2.6µm.The video signal is cut to a depth of about850 angstroms, while the audio signal iscut to a depth of about 80 angstroms. Oneaudio disc groove will accommodate 38VideoDisc grooves-the VideoDisc holdsabout 10,000 grooves to the inch. One sideof a 12 -inch disc holds about 12 miles ofgroove length. The VideoDisc needs to bemanufactured to exacting dimensions: theradius must be 5.922 in. to 5.962 in.; thethickness must be 0.073 in. to 0.086 in.;and the TIR is 0.006 in., maximum. Thedisc, in addition to its chemical complex-ity, is a plastic precision part.

81982 RCA CorporationFinal manuscript received September 23. 1981.Reprint RE -27-1-2

The manufacturing process

The recording process begins after infor-mation on a film is transferred to magnetictape and the magnetic tape is edited andconverted for compatibility with the Video-Disc system.

The key steps in VideoDisc manufac-ture are illustrated in Fig. 1. Audio andvideo are recorded onto a copper substrate

at half the real-time rate. The copper sub-strate containing the recorded informationis used to "fan out," through the matrixprocess via nickel electroforming, to fabri-cate negative masters, positive mothers and,finally, negative stampers used in the finalpressing operation to mold the discs (posi-tive). This is done in order to generatemany stampers from a single recordedsubstrate.

TAPE

DISC MANUFACTURING OVERVIEW

SUBSTRATE RECORDING

COMPOUNDHOPPER

4',3

SPRAYLUBRICANT

STAMPER

DISC

CADDY

Fig. 1. Signals from magnetic tape are recorded onto a copper -plated substrate fromwhich a nickel stamper is electroformed. The disc is pressed, chemically stabilized. lubri-cated, and inserted into a caddy

6RCA Engineer 27-1 Jan./Feb. 1982

MASTERING PROCESS FLOW

CUTTERHEAD FABRICATION

DRIVER 1

PIEZOELECTRICDAMMING

FAB COMPONEN

SUBSTRATE PREPARATION

SUBSTRATE RECORDING

LASER PLAYBACK EVALUATION

SUBSTRATE TO MATRIX

SIGNAL GENERATION

2" VIDEO TAPE

FROM )PROGRAMMING

1- HELICAL-/RECORDING

tGENERATE', RATEENCODED SIGNAL

F g. 2. A copper -plated aluminum substrate is used for recording by means of a diamondcutterhead. The quality of the recording is monitored with laser playback equipment.

Molding material, which is separatelycompounded, is fed pneumatically to theautomatic presses. The disc surfaces arethen chemically stabilized, washed, dried.and lubricated by means of rather exact-ing chemical steps. The disc is then insertedinto a caddy that serves as both a pack-age and a protective envelope.

Figure 2 shows further details of thetechnology involved in the recording pro-cess. The program is dubbed onto a I -in.

helical -scan -format tape. The playbackmechanism has been modified so that, inconjunction with a digital frame store, the

CARBONBLACKHOPPER

AUGERFEED

MATERIAL FLOW SEOUENCE

WEIGH SCALE

MILL

television signal can be recorded onto asubstrate at half real-time rate.

The video signal from the slowed -downtape machine is encoded into a "buried-subcarrier" format, then the signal is FMmodulated and fed to the Substrate Re-cording Lathe. The audio at half real-timerate is processed such that it will play backfrom a disc with optimum qual-ity. The audio is FM modulated and addedto the FM video going to the SubstrateRecording Lathe.

A code (DA XI code) is added to thevideo signal to allow the disc player to

CARBON RESINBLACK WEIGHSTORAGE HOPPER

INTENSIVEMIXER

DRYBLENDCOOLER

RESINHOPPER

SCREEN

LIQUIDADDITIVES

SOLIDADDITIVES

ISCREENI

DRYBLENDTO EXTRUDER

Fig. 4a. Sequence for manufacturing dry blend. PVC, carbon,and additives are blended. The blend is cooled and the dry blendis conveyed to the extruder hopper.

DRYBLENDFROM COOLER

MATRIX PROCESS

ALUMINUMSUBSTRATE

1

1

COPPER PLATED-

MACHINE I RECORDED

RECORD 11-16.11SUBSTRATE

COPPER TANK

NICKEL PLATING TANK

SUBSTRATE

MASTER

NICKEL PLATING TANK

MOLD

1 -06.- ...0........., ...AI, ........

..+4.4..... ...1....

STAMPER

NICKEL PLATING TANK

Fig. 3. Nickel masters are electroformedfrom the recorded substrate. These in turnare used ro electroform molds (mothers)and stampers for use in pressing discs.

identify program start and finish, bandnumber, playing time, and so on. Record-ing start and stop are controlled by amicroprocessor. A diamond piezoelectriccutterhead assembly is separately manu-factured for use in the recording process.

The first step in the matrix operation isto plate a copper surface onto an alumi-num substrate. The aluminum substrate ismachined flat for mastering, ultrasonicallycleaned, and then dried. It is treated andthen preplated to allow good adhesion ofthe copper plate.

DRYBLEND FLOW SEQUENCE

PELLETVACUUM DIEVENT

EXTRUDER PELLETIZER

PELLET COOLING

SCREEN

COMPOUND STORAGE

Fig. 4b. Final steps. The dry blend is extruded into a compoundmelt and chopped into pellets as the compound strands areforced through a die.

Weisberg: Manufacturing the VideoDiscs: an overview 7

U.

VIDEODISC MOLDING

COMPOUND FROM STORAGE

PUCKTRANSFERMECHANISM

PUCKFORMING

EXTRUDER PRESS

1 -1DISCSTACKING

Fig. 5. Compound is fed to an automatic press through a small extruder into puck cavity.The puck is automatically transferred between the platens of a press from which the discis pressed. flash is automatically trimmed, and the discs loaded onto spindles.

SPINDLEDDISCS FROM PRESS

LUBRICATION

DESPINDLE

TREATMENT

SPRAYLUBRICANT

WATER RINSECADDY

Fig. 6. Discs are chemically stabilized, rinsed, dried and lubricated and inserted intocaddies.

The preplated part is mounted in arotating bright copper bath and electro-plated. This step is critical to a good elec-tromechanical recording. By means of aclosely controlled plating process, a hardcopper surface about 15 mils thick is ob-tained. The properties must be such that a

clean sharp groove can be cut into it with-out the cutting chip breaking or ballingup.

Figure 3 illustrates the matrix opera-tion, which includes copper electroplatingfor the substrate and nickel electroformingsteps similar to those used in the recordindustry, but the details of the procedures

and the equipment used are significantlymodified to provide the quality requiredfor the VideoDisc.

The compound

Basic and unique to the VideoDisc processis the compound used. This formulationwas specifically developed at RCA. It is apolyvinyl chloride (PVC) homopolymermatrix into which a high -conductivity car-bon black has been dispersed. PVC con-tent is about 75 percent and the carboncontent is about 15 percent, with seven

other modifiers, stabilizers, process aidsand internal lubricants added to pro-duce a balanced blend of compound hav-ing the desired properties.

The compound must exactly replicatethe recorded audio and video signals,achieve the exacting physical dimensionsand stability required, and maintain restiv-ities of about 5 -ohm -cm or less toachieve the required electrical character-istics.

Material flow sequence

The VideoDisc material is compoundedby a series of steps (Fig. 4a). The PVCflows from the storage hopper through avibrating screen to a weighing hopperwhere a specific amount is metered intothe mixer. The carbon black is alsoweighed and added to the mixer. Liquidand solid components are added and thematerials are mixed until uniform. Thisbatch of dry blended components iscooled and fed to the storage hopper ofthe extruder.

The dry blend (Fig. 4b) is continuouslymetered to a compounding extruderwhere it is melted and further mixed. Avacuum vent removes undesirable volatilesand the molten compoundthrough a die, cut into pellets, cooled,and stored or transported to the presses.

The carbon used to achieve the highlevel of conductivity required for theVideoDisc had to be specifically de-veloped. Never before had requirementsfor so exacting a carbon black existed. Anactive black having an area in excess of800 square meters per gram and low vola-tile content had to be developed. Onlytraces of cations could be tolerated andlow ash was required. Close cooperation with

suppliers resulted in the production of thiscarbon specifically designed for use informulating a "CED" VideoDisc.

Purity and cleanliness of all major com-ponent additives for this system is higherthan other commercial products and is ona par with that used by the semiconductorindustry. Since the groove width is 2.5 Aim,foreign undispersed particles of that mag-nitudeor higher result in the formation ofsurface defects that will deflect the stylusand cause unwanted picture and sounddisturbances.

There is no doubt that the VideoDiscwill spawn a series of raw materials manu-factured to the highest purity levels notcustomary in the plastic compound -for-mulation industry. Suppliers of chemicalsto the semiconductor industry responded


similarly during the early developmentalstages of that technology.

The presses used are fully automatic,manufactured in Europe originally foraudio discs, but significantly modified toRCA specifications to satisfy the exactingrequirements of the VideoDisc.

The compound, in the form of pellets, isfed to the hopper and then to the shortsingle -screw extruder attached to the press(Fig. 5). The extruder screw acts as anauger that conveys, compresses, and meltsthe pellets as they pass through the heatedbarrel. The feed section of the extruderscrew is the bottom of the hopper. Themolten extrudate is forced into the closedpuck -shaped cup. The material fills thiscup to a weight controlled by a timer.After the puck is formed and the extrudershuts off, the cup opens away from thepuck. The mechanical arm then places thepuck in the center area between the upperand lower molds of the press.

The stampers are clamped into the up-per and lower mold bodies. The molds areheated by steam to about 370°F.Then the press closes and compresses thepuck into a disc. The excess material isflashed out of the molds but is still con-nected to the disc. The hot plastic mate-rial remaining in the mold cavity is held.under heat and pressure until a disc isformed with the stamper surfaces repli-cated in the hot plastic.

Steam is ejected from the molds, andwater is introduced into the molds, coolingthe stamper surface down to 80°F. Underthese conditions the disc becomes hardand rigid. The press then opens and thedisc is removed by grippers holding theflash. The entire molding procedure takesabout forty seconds.

A process microcomputer ensures thateach puck is molded with identical tem-perature conditions. The steam heatingcycle is adjusted to a specific mold tem-perature and then the cooling cycle timeris further controlled to the final tempera-ture. Each disc is therefore processed tothe same maximum temperature and thencooled to the same molding temperature,regardless of fluctuations in steam pres-sure or water temperature.

Next, the disc is ejected from the grip-pers, the flash is trimmed off and the discis dropped onto a spindle. A mechanicalindexer automatically discharges an alum-inum spacer every five discs to preventwarpage. The spindle is automatically dis-charged from its position and an emptyspindle replaces it (Fig. 5).

CADDY HALVES

SPINES

INSERT SPINEIN CADDY

CADDY ASSEMBLY

LIP SEALSAPPLY LIP SEALS

ASSEMBLED CADDIESTO PKG

SONICWELD

Fig. 7. Caddy assembly sequence. After lip seals are applied, plastic caddy halves areultrasonically welded The spine, which will hold the disc, is inserted into the caddy.

ASSEMBLEDCADDIES

PACKAGING

APPLY LABEL

NI014%.

)LUBRICATED

DISC

(1..._."

ASSEMBLE CADDYAND DISC

SHRINKWRAP

BULK PACK

Fig. 8. A label identifying the program is glued onto the caddy and the disc is inserted.The assembly is shrink-wrapped and packed for shipment.

Chemical treatment

The final step before the disc is insertedinto the caddy consists of a chemical sur-face treatment with a dilute solution ofamines followed by hot water rinses and afinal drying step (Fig. 6).

The discs are given a chemical surfacetreatment after pressing to minimize car-rier -distress problems caused by moistureand age. Discs treated by this processshow less carrier distress (loss of pictureand sound) after moisture stress than un-treated discs. The chemically treated discs

typically average a few tenths of a secondcarrier distress after moisture stress, com-pared with 20 to 30 seconds for the un-treated discs.

After surface treatment, the discs arelubricated with a 250 -angstrom film ofspecially developed silicone oil, using aspray process and equipment developedby RCA specifically for the VideoDisc. X-ray fluorescence measurements areused to control oil thickness. This lubri-cant provides wear protection for both thedisc and stylus

Weisberg: Manufacturing the VideoDiscs: an overview 9

The caddy

Molded caddy halves are separately as-sembled and automatically welded forsup-ply to the disc operation (Fig. 7). Theassembled caddies are labeled (Fig. 8) todenote the appropriate program materialon the disc that is inserted toTorm the finalpackage assembly.

Caddies are used to protect the discfrom handling. This prevents the fingersfrom depositing on the disc salts and oilsthat would interfere with proper reproduc-tion of the play material. The caddy isdesigned so that when it is inserted into theplayer, the disc is automatically trans-ferred onto the spindle for play. In a sim-ilar way, reinsertion of the caddy will dis-engage the disc, allowing the caddy anddisc to be removed as an assembly.

Extensive quality control tests are usedduring the manufacturing process. The fi-nal product is tested by Product Assur-ance to ensure that discs to be sold meetthe highest quality standards.

Harry Weisberg received the B.S. degree inChemical Engineering from City College ofNew York in 1944 and the M.S. degree inPolymer Chemistry from Brooklyn Polytech-nic Institute in 1960. He studied electronicsat the University of Scranton.

Mr. Weisberg joined RCA in 1958, wherehe has worked in various design and pro-cess -development areas. The RCA Thyris-tor and Power Rectifier Activity functionedunder his design leadership from 1961 to1965. During this time, he supervised and

participated in the design of RCA's thyristorline.

Mr. Weisberg was appointed Manager,Thyristor Product Development in 1965. Inearly 1969, he assumed responsibility forCMOS design and technology. In 1971, headvanced to Manager, MOS IC Products,and in 1973, he became the Director for thisactivity.

In June 1974, he advanced to DivisionVice -President, Solid State MOS IntegratedCircuits. In June of 1975, he assumed respon-sibility for all of RCA's solid state activitiesin Europe, Africa and the Middle East. From1977 to 1979, he held a similar position withHarris.

He rejoined RCA in 1979 as a DivisionVice -President for the newly -formed "Se-lectaVision" VideoDisc activity. The devel-opment of the disc and initiating of produc-tion was spearheaded by him at Indianapolis.Currently, Mr. Weisberg is responsible forDevelopment Engineering for the VideoDisc.

Contact him at:"SelectaVision" VideoDisc OperationsIndianapolis, Ind.TACNET: 426-3104


F.D. Kell G. John J. Stevens

VideoDisc mastering:The software to hardware conversion

With the program, Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown, theVideoDisc Mastering activity went into production in the secondquarter of 1980, and the race to improve quality continues.

Abstract: Following a brief overview ofthe operations performed during masteringfor VideoDisc, this paper describes theefforts undertaken to enhance the qualityof the end product, the VideoDisc, and tomaximize yields.

The display board shown in Fig. 1 illus-trates the steps in mastering, the first opera-tion performed in the creation of the Video -Disc at our "SelectaVision" VideoDiscplant. Program material is received onvideotapes similar to the reel shown onthe left side of the display. This reel iscalled a sub -master because the originalcopy or master is retained by our Holly-wood operation, which performs the film -to -tape transfer. Each sub -master con-tains the program material for one side ofa disc. In this form, the program materialis referred to as software.

Shown in the upper left of Fig. 1, theinitial step in the mastering operation isto copy the sub -master for a detailed re-view against our software standards. Acopy tape is used in this review to minim-ize damage to the sub -master. This reviewmay indicate the need for additional pro-cessing of the program material to attainthe standards necessary for mastering. InFig. 1, this operation is illustrated in theupper right, and includes such things asnoise reduction, signal -level adjustments,and chroma-to-luminance timing cor-rections.

Either this enhanced copy or the ap-

1982 RCA CorporationFinal manuscript received October 14. 1991Reprint RE -27-1-3

proved sub -master is used in the finalmastering operation. As shown, the ap-proved tape is played on a special half -rate videotape system, which reduces thebandwidth, consistent with the cutting rateswe are able to reliably achieve. The half -rate video signal is encoded into the spe-cial format developed for the "SelectaVi-sion" VideoDisc system. This encodedvideo and the half -rate audio modulateseparate FM carriers, which are addedtogether to form a composite signal thatis transferred to the groove of theVideoDisc.

The actual transfer of this compositesignal into the groove pattern, which formsthe master for one side of a VideoDisc, isaccomplished in a Substrate RecordingLathe. This lathe provides a rotationaldrive for the substrate and a proportionaltranslational drive for the diamond -tipped,groove -cutting assembly called the cutter -head. The rotational speed of the sub-strate and the translational motion of thecutterhead are '''servoed" to a commonreference so that the substrate makes onerevolution for each eight TV fields, whilethe cutterhead translates about 100 mil-lionths of an inch. These two motionscreate an involute with about 10,000 groovesper inch.

The nominal depth of the groove formedby the cutterhead is 20 microinches. Thisgroove depth is modulated in proportionto the composite signal carrying video andaudio through a piezoelectric element thatsupports the cutting diamond. In essence,the nominal groove -cutting depth of thediamond is modulated by electrically driv-ing the piezoelectric element so that its

thickness changes with the composite sig-nal. The change in the piezoelectric ele-ment's thickness, and thereby the changein the depth of the groove, is nominally850 angstroms for the video carrier and80 angstroms for the audio. Tolerancesduring this cutting operation are ex-tremely tight and demand extreme pre-cision.

Following recording, the substrate re-ceives a microscopic examination to ver-ify the integrity of the grooves and then isplayed at full rate on a laser player thatsimulates the action of the disc player,but without contact with the critical sub-strate surface. Those substrates which suc-cessfully complete the microscopic exam-ination and the laser playback are de-livered to the Matrix Department for fur-ther replication.

The need for high yield

As in the start up of every new produc-tion process, yields were not as high asone would like. This was particularly crit-ical in the case of mastering because it isthe first of several production processes ina series, and imperfect yields in sub-sequent parts of the disc manufacturingcycle-that is, matrix and pressing-re-flect back ultimately to mastering with amultiplicative demand for greater output.To meet that demand, we have attemptedto get our yield as high as possible and,although not yet to the levels that wewould like, the mastering yield has sub-stantially increased from the days ofCharlie Brown and is continually getting

RCA Engineer 27-1 Jan./Feb. 1982 11

toMASTERIt

the

COPY SUE -MISTER FOR REVIEW

crdwarc conversion

ENHANCE SUB MASTER

(if required)

Fig. 1. A display board used at the "SelectaVision' VideoDisc Operation. It illustrates thebasic functions performed in the creation of the master recording, the substrate, which ismatrixed (the substrate makes many masters which make many mothers which makemany stampers) to produce a multiplicity of the stampers used to press the disc. Separatesubstrates and stampers are obviously required for each side of the disc.

better. In this article, we will give insightinto our mastering operation by sharing afew of our more interesting struggles towin the race with Charlie Brown and theever-expanding group of program selec-tions that followed.

The biggest problem:the smallest tolerances

As mentioned, the cutting depths for thevideo and audio are respectively 850 ang-stroms and 80 angstroms (80 angstroms isabout 320 billionths of an inch). For goodsystem performance these depths must beaccurately controlled, and the toleranceone must impose to accurately repeat adimension of 320 billionths of an inch is

very, very small. In the effort to improveour substrate quality at the beginning ofVideoDisc mastering, maintaining thesecutting -depth tolerances was our greatesttechnical problem. At that time, the video-carrier depth measurements were takenfrom SEM (scanning electron microscope)photographs of a thin nickel replica ofthe recorded substrate. The audio depthwas inferred from the ratio of audio -car-rier amplitude to the video -carrier ampli-tude as measured on the Laser SubstrateReader. These techniques of carrier mea-surements were time consuming, not veryaccurate, and always open for question-ing. It generally took a week or morefrom the time a recording was made untilthe SEM measurements were available.Later on, audio -carrier measurements bymeans of SEM photomicrographs were

added to the recorded substrate inspec-tion to verify and/or support playbackmeasurements from the laser substratereader.

In January 1980, we started using alaser diffraction spectrometer designed andbuilt by the RCA Laboratories. Princeton.for measurement of the video carrier inlieu of the SEM photomicrographs. Thediffraction spectrometer is a device de-signed to measure the diffraction spec-trum produced when illuminating a re-corded substrate by means of a laser beam.This instrument calculates, displays andplots the video -carrier signal depth and asquared error signal. The error signal indi-cates the difference between the grooveshape of the substrate being measuredand an "ideal" triangular groove cross sec-tion. thereby providing information on


the groove geometry of the substrate un-der investigation; for example, showinggroove anomalies caused by worn or bro-ken cutting styli or groove nonsymmetrycaused by a tilted cutting stylus. The dif-fraction spectrometer, used for video -car-rier measurements, improved the accu-racy, resolution and repeatability of themeasured values by at least one order ofmagnitude over the measurements takenfrom SEM photomicrographs.

The need for much tighter control ofthe audio -carrier depth to provide goodaudio performance without crosstalk ofthe audio signal into the video signal wasmet in May 1980 with the "Sound CarrierAmplitude Measurement System." Thismeasuring system was built to specifica-tions set forth in a disclosure by W.R.Roach of the Princeton Laboratories, andis based on measuring and analyzing thediffraction pattern of a laser beam whenilluminating a relatively large area of aradially synchronized audio -carrier testband.

The use of the laser -diffraction -basedmeasuring systems has brought about amajor increase in mastering quality con-trol. Use of these systems-for determina-tion of the initial cutterhead response inthe video and audio carrier regions, formeasuring cutterhead response changes.and for evaluation of recorded substrates-has dropped the rejection rate of sub-strates for out -of -specification signal am-plitudes to a very low and acceptable level.

The copper caper

The second major mastering problem wasderived from a phenomenon known to usas chip ball -ups. a condition where someof the copper chips (shavings created dur-ing the substrate -recording operation)damage the grooves or weld into them.Extended correlations finally pinpointedthe problem. Something was wrong withthe plating baths used to deposit the cop-per surface on the substrate. These bathscontain a special organic brightener usedby the automotive industry to obtain ashiny, smooth copper underplating forchrome bumpers on cars. Thus, the stan-dards on the brightener product had beencontrolled by the industry only to theextent that it produces a "bright" bumperunderplating. The industry had shown lit-tle concern about the ability of the pro-duct to produce a copper plating intowhich 100-microinch-wide grooves couldbe machined without chip ball -ups.

To unravel mysteries in the plating process,additional instrumentation was obtainedfor the Matrix Department and frequentreadings of critical bath parameters wereembodied into the correlation with machin-ing results. These efforts revealed a criti-cal. nonlinear relationship between bathchloride and brightener concentrations thatsignificantly affects the metallurgical. andhence machining properties of the copperdeposit.

With this nominal understanding of theprocess, we started to develop processcontrols so that we could operate at thedesired concentrations. This proved to beeasier said than done because the con-sumption of both brightener and chlorideduring plating have separate nonlinearrelationships dependent on the concentra-tion of both. Reasonable control was fi-nally attained through a strategy of anestimated add after each part, with dailyadds based on a bath analysis to adjust themixture to optimum concentrations.

Just as we were beginning to perfectbath control and hence reduce chip ball -ups during mastering, another correlationindicated a time -dependent deteriorationof those substrates plated at the lowerconcentrations of chloride and brightener.Metallurgical tests subsequently verifiedthat the extremely fine-grain copper pro-duced in the bright copper acid bath doesin fact recrystallize with time at the lowerbrightener concentrations. Since this con-dition significantly influenced the numberof masters which could be matrixed fromeach substrate. a least cost trade-off fa-vored less optimum copper for machin-ing. Hence, we are currently "living" witha higher level of chip ball -ups in master-ing until the copper process is furtherrefined, but at least we know that thesubstrates we deliver will perform well inthe Matrix Department.

Improving cutterhead quality

The foremost efforts in the cutterhead pro-duction area, since the start of productionrecording, were to improve cutterhead qual-ity within the basic design constraints ofour "standard" cutterhead. The first sig-nificant improvement came about inApril 1980 when we modified the curingtime/temperature of the diamond-to-PZTepoxy bond to produce a stronger andmore reliable bond, which greatly reducedthe failures that were due to loss of thediamond -cutting styli.

After some extensive testing. a changeto thinner elements in the cutterhead trans-

ducer was adapted for the "standard" cut-terhead in December 1980. The change tothe smaller transducer resulted in an in-creased cutterhead resonant frequency,which eases equalization of the cutterheadand improves the differential gain charac-teristics markedly. In addition to theseimprovements, some increases in cutter -head quality were also achieved throughupgraded assembly and testing fixtures,and procedures. Engineers at RCA Lab-oratories, Princeton, have been very in-strumental in designing fixtures and es-tablishing cutterhead assembly proce-dures, as well as initiating and/or provingout most of the improvements describedabove.

Diamonds aren't forever

As the volume of substrates delivered tothe Matrix Departament began to increase,we built a database on those substrateswhich had "matrixed" successfully. Inother words, these substrates had sup-ported the production of a large numberof masters. In our terminology, they had"fanned" well. We analyzed this databaseseeking genetic reasons for their success-ful "fanning." (The copper recrystalliza-tion problem described earlier was re-vealed by correlation of parameters onthose substrates that "fanned" poorly).Numerous parameters in the masteringand matrixing processes were consideredin these correlations, including parametersin the copper baths, rake angle of the cut-terhead diamond, diamond supplier, andcutting order of the diamond (that is. firstcut with a new diamond, second cut withthe diamond, and so on, through retire-ment of the cutterhead because the dia-mond had exceeded our limits for dimen-sional wear). These correlations provedhighly informative, showing significantvariations in "fanability" with both cut-ting order and supplier. One supplier'sdiamonds showed excellent "fanability"of substrates cut on the first three cuts ofa new diamond, but then deteriorated rap-idly, while the "fanability" of substratescut with other major supplier's diamondsstarted at good and improved to excellentas the number of cuts increased. The dif-ference in performance between the twosuppliers's diamonds is assumed to resultfrom a known difference in the diamondcrystallographic orientation, however, thisis still under investigation.ln the interim,we have revised our diamond retirementstrategy to optimize the substrate "fana-bility" in the matrix operations.

Kell/John/Stevens: VideoDisc mastering: The software to hardware conversion 13

Gunter John joined Magnetic Products Divi-sion in 1966. In 1972, he transferred to"SelectaVision" VideoDisc Operations wherehe was responsible for the Indianapolis Elec-tron Beam Recording and later the Elec-tromechanical Recording effort. His pres-ent position is Manager of VideoDisc Mas-tering in VideoDisc Opera-tions.Contact him at:"SelectaVision" VideoDisc OperationsIndianapolis, Ind.TACNET: 426-3071

Don Kell is the Manager of Mastering Sys-tems in "SelectaVision" VideoDisc Opera-tions. He joined RCA in 1955 on a coopera-tive work assignment from Drexel Instituteof Technology and has performed in a widerange of engineering and management assign-ments relating to wideband recording/pro-cessing for government and commercialsystems. He has been a part of the drive tolaunch the VideoDisc and extend the cata-log of available titles since February, 1980.Contact him at"SelectaVision" VideoDisc OperationsIndianapolis, Ind.TACNET: 426-3376

John Stevens joined RCA in 1966 from theB.B.C. in London. He has had technicaland production experience with televisionsystems worldwide. Recently, he was respon-sible for Telecine products (film and film tovideo) for Broadcast Systems Division. Heis Manager of Signal Generation Operationsat "SelectaVision" VideoDisc Operations.Contact him at:"SelectaVision" VideoDisc OperationsIndianapolis, Ind.TACNET: 426-3378

The revision in our strategy had anapparent dramatic effect on the "fanabil-ity" of our substrates. In particular. thenumber of substrates rejected after thefirst use in electroforming a masterdropped to nearly zero, reducing the de-mand on the Mastering Department andimproving the efficiency in the MatrixDepartment.

A front-end realignment

The final picture quality of the VideoDiscdepends to a great extent on the qualityof the program material that we master.The old adage, "Garbage in, garbage out,"holds true for VideoDisc. Program soft-ware supplied to our operation must meetvery tight technical specifications. Some-times material does not meet specifica-

tions because of limitations in the originalsoftware. For example, an old archive filmstarring Charlie Chaplin may not meettechnical specifications but may have greatpublic appeal. Obviously, experienced mar-keting and technical decisions have to bebrought into play in the final approval ofprogram material for mastering.

Before being scheduled for mastering, asoftware program is given a detailed re-view. This evaluation is conducted againsta different set of standards than for broad-cast television. The viewer at home watch-ing VideoDisc will doubtless play the discthrough many times and each time maynotice the same defect. Defects in pro-gram material on broadcast television arelargely forgotten because the opportunityfor replay at the viewer's discretion doesnot exist. Thus, VideoDisc program mate-rial has to meet a higher standard. Poor

edits, frame jumps and other short -perioddefects can become irritants with multiplereplays, so we have learned to look forand correct these imperfections with ourpre-processing equipment.

Some of the parameters evaluated byProduct Assurance and Mastering duringsoftware review can be graded by directmeasurement of the video signal wave-form. Others have to be graded by theexperienced eye and ear of the reviewingtechnician. Table I lists some importantparameters in software evaluation.

With the introductory VideoDisc cata-log behind us, experience has taught us todistinguish software that will make a qual-ity VideoDisc from software that will not.We have developed the capability toscreen, and frequently correct the softwareat the front end, before mastering, thusensuring the best possible program quality.

14 RCA Engineer 27-1 Jan./Feb 1982

Summary andacknowledgmentThe race to master the substrates requiredfor the VideoDisc introductory catalog

Table I. Software evaluation parameters.

Video parameter

Picture white level Large area Specular

Set-up levelSync levelLuminance signal to noise ratioChroma/luminance delayColorimetry

Chroma levelColor shadingPhotoconductive lagDigital lagPicture sharpness (acuity)Edge transient responseGrey scaleDark scene detailControl track pulsesRS 170 A. sync standard

Audio parameter

Audio levelDistortionBandwidth and dynamic rangeBalance of dialog to music

Other

Condition of tape reelPoor program editsFilm scratchesTime code

was completed on schedule in January of1981. This success resulted from signifi-cant improvement in our VideoDisc mas-tering operation across many areas, em-bodying a broad range of technology.These improvements would not have oc-curred without considerable support fromorganizational elements of RCA outsideour Mastering activity. Improvements insoftware and signal processing were sup-ported by activities headed by Al Malangin Hollywood, Jon Clemens in Princeton,and Jim Miller/Ed Freeman and FrankLevine/ Steve Godsey at Rockville Road;all with considerable consulting supportfrom L.R. (Kirk) Kirkwood. Contributionsin laser technology, particularly in the sig-nal depth measurement techniques deve-loped by Ron Roach, were spearheadedby the group led by Istvan Gorog inPrinceton. Insight into copper process/metallurgical/machineabilit interactionswere supported heavily by the Princetonactivity under Len Fox, with support fromconsultant Carl Horsting, a long-termRCA employee retired in status but notin contributions. In cutterheads/coppermachineability/diamond physics. JohnVanRaalte's group in Princeton set a rapidpace for developments and supplied gooddocumentation packages. And finallymany of the correlations of our databases,which proved again the value of statisticsin refining a production process, were sup-ported by Tom Strauss's group in our Rock-ville Product Assurance activity.

Kell/John/Stevens: VideoDisc mastering: The software to hardware conversion 15

B. Whipple V.S. Dunn

VideoDisc material compoundingdemands the right chemistry

The ingredients shown on this page were transformed into thepure, electrically conductive thermoplastic pellets (next page)with the right chemistry for RCA's VideoDiscs.

How do we make an electricallyconductive thermoplastic that canreplicate signal elements havingdimensions about two or threetimes larger than the dimensions of thethermoplastic molecules and conduc-tive carbon -black particles? How canwe fill a thermoplastic so full of con-ductive carbon black that the particlestouch and interlock while still allowingthe mixture to flow readily for faithfulreplication? How can a thermo-plastic composition be formulated to

be easily released from the mold sur-face without depositing at the interfacea film that can obscure signal ele-ments? What plasticization system canbe chosen to enhance flow duringprocessing without promoting shrink-age during the expected life of aVideoDisc? How can an inherentlyunstable thermoplastic, in a carbon -black -filled compound that promotesabnormally high shear heating, beprocessed through compounding,extruding and molding operations?

The ingredients

The above questions illustrate just a fewof the parameters the VideoDisc com-pound must satisfy. Most properties areobtained at the expense of others andevery ingredient affects several critical pa-rameters. The list of properties that definea VideoDisc compound provide a narrowwindow for materials and usage levels,which must be methodically determinedto achieve the best combination of Video -Disc properties and playback perfor-ance. The formulation consists of ingre-dients that are individually discussedbelow.

PVC

PVC (polyvinyl chloride) thermoplastic hasa long history of use in audio records,however, the conductive VideoDisc corn -

01982 RCA CorporationFinal manuscript received September 17, 1981Reprint RE -27-1-4

pound is more demanding. In the Video -Disc compound, the PVC is the majoringredient used as the matrix that sur-rounds the carbon black. This thermo-plastic possesses a good balance of wear,scratch resistance, rigidity, and resilience.But it has poor thermal stability and de-grades under heat and processing, liberat-ing corrosive by-products.

Carbon black

Even though PVC is the major ingredientin the formulation, carbon black is themost important component. The carbon -black properties are not only critical butare variable from lot to lot. It is not yetpossible to obtain carbon black with uni-form structure and surface area. There-fore, the percentage of carbon black inthe formulation is routinely adjusted toproduce a compound with consistent elec-trical and flow properties.

The conductive carbon black in the Video -Disc has a surface area of approximately

Before

1000 square meters per gram. The largerthe surface area, the more conductive isthe carbon black for a given weight per-centage of carbon. The incorporation ofcarbon black decreases the flow of thecompound, thus making processing diffi-cult. The carbon black, as received, is afree -flowing granule. The granules mustbe easily dispersed with the PVC andother formulation components during high -intensity mixing.

The carbon black contains trace impur-ities, which can decrease the thermal sta-bility of the compound and the playbackperformance of the VideoDisc. Thermalstability is monitored throughout theprocess.

Stabilizers

Stabilizers retard the rate of thermal deg-radation of the PVC thermoplastic, there-by allowing it to be processed at tempera-tures approaching 200°C. The most effec-tive stabilizers in VideoDisc formulationsare of the organo-tin type. A combinationof stabilizers-both solid and liquid-hasbeen found to provide the widest latitudeof protection.

Plasticizers

Liquid plasticizers in the VideoDisc for-mula act as processing aids during dryblending, compounding and molding. Our"plasticizer was chosen for its flow enhance-ment during molding and its compatibil-ity with the PVC thermoplastic. Goodcompatibility ensures that plasticizers will

16 RCA Engineer 27-1 -Jan./Feb. 1982

and after

not migrate to the surface during the lifeof the VideoDisc. Plasticizers with poorcompatibility will adversely affect play-back. The total concentration of liquidcomponents in the formulation must bekept low to minimize shrinkage.

Lubricants

A lubrication system performs several indis-pensable functions in a VideoDisc formu-lation. The lubricants promote uniformityin the dry blend, reduce friction betweenthe thermoplastic melt and the metal sur-faces of the process equipment, lessenshear heating between polymer molecules,and aid release of the melt from the mold'smetal surface.

An effective lubrication system is com-posed of several lubricants acting in sucha manner that all the lubrication criteriaare satisfied for each processing step. Abalance between internal polymer -to -po-lymer interactions and external polymer -to -metal interactions must be struck toachieve optimum performance.

Our system was determined from theresults of a great deal of testing and ex-tensive trials. As the process was refined,

Abstract: The chemical formulation forVideoDisc depends on the ingredients andon the process. Polyvinyl chloride is thethermoplastic matrix for a conductive car-bon black with a large surface area. Inaddition, stabilizers, plasticizers, lubri-cants. and processing aids indispensablycontribute to the formulation's success.The mixing process is unique because ofthe large amount of carbon put into a free -flowing, powdered, dry blend that is subse-quently fused, melted and dispersed furtherin the extruding -compounding -pelletizingsteps.

nrb,_ENDt.

DRY BLENDMETERINGSCREW

NO Or*

11F-1.4-1111ykoifte1

IMTENSI VE

MIXER

CYVOUNDENT

DRY

BLEND

TRANSFER

SCREW

VOLATILE

REMOVAL

PELLETIZINGEXTRUDER

7ELEI 7

:UTTER

STRAND

QIE

The ingredients are converted to dry blend in the mixer, then cooled in the ribbonblender. The dry blend is melted and dispersed in the mixer -kneader sectior, devolatil-ized and pelletized.

the lubricant levels were adjusted. Thelubrication system consists of two fatty -acid -ester waxes and a metallic stearate.

Processing aids

Processing aids are used to promote fu-sion and melting of the PVC resin by fus-ing the particles together at an early stagein the compounding step. These ingre-dients increase the melt strength after fu-sion, and provide a controlled rate offusion and uniform shear -heat generation.The processing aid is an effective externallubricant during processing, and it pro-vides an excellent means for releasing themetal from the plastic at elevated tem-peratures.

Compound preparation

Our formulation consists of PVC, carbonblack, liquid and solid tin stabilizers, pow-dered ester waxes, a powdered metallicstearate lubricant, a powdered processingaid, and a liquid plasticizer. These are allintensively mixed into a uniform and free -flowing, powdered dry blend. The dry blendis fused, melted, and dispersed further in

the extruding -compounding -pelletizingsteps.

The mixing process is unique becauseof the large amount of carbon that is

incorporated in the compound. The in-tensive mixer resembles a large Waringblender. When the carbon is first addedto the vinyl in the mixer, the total volumeincreases considerably. As the intensivemixing continues, the carbon becomes dis-persed with the PVC and other dry ingre-dients. The volume decreases with mixingas the carbon particles fill the voids be-tween and become adsorbed on the vinylparticles.

After a batch is blended, it is droppedinto a ribbon blender where it is cooledby contact with the walls of the coolerand the previously cooled batch of mate-rial. The cooling step is critical since therate of cooling determines the final den-sity of the dry blend. The extruder is feddry blend on a volumetric basis and con-stant extrusion rates depend on constantcooling rates in the dry -blend step.

The heart of the pelletizing system isthe compounding extruder. It is a singlescrew extruder that rotates and recipro-cates in a combined motion. The flights(threads) of the screw are segmented and

Whipple/Dunn: VideoDisc material compounding demands the right chemistry 17

the inside of the barrel has protrudingpins that mesh with the segmented screwflights. The ends of the segmented screwflights pass close to the specially shapedpins, creating a localized intensive shearingaction. The intensive shearing is followedby a gentler flow that interrupts the lami-nar flow in this region and shifts thesheared material away from the high -intensity mixing location. The rotationalpath of the screw -flight segments passesthe pins first on one side and then theother for a front and rear wiping actionand positive material exchange. The in-tensity of the shearing and mixing actionis dependent upon the clearance betweenthe rotating screw segments and the sta-tionary pins.

The material is fed to the extruder as adry blend. The dry blend is metered tothe mixing section by a vertical feed screwin the hopper above the extruder barrel.The rate at which the dry blend is fed tothe mixing section is one of the pa-rameters that determine the location atwhich the dry blend fluxes into a melt insidethe extruder. Another parameter that deter-mines the flux point is the back pressuredeveloped at the downstream end of themixing extruder. This is mainly a functionof the rotational speed of the transferscrew. The mixing section delivers melted,dispersed compound to the transfer sec-tion. The material, in molten form, passesthrough a vacuum port where moistureand other volatiles are removed. The de -volatilized compound transfers to a single -screw pelletizing extruder, where the com-pound is forwarded and forced throughsmall holds in the die plate. As thestrands emerge from the die, a rotatingknife cuts the strands and forms the pel-lets. The chopped molten pellet, relievedof stress after it is cut, changes from acylindrical to a barrel -like shape. The hotpellets are cooled in a fluidized -bed counter-current unit and then screened for over -and under -sized pellets. The pelletized com-pound is packaged in stainless -steelcontainers. These containers are tumble -mixedand the container is tested as a lot.

Any particulate contaminant that becomespart of the compound can create seriousproblems. As the stylus rides along in thegroove, the pressure created at the stylus -

Bruce Whipple is Manager of Compoundand Plastic Development for "Selecta-Vision" VideoDisc Operations at Indianapo-lis. His group is responsible for compoundformulation and process development ofthe compounding and pressing of discs.He joined the VideoDisc team in 1979.Contact him at"SelectaVision" VideoDisc OperationsIndianapolis, Ind.TACN ET: 426-3015

Victor Dunn joined RCA in 1979 as aMember Engineering Staff. His responsi-bilities include developing correlationsbetween the physical properties of carbonblack and VideoDisc playback perfor-mance, establishing a carbon -black source,assisting in the development of improvedVideoDisc compounds, and selection of thecompounding system used in production.Mr. Dunn has had over 16 years' expe-rience in techniques related to the poly-merization, stabilization, compounding, andprocessing of polyvinyl chloride resins.Contact him at"SelectaVision" VideoDisc OperationsIndianapolis, Ind.TACN ET: 426-3018

disc interface is quite high. If the localcompliance of the disc varies abruptly,the stylus may loft and lose signal tem-porarily. If the lofting is relatively smalland if the stylus lands in the same groove,electronic compensation will provide a sub-stitute signal. If the stylus lofts forward orback, a noticeable flaw will be seen by theviewer. Buried particles as small as 20micrometers can create serious viewingflaws. For this reason we filter and screenthe ingredients in our plant, in addition tothe special treatment they are given bythe manufacturer. Highly filtered air isused to transport the materials every-where in the processing up to the pointthat the compound is pressed into a disc.

Viscosity is a sensitive indication of theuniformity of the compound and is used

as the major control of processing proper-ties. Since the viscosity of two-phase sys-tems (carbon and PVC compound) is an.indication of the volume of filler, viscosityis also a dependable predictor of the elec-trical behavior of the disc. After the lot ofcompound is tested and accepted, it is

ready to be pressed into discs.

Conclusion

Formulating and processing the VideoDisccompound is complex. The system is nowdeveloped so that precision discs can beroutinely manufactured. The formulationand process will further evolve with theoptimization of the entire disc manufac-turing system.

18 RCA Engineer 27-1 Jan /Feb. 1982

M. McNeely 1M. Bock

Micro -molding is a VideoDisc requirement

A human hair is as wide as 22 VideoDisc grooves in the scan-ning electron micrograph shown below (500X magnification).How do our VideoDisc engineers use materials and equipmentto precisely mold all the signal elements within these micro-scopic grooves?

Abstract: For VideoDisc manufacturing,compression molding is used to success-fully mold the high -percentage carbon -filledconductive compound into a precision discwith grooves one ten -thousandth of an inchwide and 12 miles long. The micro -mold-ing process and equipment, together withpitfalls to be avoided, are described.

Molding the RCA "CED" VideoDisc pre-sents a variety of unusual manufacturingopportunities. How do you mold a partone ten -thousandth of an inch wide and12 miles long without any visual defects?The RCA VideoDisc contains such a grooveon each side of the disc. This disc must bemolded from a very stiff (by audio recordstandards), limited stability, carbon -filledmaterial.

The grooves are so small that 38 ofthem will fit on the edge of a new dollarbill. The recorded video and audio infor-mation is contained in the bottom of thesegrooves. Figure 1 is a scanning electronmicrograph of a human hair and a Video -Disc groove. Compression molding detailin the 10 -angstrom (or 0.00000004 -inch)range is required for the VideoDiscs. Thisarticle briefly covers the progress to datein the molding of the VideoDisc.

41982 RCA CorporationFinal manuscript recerved Oct 14. 1981Reprint R E -27-1- 5

AL WHITLOW100U A RCA

Fig. 1. This is a SEM photograph at 500X magnification showing a human hair and theRCA VideoDisc grooves. The signal elements (video ana audio information) are the slotsor holes horizontal to the vertical groove.

Molding equipment

The present RCA carbon -filled conduc-tive VideoDisc became the system stan-dard in mid -1977. Before then, the discswere injection molded from a non -filledPVC and then several coatings-metallic,insulating, and oil-were applied in apost -processing system. The carbon -filled

conductive compounds could not bemolded by injection molding because oftheir high viscosity, limited heat stability,and unusual flow characteristics. As a re-sult, the injection -molding equipment hadto be abandoned.

Compression molding was selected asthe only known process that could suc-cessfully mold the high -percentage carbon -


SEPARATORSEPARATOR-

VACUUMPICK UP

SEPARATORSrl

1

PELLET-DRYER

PREFORM CUP-

SPINDLEDDISCS

1

UPPER PLATEN

LOWER/ PLATEN

MOLD WITHSTAMPERATTACHED

r-

PUCK

WATER AND STEAMVALVES

COMPOUNDPELLETS

IN

II JZ

Fig. 2. The illustration shows the relative position of the various press components,except the disc edging station, which is located directly behind the press between themolding area and the spindled discs.

filled conductive compound. A worldwidestudy by RCA Records and Princeton de-termined that the best equipment for mold-ing audio records was a compression pressmade in Europe. Initial contacts with theEuropean company led to a joint de-velopment effort to provide an acceptableVideoDisc molding method. This joint ef-fort was required because standard audiopresses could not mold acceptable Video -Discs. We are presently using the thirdconfiguration of the European press. Thecompression -molding press comprises fourmajor sections, for extruding, molding,edging, and spindling. Figure 2 illustratesthe various components of the moldingsystem. The operation of the molding sys-tem is briefly described in this section.

Dried conductive -compound pellets areautomatically loaded in the single -screwextruder. This unit uses electrical heat anda single extruder screw to form a speciallyshaped preform (or puck). Temperatureswithin the preform, at the time it is loadedinto the press, are approximately 375°F.

Additional information about the manu-facturing of the compound can be foundin the article by Whipple and Dunn in thisissue.

The molding section consists of a three -post, 112 -ton, horizontal platen press withsteam -heated and water-cooled molds.These molds hold the electroformed stamp-ers that have the recorded video and audioinformation on them. The extruder's pre-form loader automatically inserts a hot pre-form between the steam -heated molds.When the mold temperature reaches thehigh -limit setting, the press's lower ramstarts up and the disc is molded. Aunique feature of the VideoDisc moldingsystem is that a 1.3 -in. disc -center hole ismolded at the same time the disc is beingformed. This feature is required because ofthe close tolerances needed for the discside -to -side eccentricity. As the lower plat-en continues to close, the preform materialflows across the mold face and throughan outer diameter orifice into a disc remov-al ring. The mold steam shuts off and the

water starts cooling the mold. Atabout 80°F, the lower platen drops andthe disc is removed from the mold. Next,the disc -removal ring carries the disc fromthe molding area to the edging station.

The disc compression -molding processuses the outer orifice of the mold and theheating and cooling cycle to build up pres-sure within the mold cavity. This processresults in a ring of flash around the disc.Flash removal is accomplished during theedging operation. An upper and lowerturntable, heated knife, and air routermake up the edging station.

The edging cycle starts as the next disc isbeing molded. The disc -edge flash is cut bythe heated knife before the closed turn-table starts rotating. The knife removesthe disc flash that leads to the thin sectionformed by the mold orifice. An air routermachines the disc edge to the flatnessrequired to allow interface with the caddyspline. Upon completion of the edgingcycle, the upper turntable is raised and the


transferred to the spindle system, automat-ically.

At the spindling station, the discs areplaced on a spindle, Fig. 2, with a separa-tor every fifth disc. These separators areautomatically placed on the spindle asspecified to assure that the discs remainflat while on the spindle, and meet thesystem specifications for warp and accel-eration. After 90 discs are placed on thespindle, the index table shifts and an emp-ty spindle moves into the loading posi-tion. Full spindles of discs are movedfrom the pressing area for visual inspec-tion, post -processing and packaging be-fore shipment.

The various molding -system operationsrequire close control of steam, water andhydraulic services, and a microprocessorcontrols the press functions.

Process requirements

Compression molding is a seemingly sim-ple process used for decades to manufac-ture everything from toilet seats to audiorecords. The process itself is simple

PRESS CLOSING COOLING CYCLE OPEN

Fig. 3. Irregular hydraulic pressures, as representez by dotted line, induce stress into themolded disc. Warpage is the result of this stress. Controlled pressures, as represented bysolid line, induce less stress, and therefore lead to a much flatter disc.

enough; it consists of an extruder to meltthe compound and make it into a pre-form of desirable weight and shape. Thepreform is then placed between the two halves

Michael McNeely is Manager of Manufac-turing Equ pment Engineering for the "Selec-taVision" VideoDisc Operation. He joined RCARecords Division at Indianapolis in 1967 asan Equipment Engineer in the EquipmentDevelopment section. From 1970 to 1972,he was involved in the Holographic Play-back Project. His efforts on the VideoDiscProgram have included various aspects ofthe equipment related to electroplating, fin-ishing, compression and injection molding,compounding, post processing, and pack-aging.Contact him at:"SelectaVision" VideoDisc OperationsIndianapolis, Ind.TACNET: 426-3083

)titk

Marvin BOCK joined RCA in 1975 as aMolding Specialist and was promoted toManufacturirg Methods Engineer in 1977.His respons bilities include refinement ofthe molding process and trouble -shootingproduction problems. Mr. Bock had an ex-tensive background in injection molding priorto joining RCA.Contact him at:"SelectaVision" VideoDisc OperationsIndianapol s, Ind.TACNET: &26-3215

t

of a heated mold whose configuration anddetail one wishes to copy. The mold isthen closed, using hydraulic pressure toform the semi -molten compound to theexact shape of the mold cavities. The com-pound then cools to a solid state, themold is opened and the formed product isremoved.

Adaptation of this simple process tothe manufacture of the VideoDisc, withflatness specifications of less than 10 milsand microscopic groove replication re-quirements, presented some special prob-lems. Two of the major problems are discwarpage and surface defects. Excessive discwarpage was overcome by the develop-ment of a new mold design, more effec-tive control of cooling -water temperatureand pressure, and better control of thepress hydraulic system. Any high-pressurehydraulic fluctuation in the press has apronounced effect upon the molded discwarpage. This effect was measured by in-stalling pressure transducers in the presshydraulic system, recording the pressuresignal, and observing the disc flatness. Thesemeasurements were made with good pres-sure control, and also while purposely caus-ing the hydraulic pressure to fluctuate.Figure 3 is the hydraulic pressure curveunder both constant and varying pressureconditions. Achieving the required controlof the hydraulic system helped to elimi-nate disc warpage.

Other factors affecting disc warpage aremold -cooling rate (thermal shock) and press -closure speed (dynamic pressure). Thesefactors have a less profound effect upon

McNeely/Bock: Micro -molding is a VideoDisc requirement 21

disc warpage than the peak hydraulic pres-sures; nevertheless, they had to bebrought under control before we couldachieve the disc flatness requirements.

Surface defects

Imperfections in the disc surface cancause stylus -tracking problems, increasednoise, or signal loss. These defects arevoids, blisters and stains.

Void: This is a hole in the disc surfacecaused by air entrapment during the mold-ing process. This defect was eliminated byproducing a dense preform, free of anyair pockets, with a shape that flows ra-dially during the pressing stage withouttrapping air.

Blister: This is a bubble on the disc sur-face, usually caused by gasses generatedduring the extrusion cycle, or moistureincluded with the compound. Close con-trol of temperatures is necessary to pre-vent an overheating of the compound that

would result in the production of gas. Toguard against possible moisture contami-nation, the compound is transported andstored in sealed tote bins before it is usedon the Press Floor. As a final precaution,the compound is dried in the press hopperbefore the extrusion cycle begins.

Stain: This is a surface buildup or etchingin the video groove area of the stamper.As a result, the molded disc has less signaldepth or higher noise. Once the stamp-ers become stained, the press run must beaborted and a new stamper setup must beinstalled. Oil and water vapor stains areminimized by careful maintenance of pipeconnections. Also, the press is kept in aClass -100 clean area, an environment witha maximum of 100 particles bigger than0.5 iLm per cubic foot and a maximum of10 particles bigger than 5.0 Aim per cubicfoot. Staining of the stampers at the presscan also be the result of compound decom-position. Compound decomposition in theextruder is caused by low heat -stabilitymaterial. Any compound in the extruder

during the heating -up period may be sub-jected to thermal degradation. Care mustbe used in the start-up procedures to makesure all degraded compound is purgedprior to loading preforms into the mold.

Conclusion

The VideoDisc requires molding detail inthe 10 -angstrom range. To achieve thisdetail and minimize defects, the moldingprocess parameters and equipment mustbe closely controlled. The developmentefforts by the RCA Rockville Road engi-neering groups has produced an accept-able process for molding the VideoDiscs.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank those engineers,technicians, draftsmen and others who havemade the successful molding of the Video -Disc possible.


L.A. Torr ngton

Design and manufacturing of the VideoDisc caddy

Once the VideoDisc is made, the tough and elegantlyengineered caddy protects it.

Abstract: The details of the VideoDisccaddy's design and manufacture are given.The caddy adapts to a slot -leading conceptfor VideoDisc protection. The caddy alsoprovides for side identification. Interfaceswith the player and with the disc arecovered, and a description of the caddy -and -spine molding process, assembly, test-ing and labeling is given.

Since the need was recognized for a pro-tective cover for the VideoDisc, the caddyhas evolved as a combination of disc pro -

01982 RCA CorporationFinal manuscript received August 10. 1981.Reprint RE -27-1-8

- CADDY ASSEMBLY

tection, handling convenience, and con-sumer appeal. The large billboard labelpresents an attractive image of a qualityproduct to the customer. Shown above isthe caddy assembly-parts and process.

Design considerationsand approach

When enclosing the disc within a protec-tive cover, the most important designaspect was that the device be adaptable toa player design that could use a slot -load-ing concept. This concept eliminated theinconvenience of opening the player lid toload and unload discs.

Earlier designs calling for the disc itselfto be gripped by fingers inside the playerwere abandoned in favor of having thedisc enclosed within a spine. The spinegave flexibility to the player's latchingmechanism, because the leading edge ofthe spine could be shaped to a configura-tion that would lend itself to consistentlatching.

Because the disc would always stay with-in the spine when being loaded and un-loaded from the player, the Side 1 and 2

correlation of disc to spine would bemaintained, even if the caddy sleeve werereversed. The package design emphasizeda balance of rigidity, impact resistanceand thermal stability at low cost.


"Is the correct disc in the correct caddy?"

Imagine a consumer's surprise if hebought a VideoDisc of a recentmovie presentation, invited hisfriends home to watch, got settled infront of the TV with snacks anddrinks, put the caddy into the playerand found himself watching cookinglessons! What an embarrassment toeveryone-especially RCA!

Can it happen? All systems are fal-lible, but the greatest care and theuse of electronic detection methodsare used to prevent this situation.The method used for ensuring thatno mix-ups occur is a verificationsystem that reads bar codes on thedisc and label. When similarnumbers are obtained, this allowsthe automatic loading machine tooperate and insert the disc into thecaddy.

On the back of the caddy label is astandard Universal Product codesimilar to that shown on many gro-cery items. This code is used byretailers at checkout counters to gaininformation; by distributors to simplifywarehouse inventories, receiving,shipping and returns processing;and by the manufacturer to controlproduction and manipulate a widerange of data. The most importantVideoDisc production use, however,is that this bar code must corres-pond to a similar code molded intothe disc.

The sequence of assembly startswith a labeled caddy into which thespine has previously been inserted,with the Side 1 of the spine corres-ponding to the front pictorial side ofthe label. The caddy and spine areplaced into a fixture that will thespine from the caddy only if the cor-rect orientation is made. This willoccur when the back side of thelabel is upwards so that the bar codecan be scanned and the Side 1 ofthe spine is downwards so that theunlocking mechanism can operate.

After unlocking, the scan is madeand the numeric characters areshown on a display. The spine isnow withdrawn to allow insertion ofthe disc. The disc is inserted into theopen spine with its bar code down-wards ready to be scanned from

Om

S

It.Bar code verifier system. This system electronically scans the bar codes on the caddylabel and the disc, allowing automatic loading of the disc into the caddy when similarreadings are registered on the displays.

This view shows the molded -in barcode on the disc. It identifies Side One.

underneath. As the bar code on the -disc is always molded on Side 1, thiswill establish the correct orientationfor Sides 1 and 2 of the disc corres-ponding to the correct sides of thespine.

After scanning the disc, and if thedisplay corresponds (confirming thecorrect program matches the label),

The label bar code is shown enlarged.It must match the disc before assem-bly is completed.

a mechanism is activated that closesthe completed assembly.

When a two -disc album is pro-duced, an extension is added to thelabel bar code to distinguish Parts 1and 2. Similar information is moldedinto the disc bar code to recognizethis difference and the samesequence is followed.


Function of individualcomponents

Apart from the VideoDisc itself, the cad-dy assembly consists of two injection -mold-ed caddy halves, two lip seals, the injec-tion -molded spine, a label, and the finalshrinkwrap. The lip seal is put into arecess at the front of each caddy half andis designed to fulfill three basic functions:to seal out dust and dirt when the discand spine are in the caddy; to prevent thedisc's recorded surfaces from slidingagainst the leading plastic edge of the caddywhen being loaded and unloaded; and toclean the recorded surfaces of the discduring insertion and withdrawal from theplayer. After the assembly of the lip seal.the caddy halves are ultrasonically weldedtogether to form a container for the diceand spine.

The main function of the spine is toprovide a means for carrying the Video -Disc into and out of the player. At theleading edge of the spine, the side identi-fication numbers are molded in for con-sumer recognition. These numbers are alsomolded with respect to a ramp. The rampis detected by: mechanical logic that pro-vides an electrical signal, and accordingto its orientation, the Side I or 2 identifi-cation lamp is illuminated in the player,providing an early indication to the userof the side selected for playback.

The spine also includes molded lockingfingers that are deflected into recesses inthe caddy. Together, these fingers act as alocking device to prevent the disc fromfalling out during transit and to deter theconsumer from indiscriminate access tothe disc. The player mechanism defeatsthis locking feature, when the caddy isinserted and the spine is latched withinthe player, to allow the caddy sleeve to bewithdrawn.

The label is a large one-piece wrap-around that gives maximum "billboard"effect whle also providing an edge identi-fication for caddies that are stored onshelves. The shrinkwrap is the final appli-cation-it has no structural function butit keeps the assembly clean.

Interface with the player

In addition to protecting the disc duringloading and unloading, the caddy performsmechanical functions within the player.After playing a disc, the stylus will retractafter reaching the end -of -play signal. butthe player arm will not return to its start-

ing position. This is accomplished by insert-ing the caddy to retrieve the disc justplayed. Insertion of the caddy will pushthe player arm back to the start position,readying it for the next disc. No addi-tional motors or mechanisms are needed.

Since the disc can still be spinning rapid-ly when the load/unload lever is activa-ted, the player spindle stays in contactwith the disc while the turntable is beinglowered. This feature allows the disc to berestrained, when lowered to its position inline with the spine, ready for retrieval.Caddy insertion then causes the mechani-cal linkages to lower the turntable spindlefrom the disc, allowing disc removal fromthe player.

Interface with disc

I he caddy internal clearance must be largeenough so that there is no interferencewith the recorded surfaces of the disc andmust permit low -force sliding contact whenthe disc is inserted and withdrawn. Themaximum permissible internal clearanceis that which does not allow overlap orjamming of the disc and spine. The flat-ness of the faces of the caddy are criti-cal-they should not impart any tendencyto warp the disc during storage. The inter-nal surfaces must be smooth and be non-absorbent to the lubricant on the disc.

During the insertion of the caddy intothe player for retrieval, the disc is pushedforward against the spine by the action ofthe lip seal. Since the disc has a roundededge. it might be possible to jam the discover or below the spine if the caddy werenot properly aligned with the disc. But anentrapment is molded into the spine atthis interface to catch the disc to preventthis occurrence.

Molding the caddyand spine

Molding the caddy halves to the flatnessspecification required for successful join-ing of the two halves into an acceptableassembly requires the precise control ofmany variables including molding ma-chine. tooling, and material. The require-ments of internal face flatness (no projec-tions that could touch disc recordedsurfaces) and external flat face (for at-tachment of label) means there is no pos-sibility for strengthening ribs, runners, etc.that would aid molding control andstability.

The objective of the molding process isto produce a relatively large thin -wall partto the flatness specification with low mold-ed -in stress for subsequent stability. Toachieve maximum cost advantages, theinjection -molding machines must run con-tinuously and as automatically as possi-ble. To obtain maximum yield of the weld-ed assemblies, the individual caddy halvesmust be consistent with respect to flat-ness. Because the two halves are identical,parts from the same tool are welded to-gether. No attempt is made for inter-changeability from different tools, and ship-ments are received in skids from the single-cavity individual tools.

To achieve the required consistency pertool, the molding machines are equippedwith process controllers. These controllersmonitor and accurately control the criti-cal molding parameters of injection pres-sure. velocity profile. shot size, melt tem-perature, and other variables. All toolsare constructed with hot -runner plastic -feed systems so that no material is wastedper shot.

Of equal importance to the actual mold-ing conditions are the subsequent hand-ling and cooling approaches. Upon ejec-tion from the mold, the caddy half isguided gently to a conveyor so that everypart will fall in the same orientation. Sincethe specification for flatness does not allowany bow -in (for example, toward the disc).the part is placed on a frame and weightis applied at the center to bias the bow inan outward direction during cooling. De-pending upon ambient conditions, the parttakes approximately 15 minutes to stabi-lize. The part must be at room tempera-ture before being packaged. The packag-ing containers hold approximately 50parts each.

Assembly

After assembly of the lip seals, the caddyhalves are nested together and ultrasoni-cally welded. The weld area is in the formof staggered tongue -and -groove jointsaround three sides of the part. The stag-gered design permits parallel packaging ofthe part, from the vendor to the assemblyarea. At the top of each tongue section isa triangular -shaped energy director wherethe actual welding of the surfaces takeplace.

The welding machines are equipped withthree full-length horns for the three sidesto be welded. These horns are loweredsimultaneously in a plunge -weld fashion.Adjustments are provided so that the flat

Torrington: Design and manufacturing of the VideoDisc caddy 25

The ultrasonic welder machine. Three full-length horns are lowered simultaneously in aplunge -weld fashion.

faces of the horns may be tilted to com-pensate for the magnitude of the outwardbow in the individual parts.

Testing parameters

Before welding, the individual halves areinspected for the bow profile, a character-istic that is important for initial setting ofthe welding machines. Heat tests deter-mine molded -in stress levels that couldaffect the welded assembly.

After welding, the assembly is inspect-ed for its critical dimensional parametersof thickness, width, twist, flatness and in-ternal clearance. A pull test is performedto determine the strength of the weld joint,and selected samples arc subjected to aheat test to assess the effects of any stressimposed by the welding process.

Labeling

The printed labels are applied with a wet-glue process on an automatic labeling ma-chine. The labels have the glue applied bya roller and are fed flat onto a conveyor.The welded caddies are located by photo-electric detection and dropped down ontothe label, into position. A station at theend of the machine folds the label overthe caddy and wraps it into place. Testsare performed to ensure that the label iscorrectly positioned and that there hasbeen no malformation of the welded cad-dy by over -wrapping or stretching.

Environmental tests are carried out tosec if differences in expansion between thelabel and caddy affect the adhesion, causebubbling, or affect any other dimensionalparameters.

Final steps

The labeled caddies have the spine in-serted in orientation with the label andare transported to the disc production line.After verification that the disc and caddy

combination is correct, the discs are loadedand the spine is snapped into place. Theassemblies are then conveyed to the packag-ing area where the final shrinkwrap isapplied, and the assemblies are boxed forshipment to the warehouse.

Leslie Torrington received the Higher Na-tional Certificate in Mechanical Engineer-ing from the South -East Essex College ofTechnology in London, England in 1963.He joined RCA in Indianapolis in 1967 asa Design Engineer responsible for record -changer design. He was instrumental inthe design of the industry's first all -plasticmotorboard used in a fully automatic re-cord player. In 1970, he joined the Ad-vanced Development group in Indianapo-lis and worked on a cassette -typevideotape recorder until 1973 when hejoined the VideoDisc project. Mr. Torring-ton has been granted 15 U.S. patents forhis work at RCA.Contact him at:"SelectaVision" VideoDisc OperationsIndianapolis, Ind.TACNET: 426-3244

The label machine. The printed labels are applied, automatically, with a wet -glue process.

26 RCA Engineer 27-1 Jan /Feb. 1982

R.H. Huck

VideoDisc performance in the real world:The role of VideoDisc Product Assurance

Perceptions of product quality and performance, as judged bythe consumer and by the manufacturer, may not always coin-cide. The challenge is to bring together these perceptions ofquality and performance concerning the VideoDisc, in a cost-effective way, despite the risks inherent in a highly technicalproduct in a new competitive market.

Abstract: The Product Assurance organi-zation within RCA "SelectaVision"VideoDisc Operations serves as a vital linkin relaying the quality needs of the con-sumer back through the various RCAorganizations involved in the developmentand production of VideoDiscs.

Be it Heaven Can Wait or The Godfatheror a myriad of other available programs,the choice of program material (com-monly called software) is the ultimate keyto consumer acceptance of the VideoDisc.Of equal importance, however, is the dis-tinct need for the unquestioned qualityand performance of the disc itself. It is inthese areas that the Product Assuranceorganization places major emphasis.

Software assurance

Because high -quality primary program ma-terial is considered to be so important,RCA maintains a facility in Hollywoodto obtain the best available film and video-tape directly from originating studios.These original films and tapes are thenconverted to one -inch helical scan video-tape. At Indianapolis, a review of thesetapes is made to ensure that the tapes areof acceptable quality and to indicate theneed for any additional processing toachieve good results on discs.

Product Assurance's review assesses all

1982 RCA CorporationFeral manuscript received December 10 1981Reprint RE -27-1.7

incoming software for technical and sub-jective quality. A wide range of qualityexists. In some older films, the technicaland artistic quality is simply not up totoday's standards. For example, the 1933version of King Kong would be subjec-tively reviewed in a somewhat differentmanner than recent films. In the majorityof newer films, however, the subjectiveanalysis of the software is relatively uni-form and consistent.

Quality of the recording also receivesmajor attention. After a program record-ing has been made and the first metalparts (stampers) have been processed, aspecial evaluation is made of "proof' discsfrom the first press run of this program.

In this evaluation, the "proof" discs arecarefully analyzed for video and audioquality. It is only after these critical stepsare satisfactorily passed that multiple pressruns are processed.

Product testing

A significant role of the Product As-surance organization involves the analysisof disc production press runs and the ulti-mate decisions on acceptance of discs forrelease to inventory. In addition to soft-ware acceptability, the basic inputs forthese decisions include the followingitems:

Disc Visual Inspections Surface blemishes that could affect perfor-

mance.Disc Physical Properties Warp, concentricity of grooves and cen-

terhole, and physical dimensions

PREVIEW OFNCOMING SOFTWARE 8.

USE DECISION

RECORDING PROCESS

FIRST MATRIX

INITIAL DISC PRESS RUN

'2POOF* DISC ANALYSISP. DECISION

MATRIX METAL PARTSFAN -OUT

MULTIPLE PRESS RUNS

I Product Assurance

Fig. 1. Software qualification. Before massproduction of the discs, the recorded pro-gram quality is controlled by critical inspec-tions at the incoming software and "proof"disc stages.

RCA Engineer 27-1 Jan./Feb 1982 27

Disc Playback Video signal -noise ratio Audio carrier -noise ratio Time -base stability (Jitter) Defect -gate activity Carrier distress (extended loss of play-

back signal) Tracking and dropouts

Final Product Audit Aesthetics of package, shrinkwrap, cad-

dy, and label

Trend Audits of Final Product Playback parameters Environmental (stress) evaluations Simulated shipping, drop, vibration,

and other tests Long-term storage Consumer Acceptance Laboratory

(CAL) tests Field -returns analysis Systems performance

Development of in-house playback test-ing systems for video discs has spanned atleast ten years. From the outset, it wasapparent that massive volumes of discswould have to be accurately evaluated atminimum cost and in the shortest possi-ble time. Given these constraints and theinherent 2 -hour play time capability of thediscs, it is literally impossible to evaluateeach individual disc in any cost-effectiveway. Product Assurance now uses highlysophisticated sampling techniques andcomputer -controlled test hardware to as-sess, on a lot -by -lot basis, the technicaland subjective quality levels of all outgo-ing discs.

Audit programs

Quality audits are extensively used by Pro-duct Assurance, in coordination with theQuality Control group, to rapidly assessthe status of the product's compliancewith standards.

The basic audit program uses a check-list for key processing areas and pays par-ticular attention to cause -effect relation-ships. In addition to actual product per-formance requirements and conformanceto specifications, audit programs areintended to monitor operator competence,work procedures, and standards of con-formance to the total product quality pro-gram. In areas of nonconformance tospecifications, a Material Review Board(MRB) assesses the effect of this noncon-formance on disc quality, the anticipatedconsumer reaction, and the impact onproduction

MULTIPLE PRESS RUNS

VISUAL INSPECTIONS

PLAYBACK TESTING(SAMPLED)

ACCEPT/REJECTDECISION

RINSE -LUBRICATION &PACK PROCESSES

FINAL PRODUCTAUDIT DECISION

INVENTORY

n

AUDIT OFDISC

VISUAL INSPECTIONS I

TREND AUDITS

Product Assurance

Fig. 2. Disc production. As shown in this simplified flowchart, Product Assurance providesdecisions on lot acceptance at major disc production process points.

Environmental test services

Extensive tests have been developed toensure that the VideoDisc and caddy willsurvive the range of temperature and humid-ity conditions that can be encountered inproduct storage, shipping, and in the con-sumer's home. These tests are conductedfrom random production discs and furtherensure that discs will survive without dam-age, or adversely affect performance dur-ing play.

Typical environmental tests include:

High -temperature cycling Low -temperature storage Moisture sensitivity (direct condensation

on disc surface) Shipping simulation (vibration, shock,

drop testing) Long-term storage simulations System tests under controlled environ-

mental conditions

Components of the disc material mustalso be relatively unaffected by "aging"or changes in performance characteristics withtime. Although the use of accelerated stresstests can give at least some indication, it

is also necessary to actually store discs forextended periods of time under controlledconditions. These tests normally rangefrom six months to several years and in-volve comparisons of dimensional andplayback stability.

To ensure that the VideoDisc system(disc, player, caddy, stylus and televisionreceiver) performs reliably under all reason-able environmental conditions, it is alsonecessary to conduct "system" tests which,under well -designed statistical plans, areused to verify that the performance of theentire system is assured.

Vendor Assurance

Because many of the components in thedisc are bought from other companies,control of product quality extends to ven-dor capabilities and responses. This areais significant because the variability in rawmaterials can significantly affect disc -defectlevels and disc processing. Personnel inthis activity also monitor processing ma-terials and other product -related items, in-cluding packaging materials. Vendor As-surance serves as a technical liaison be -


tween the vendor and various RCA activ-ities, such as Purchasing.

Product AssuranceEngineering

Product Assurance Engineering providesthe technical test support for a wide rangeof disc -related areas, including productsupport and new product and process de-velopment. As such, test services are pro-vided to the various Engineering groups,and to Manufacturing, Quality Control,and others. It also serves as the technicalarm of Product Assurance in the controlof specifications and procedures.

As new processes and materials are de-veloped, a series of designed experimentsare established to validate the potentialfor further work or for introduction intothe disc manufacturing process. Here, theEngineering staff conducts the tests andprovides the final technical test dataneeded for the decision. In many cases, itis also necessary to evaluate the impact ofprocess changes on the other parts of thesystem, such as the stylus or player. Forthese, joint tests may be conducted withother Engineering groups and the DavidSarnoff Research Center technical staff.New products or product enhancementstend to impose more stringent demandsupon materials and processing. For thisreason, adequate tests are required to en-sure quality levels consistent with the sys-tem demands.

One of the areas where Engineeringhas played a significant role is in the spe-cific area of defect analysis. Defects on orin the disc surface can contribute to stylusskipping and dropouts. Special devices-known as microlocators-detect the coor-dinates of these defects, which are subse-quently analyzed optically and by variousanalytical techniques to determine the ele-mental nature of the defect area.

Statistical assurance

The use of statistical techniques for pro-duct evaluation has become one of theprimary tools of Product Assurance. Aidedby the computer and advanced analysistechniques, data from multiple sources areused to optimize the actual number ofproduction samples for the characteriza-tion of disc performance and to minimizeactual testing time and costs. Programsare continuously being developed to bet-ter utilize data in product development,production, and analysis of product field

Fig. 3. Performance evaluation test system.

performance. Some significant examplesinclude the following:

Recognition of trend patterns Correlation of materials or processing

conditions to disc performance pa-rameters

Statistical distribution analyses Field -performance modeling and correla-

tions Manufacturing process -control support

Field performance analysis

One of the major hurdles to be crossedbefore the market introduction of theVideoDisc in March 1981, was to predictthe level of consumer acceptance of theVideoDisc. Because no field response (interms of sales or returns) was yet availa-ble, it was necessary to develop a statisti-cal model of consumer response to Video -Disc performance. Through a series offield tests and "panel" tests, the subjectiveresponse of "typical" consumers was de-termined for all significant dimensionaland play parameters. With some pa-rameters more critical than others, a com-prehensive response model that used avariables -weighting system for each testedparameter was developed. This algorithmwas designed to determine the acceptabil-ity of disc production press runs for releaseto product inventory. This algorithm, withsome modifications, has been in continu-ous use since the start of disc productionat Indianapolis.

Since the market introduction of theVideoDisc, it has become feasible to verifythe model by analyzing the actual rateand characteristics of discs returned forvarious reasons from consumers. Bypainstaking analysis of these discs, a com-posite profile of the likes and dislikes ofconsumers is being developed. This is anongoing Product Assurance program thatprovides feedback to the Engineering andManufacturing activities at Indianapolis.

Robed Huck is Manager of the VideoDiscProduct Assurance and Test Organization.Prior to March 1981, he was Manager ofthe VideoDisc Engineering Test Group andhad been involved with VideoDisc devel-opment at Indianapolis since 1972. He hadpreviously managed engineering teams inthe development of videotape, computertape, and magnetic disc packs. He is amember of the IEEE, NSPE, and has servedas the RCA Representative on several Amer-ican National Standards Institute (ANSI)committees.Contact him at"SelectaVision" VideoDisc OperationsI idianapolis, Ind.TACNET: 426-3087

Huck Videc Disc performance in the real world: The role of VideoDisc Product Assurance 29

J.J. Kowalchik A.P. Selwa

Automatic VideoDisc and stylus test equipment

The manufacture of VideoDisc and styli presents many chemi-cal problems along the way, but the "acid tests" for productquality are electrical, not chemical.

Abstract: The Performance EvaluationTest (PET) system collects electrical datathat contributes to pass/fail decisionsmade on disc lots. The authors examinethe main system controller and operatorinterface, the turntables, the test electron-ics, the electrical test parameters, and thesoftware. In addition, the author coversthe "how and what" of testing in a produc-tion environment.

To meet the needs of a rapidly expandingVideoDisc business, several types of high -accuracy, automatic test equipment wererequired. This article describes two suchsystems, the Performance Evaluation Test(PET) system for VideoDiscs and the stylusparametric tester for VDC-3 cartridges.

Disc testing

Electrical VideoDisc testing is performedby the PET system (Performance Evalua-tion Test). The system-composed of acentral calculator/controller, six precisionturntables with microprocessor -based con-trol and data -gathering electronics, a videosignal-to-noise measuring rack, and a six -position television monitor rack-is shownin Fig. 1. Electrical data collected by PETequipment is used with other physical datato make pass/fail decisions on disc lotsbefore shipment to the warehouse.

The main system controller and opera -

1982 RCA CorporationFinal manuscript received December 7. 1981.Reprint RE -27-1-8

Fig. 1. A typical PET system showing television monitors, calculator, video signal-to-noise rack, and PET positions.


tor interface is a Hewlett-Packard 9825desktop computer connected to the sixPET positions via the IEEE -488 bus. Atypical PET position is shown in Fig. 2."Test programs," which determine whatportions of the disc are to be tested, arecompiled at the 9825 and downloaded tothe positions by operator command. Thepositions can be given the same or differ-ent programs and they perform independentlyfrom one another.

After a position receives a test program,it must then be released to begin testing.At this time, the operator must enter-viathe 9825-the disc number, press -run number,operator ID, and so on, which will beappended to the data file collected for aparticular disc for identification of thedata at a later time.

The test data from each of the PETpositions is received by the 9825, where itis consolidated and a summary of theresults is printed locally. The raw data isstored on a magnetic tape cassette which,when full, will be processed off line byanother computer. Test results of severaloff-line electrical tests are entered by theoperator via the keyboard and appendedto the file in order that all electrical databe kept together. A real-time clock is in-stalled in the 9825 to provide time anddate information without operatorintervention.

The PET positions are based on theIntel SBC series of 8080 -based micro-computer boards and use an SBC-655chassis. The processor board chosen wasan SBC 80/20-4 because of its overall fitfor both I/O and memory capacity. Atthe time of the design, no reasonablypriced IEEE -488 interface boards were com-mercially available, so a multibus talker/listener board was designed to meet theneed. The microcomputer performs all con-trol functions, data collection, and com-munication for the position with the ex-ception of the DAXI (Digital AuxiliaryInformation) detection and tracking erroridentification and statistics, which are per-formed by a Mostek 3874 single -chipmicrocomputer.

PET turntables are precision pieces de-signed for an industrial environment. Theyare tightly specified for flatness, runout,and balance. The turntable is driven, viaa belt, by a DC motor/generator. Thespeed of the table is detected by a Hall -ef-fect sensor, which monitors a multi -polemagnetic strip mounted under the turn-table. A control circuit phase -locks the turn-table to a crystal reference. A modifiedplayer arm is installed at each PET posi-

Fig. 2. A PET position showing precision turntable, front panel, and arm assembly.

tion to house a stylus that recovers theinformation from the disc via the "CED"(Capacitance Electronic Disc) system. Theoutput from this arm is routed to the var-ious test electronics and to a modifiedsignal board, which converts it to NTSCvideo and audio. Other test electronicsare connected to various points on thesignal board and the video output is buf-fered and routed to video signal-to-noisemeasuring equipment in an external rack.

Test electronics are organized on aboard -level basis and are installed in acard rack with a standard back plane.The back plane specification is extremely im-portant in that it allows rapid response tochange, an absolute necessity in a newmanufacturing process like ours. Each boardor group of boards in the test -board rackperforms a specific function and is similarto test boards found in the SCOPE andGALT test equipment designed for test-ing power transistors.

The test boards resemble memory de-vices because they use a board -select pinthat enables the I/O drivers to the micro-computer, function -select pins similar toaddress pins, and read/write lines that areexact parallels to those of memory de-vices. Two 8 -bit data buses are imple-mented on the back plane-one for read dataand one for write data. Boards needing im-mediate attention can direct interrupts tothe microcomputer, but the majority aresimply polled on a regular basis. Datacollected from each board is preprocessedby the microcomputer and stored in RAM

until the completion of the test, when it istransmitted to the 9825.

Electrical test parameters include thefollowing:Carrier distress-a measure of the amountof time that the arm output falls below afixed threshold (similar to dropouts in amagnetic tape system)

Tracking-a measure of the number andtype of stylus -tracking errors due to defectson the disc surface

Time -base stability-a measure of physi-cal disc deformations that result in pic-ture "jitter" at various frequencies

Carrier level-a measurement of the arm'soutput level across the disc

Defect gate count-a second system formonitoring defect -correction circuit activity

Video signal-to-noise ratio-a manual mea-surement of video signal-to-noise.

Most of the test data is reported on an"interval" basis, where an "interval" isdefined as 512 grooves of the disc. By thismethod, defects of interest can be locatedand examined to determine probable cause.Since the power of a microcomputer issomewhat limited in the area of mathe-matical calculations, a minimum amount ofthis activity is performed b> the PET posi-tions. The majority of mathematical cal-culation is deferred to the 9825, which ismuch more suited to the task.

PET system software is written in three

Kowalciik/Selwa: Automatic VideoDisc and stylus test equipment 31

LFig. 3. Theposition forcalculator.

production stylus tester shown here places the operator in a comfortablechancing :artridges and tes: discs, as well as for operating the l -P9825

Fig. 4. The RFI enclosure's lid, shown in the disc -changing position, does not blockaccess to the calculator. nor to the equipment bay.

languages. The 9825 program is written inHPL, interfaces directly with the opera-tor, and must be as fault tolerant as pos-sible. This software is required to allocatetape tiles and manage the storage of datain addition to its other tasks. The SBCboard software is written in PLM. chosenbecause of its ability for self -documenta-tion and its structured nature. In this pro-gram. all software routines are located inmodules, allowing relatively simple modi-fication of program functions. The Mos-

tek 3874 microcomputer is programmedin assembler language primarily becauseof the similarity of this device to the onecontained in the SFT- 100 VideoDiscplayer.

Stylus testing

Before the scheduled start of stylus -car-tridge production during the fourth quar-ter of 1979, stylus electrical testing was

performed on calibrated VideoDisc play-ers. Because of the large quantity of stylito be manufactured, a system better suitedto a production environment was required.

During the summer of 1979, Test Engineer-ing at Rockville Road began to develop theprototype stylus electrical tester, with basicrequirements of stability, precision, andespecially, speed. The first portion of thestylus tester to be designed was the turn-table. which had to have excellent verticaland horizontal runout characteristics. Thestylus position relative to the turntablewas controlled by a stepping motor thatallowed accurate and rapid test -bandlocating.

Test Engineering developed a turntableinterface controlled via a Hewlett Pack-ard (HP) version of IEEE 488-HP-IB.The interface included positioning logic, areal-time clock, and circuitry for interfac-ing to the International Solid State Con-troller (BSC), which drove the prototypemicro -machining stylus -finishing line towhich the stylus tester would be a peri-pheral unit. The actual measuring equip-ment used in the tester were an HP3585Aspectrum analyzer and an HP3435A dig-ital voltmeter, both controlled by anHP9825 calculator via HP-IB interfaces.

The controlling test program was devel-oped by Test Engineering and includedsuch features as a menu to select anygrouping of tests devised by Stylus Engi-neering. statistics for the entire test runand a complete prompting program toaid the operator.

Figure 3 shows the tester in its operat-ing configuration and Fig. 4 shows theRFI (Radio Frequency Interference) en-closure opened to provide access to theturntable components. By loosening onefastener, the hinged top of the RFI boxcan be opened to allow full "northernhemisphere" access to the interior of theturntable enclosure. The small door onthe RFI box allows stylus changing. Fig-ure 5 shows the equipment bay of the tes-ter with the HP3585A at the top, theturntable -controlling interface below, it andthe HP3435A DVM near the bottom.Power supplies and stepping -motor driveelectronics are in the rear of this bay.

Stylus Production Engineering and TestEngineering collaborated on the design ofa disc specifically fortesting styli.This disccontains signals that allow the stylus testerto measure I I stylus parameters betweenDC and 10 MHz. After Stylus Engineeringanalyzed early results, the number of param-eters was reduced to six, which shortenedthe testing -cycle time considerably.


Software improvements further reducedthe testing time, but Test Engineering per-sonnel were limited by the response timeof the HP3585A spectrum analyzer. Itwas clear that a faster spectrum analyzerwas needed to increase throughput ratherthan further reducing the number of testedparameters.

During Spring 1981, construction of areplacement for the HP3585A spectrumanalyzer was started in the Test Engineer-ing department. This new analyzer wasdelivered to Stylus Production in October1981 and incorporated into one of the sty-lus testers. The new spectrum analyzersystem comprises two basic modules, asshown in Fig. 6. These are the spectrum -analyzer unit and the local oscillator syn-thesizer. Normally, a spectrum -analyzermodule is required for each RF parame-ter to be measured. However. because ofa special local oscillator (LO) port on theLO synthesizer all RF measurements canbe done serially using only one of theanalyzer slices, and remotely switching allthe LOs through a single driver circuit.The trade-off is in speed since the parallelconfiguration allows simultaneousreadings.

The analyzer module can be remotelycontrolled for RMS or peak measurements,for selecting internal references during selfchecking, for setting internal gain in 5 -dBsteps from 0 dB to 65 dB and for otherfeatures useful for maintenance andcalibration.

In a normal configuration, the LOs arecabled separately to each analyzer unitand the units' addresses are set as requiredby the test program. A digital readbackfeature allows complete bus checking tohe sure each unit can be controlled. Thedigital bus cable is compatible with theIntel 80/20-4 and the HP98032A.

To prevent creating a system lockedinto current needs, which would requiretime and money to reconfigure, the LOsare synthesized from a single 5 -MHzVCXO by phase -lock -loop (PLL) synthesis.Measurement at a new RF frequency re-quires only that the PLL dividers be repro-grammed, that is, no additional oscilla-tors are required.

The serial LO port mentioned earlier iscontrolled by the digital bus. The selectedLO is also connected to an internal fre-quency counter of 1 -kHz resolution sothat the test program can check the actualfrequency of any local oscillator. The man-ual switches on the LO module allowoverrides to the remote capability and asample of the selected LO is available at a

Fig. 5. The test equipment bay is located such that access to all internal units is possibleduring tester operation Both the front (shown) and rear covers are removable.

BNC connector on the panel during remoteand manual control. The RF line, whichis daisy chained to all the analyzer mod-ules, terminates at the panel of the LOmodule so an independent spectrum ana-lyzer can be easily connectd to verify read-ings. And finally, the address -selected stor-age (0-31) is inside the LO module. Itsinternal address is zero and 1-31 are avail-able for spectrum -analyzer units andothers.

Future expansion of this tester conceptincludes a possible calibration modulebased on the LO synthesis technique anda future change from HP -1B control ofthe turntable interface to the parallel bustechnique. These two additions would al-low further cost reduction because an Intelsingle -hoard computer could replace theHP9825A calculator.

Fig. 6. In the current system, six spectrumanalyzers units, one LO module, and thepower supplies occupy no more space thandoes the HP3585A.

Kowalchik/Selwa: Automatic VideoDisc and stylus test equipment 33

Paul Selwa joined RCA "SelectaVision"VideoDisc Operations in July 1979 as aMember of the Engineering Staff, assignedto Test Engineering. Since that time hisprimary work has been to develop stylusproduction testers, including the design ofthe equipment described in this paper. Heis currently designing instrumentation forthe presses used in disc production at RCA"SelectaVision" VideoDisc.Contact him at"SelectaVision" VideoDisc OperationsIndianapolis, Ind.TACNET: 426-3115

John Kowalchlk, Senior Member of theEngineering Staff, joined RCA Solid StateDivision in 1974 and was involved in thetesting of Power Transistor/Thyristor prod-ucts at the Mountaintop, Pennsylvania loca-tion. In 1979, he transferred to "SelectaVi-sion" VideoDisc where he worked on thedesign and development of disc test equip-ment and was project engineer for the PETtest system.Contact him at:"SelectaVision" VideoDisc OperationsIndianapolis, Ind.TACNET: 426-3212

ConclusionThe PET system in its present form hasbeen working for two years. It has beenand will continue to be an effective toolfor the assessment of VideoDisc qualityin a rapidly growing and constantly chang-ing business. Stylus production testing hasalso been operational for the last twoyears but has undergone greater revisionthan the PET testers. Significant reduc-

tion in test time relatit e to that requiredby the initial testers has been realized bylimiting the numbers of parameters testedand improving operating speed by the de-sign of equipment specifically for the pur-pose. The ability to adapt both equipmentsto changes in system requirements is clear-ly a testimony to the fact that such equip-ment can be built using the power ofmicrocomputers and the design skills ofRCA engineers.


Meet your Editorial RepresentativesThe editorial contacts at your location are available tohelp you share the valuable information you have withthe rest of the engineering community.

These Editorial Representatives (Ed Reps) can helpyou present that project or idea to a very importantgroup-engineers and engineering management atRCA. Editorial representatives (for each major activity)are appointed, usually by the chief engineer. Basically,their objectives are to assist authors by stimulating,

Commercial CommunicationsSystems Division (CCSD)

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*Technical Publications Administrators

planning, and coordinating appropriate papers for theRCA Engineer and to keep the editors informed ofnew developments. In addition, they inform the editorsof professional activities, awards, publications, andpromotions. On these four pages you will find a photo,location, and phone number of your Ed Rep. They arealphabetically listed by division for your convenience.Get to know your Ed Rep. and develop your own con-tribution to the professional literature.

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Meet your Editorial Representatives 37

Research and Engineering

I

Hans JennyCherry Hill, N.J.TACNET: 222-4251

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Solid State Division (SSD)

"SelectaVision"VideoDisc Operations

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D. Hakala

The Chemical and Physical Laboratorysupports VideoDisc

Armed with some of the most sensitive equipment available, thescientists and engineers in this activity arm for better Video -Discs... through space-age chemical and material analyses.

Abstract: The Chemical and PhysicalLaboratory is a multifunctional depart-ment interacting with both the VideoDiscmanufacturing and VideoDisc developmentactivities to support and troubleshoot themanufacturing of the disc. using the mostup-to-date chemical and material analyses.

The Chemical and Physical Laboratory(C&P Lab) at the Rockville Road plant,where VideoDiscs are made, acts in sev-eral roles. These roles are discussed below.

Incoming materials inspection

The VideoDisc process uses a wide rangeof materials such as PVC resin, plasticadditives (stabilizers, lubricants, process-ing aids), electroplating chemicals, disc -rinsing chemicals, disc lubricant, and ad-hesives. Each of these materials must betested to meet the exacting specificationsrequired to make a VideoDisc with highmanufacturing yield.

In -process quality control (QC)support

The matri,.. rinse -lubrication, and compound-ing activities require a variety of chemicaland physical tests at a high frequency inorder to maintain proper process control.

1982 RCA CorporationFinal manuscript received October 12. 1981Reprint RE -27.1- 10

Manufacturing problemtroubleshooting

Unfortunately, no manufacturing opera-tion is trouble -free and occasions will arisewhere yield or quality will experience se-rious drops. In many cases, these prob-lems are materials -related, and substantialefforts are required on the part of the labto define the problem and isolate the cause.In this role the scientist, engineer, andtechnician act as detectives in solving themystery. Indeed, many of the microana-lytical techniques of forensic science areuseful in detecting the small contaminantsthat can cause large problems in view ofthe disc geometries and dimensions.

Development project support

While a tremendous amount of effort andresources have been invested to developthe current manufacturing process andmaterials, optimization will continue foryears to come. These projects require amaterials characterization support. In ad-dition. the C&P Lab itself must developnew and improved tests with better reli-ability and improved detection limitsas well as tests for parameters yetunspecified.

The VideoDisc manufacturing opera-tion is a high-technology materials- andprocess -oriented activity that requires asophisticated approach to materials char-acterization and chemical analysis. Eachof the above areas is essential in eithermaintaining or improving the manufac-

turing operation. The Chemical and Phys-ical Laboratory currently services theVideoDisc operation. as well as providessupport services to Stylus Manufacturingand Player Engineering.

Labcratory functions

The Chemical and Physical Laboratorycan be divided into several functional sub-groups that specialize in specific areas ofrespomibility.

The Chemical Analysis group (Table Ilists major equipment) engages in the moreclassical aspects of chemical analysis.Typical examples include the followingtests. The atomic absorption spectrometeris used for trace -metal analysis in resinand additives, for plating -bath composi-tional analysis, trace -metal analysis in sol-

Table I. Chemical analysis equipment.

Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (Varian).

High -Pressure Liquid Chromatograph(Waters).

Infrared Spectrometer (Perkin-Elmer).

UV/Visible Spectrometer (Beckman).

Particle Size/Distribution Analyzer (HIAC).

Gas Chromatograph (Varian).

Ion Chromatograph (Dionex).

pH/Specific Ion Electrode Meter (Orion).

Karl Fischer Autotitrator.

Sayboldt/Brookfield Viscometers.

Refractometer.

RCA Engineer 27-1 Jan /Feb 1982 39

Table II. SEM/x-ray equipment.

Scanning Electron Microscopes (3).a. AMR 1000(1)b. Cambridge Mark 11 (2)

Energy -Dispersive X -Ray Analyzer (PGT)for SEM.

Wavelength Dispersive X -Ray FluorescenceSpectrometer (Siemens).

Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer.

Microtome (for carbon -black dispersion).

Optical Microscope.

Table Ill. Compound testing equipment.

Capillary Rheometers (lnstron).

Torque Rheometers (Brabender).

BET N2 Surface Area Equipment.

Absorptometer.

Particle Size Classifiers (Rotap. Alpine).

Resistivity Measurement Device.

vents and environmental testing on waste-water analyses. The ultraviolet, visible andinfrared spectrometers are used for bothqualitative and quantitative anal es ofsolvents and contaminants in them, or-ganic components in plating baths, andpercentage additives in lubricants. Thehigh-pressure liquid chromatograph (Fig.I) is used for molecular -weight distribu-tion of resins and disc lubricants.

The scanning electron microscope(SEM) and x-ray group (Table II listsequipment) is responsible for monitoringthe cutterhead, disc, and stylus geome-tries. The critical dimensions involved inthe VideoDisc system must be measuredin microns and angstroms and can bemeasured accurately only under the SEM.Three SEMs are employed virtually fulltime, with the bulk of the workload beingQC -type monitoring.

The energy -dispersive x-ray analyzer(EDXRA) (Fig. 2) is used in conjunctionwith an SEM for chemical analysis ofmicroscopic defects in discs, metal parts,styli, as well as microcontamination inraw materials. The x-ray fluorescence spec-trometer is used for QC monitoring oflubricant thickness as well as for routineexamination of compound for stabilizeradditive levels and contamination.

The primary function of the Com-pound Test Lab (Table III lists equip-ment) is in the routine monitoring of pro-duction compound material for melt vis-cosity, resistivity and heat stability: aswell as characterization of resin, carbon

Fig. 1. The high-pressure liquid chromatograph (HPLC) provides an analytical separationtechnique used in mixture a-alysis and n determination of molecular weight distributionsfor resins and disc lubricants.

and other compound raw materials. Thisgroup provides manufacturing with real-time feedback.

The Physical/Thermal testing lab (TableIV lists equipment) is concerned with de-termination of melting points, heat capac-

ities, material degradation and weight lossthrough the use of the differential scan-ning colorimeter and the thermogravimet-ric analyzer (Fig. 3). Thermal mechanicalanalysis (TMA) is used fin determinationof glass transition temperatures and ther-

Fig. 2. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used in measurement and inspectionof the microscopic geometries impolant to the disc, stamper, cutterhead, and stylus per-formance. The energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDXRA) is used to provide chemicalanalysis of mic'oscopic defects and mic,ocontamination.


Fig. 3. The thermal analysis lab uses differential scanning calonmetry (DSC), thermogra-vimetric analysis (TGA), and thermomechanical analysis (TMA) to determine such parame-ters as melting point, heat capacity, glass transition temperature, expansion coefficients;and to monitor such phenomena as thermal degradation of polymers.

mal expansion coefficients. The Rheomet-rics mechanical spectrometer (Fig. 4) canbe applied to studies of mechanical prop-erties elas-tic modulus as a function of temperature.

Typical problems

As an example of a manufacturing prob-lem encountered by the C&P Lab, we willdiscuss microcontamination, a specific case.

a Fig. 4. The Rheometrics mechanical spec-trometer is a versatile device that can sub-ject the test sample to a variety of staticand time -varying stresses at different tem-peratures, while monitoring mechanical re-sponse. Dynamic viscosity and elastic mod-ules are two parameters that can bemeasured.

See Table V for a general summary ofsome materials -related problems.

VideoDiscs that contain inhomogeneousparticulate contaminants near the surfacecan exhibit undesirable playback effectswhen the stylus hits the defect. After elec-trical playback testing has located a de-fect on a disc, it is examined microscopi-cally. The defect is opened using a sur-gical knife under an optical microscopeand it can be examined by SEM for par-ticle morphology and analyzed chemicallyby EDXRA (Figs. 5 and 6).

When a number of defects have beencataloged by chemical type, the real workstarts. Is the contamination from a pro-cess fluid such as deionized water or achemical rinse treatment? Is it from cor-roding process equipment? The answersto these questions are uncovered by theteam of C&P Lab scientist and processengineer by identifying likely sources ofcontamination, performing the chemicalanalyses and matching results to our de-fect catalog (or fingerprint file). Successfulcompletion of these tasks allows the pro-cess engineer to eliminate or reduce thecontamination source.

In the case of raw materials, appro-priate techniques need to be developed.For example, an appropriate separationtechnique (sieving, dissolution/filtration,etc.) must be determined for each rawmaterial with analysis of the contamina-tion separated out. After sufficient work

Table IV. Physical/Thermal testingequipment.

Differential Scanning Calorimeter(Perkia-Elmer).

Thermogravimetric Analyzer (Perkin-Elmer).

Mechanical Spectrometer (Rheometrics).

Thermomechanical Analyzer (Perkin-Elmer).

Environmental Ovens.

with the material vendor, an appropriatematerials specification can be agreed upon,which will safeguard the disc productquality against contaminants in rawmaterials.

Additional problems might include suchitems as disc and stamper staining. Thiswould involve analysis of the stained areasin both stamper and disc. Is it a com-pound -related stain? If so, is it due to lowthermal stability and subsequent com-pound degradation, or is it due to bleed -out of lubricant or plasticizers due to incor-rect weights in formulating the compoundlot? If it is a stamper -related stain, what isthe nature of the thin film on the metalsurface and where did it originate in thematrix process? Again, the team of labo-ratory analyst and process engineer pro-vides the answers to these questions, whichultimately lead to a solution of theproblem.

Table V. Materials and chemicals process -related problems.

Problem Origin

Tracking Microcontamination(process or raw material).

Staining Additive bleedout/Compound degradation/Stamper thin-film contam-inant.

Warping Compound rheologicalproperties.

Audio/Video Composite dependenton carbon propertiesand compound processing.

Surface contaminationfrom process.

CarrierDistress

Metal Parts

SubstrateMachinability

Stress inNickel Parts

BrittleStampers

Copper bath parameters/Bath contamination.

Bath contamination.

Bath contamination.

Hakela: The Chemical and Physical Laboratory supports VideoDisc 41

Fig. 5. The SEM can be used to examine carefully the morphology of disc surface defec isand to discover what happens when the stylus interacts with sJch a defect.

SummaryAs delineated above, the C&P Lab is amultifunctional department interactingwith both the manufacturing and devel-opment activities to provide routine sup-port and troubleshooting capabilities tomaintain and advance the manufactura-

David Hakala joined RCA Picture Tube Div-ision, as a process development engineer,after receiving his PhD in physical chemis-try from R.P.I. in 1976. After serving as groupleader of the Analytical Laboratory for twoyears, he joined VideoDisc Operations asStaff Scientist working on material problems.Currently, he is Manager of Chemical &Process Development and Acting Managerof Chemical & Physical Laboratory. He holdsone patent and is the author of severalpublications.Contact him at"SelectaVision" VideoDisc OperationsIndianapolis, Ind.TACNET: 426-3433

bility of the VideoDisc. It is the challengeof the chemicals and materials analyst tobe expert in the techniques of analysis aswell as to understand the intricacies of the

manufacturing process in order to be mosteffective. This challenge will be met bythe C&P Lab personnel as the VideoDiscproduct continues to mature.

Ft-,,

IN I

CA

'II 4 I II ItPIM? ( egg )

C1.41 Al el 3447 3I of 3344 3 GI 1441 II *0 7441WO 'MI

NOSS 111 C. 30.1104 14 :

Fig. 6. The EDXRA is used to obtain a simultaneous analysis of chemical elements in adisc defect (Atomic Number 11 and higher). This serves as a fingerprint to be matched upwith potential sources to identify aid ultimately eliminate the problem.

42 RCA Engineer 27-1 Jan./Feb 1982

F. Sterzer

Localized hyperthermiatreatment of cancer

Cancer patients in many parts of the wcrld are today beingtreated with equipment that can destroy malignant tumors withheat. RCA has developed radiofrequency and microwaveequipment for this nonconventional method of treating cancer.

Abstract: Localized hyperthermia (sus-tained heating of tissues to temperaturesof about 42°C to 43.5°C) is one of anumber of unconventional methods fortreating cancer that are currently receivingincreased attention from oncologists. Thispaper briefly reviews the effects of hyper-thermia on malignant cells and tissues, andthe methods for producing localized hyper-thermia in animals and humans. Radiofre-quency and microwave apparatus devel-oped at RCA Laboratories for clinicalapplications of localized hyperthermia aredescribed in some detail. Clinical resultswith a variety of cancers are encouraging.

There are three major established methodsfor treating cancer: surgery, chemotherapy,and radiation therapy. In surgery, onetries to cut out the cancer, in chemother-apy one tries to poison it with chemicals,and in radiation therapy one tries to kill itwith ionizing radiation such as X rays. Al-though impressive progress has been madeand continues to be made in applyingthese methods either alone or in combina-tion, the 5 -year relative survival rate forcancer patients has improved little overthe past 30 years.* In the United States the5 -year relative survival rate is currentlyabout 41 percent, only about two percentbetter than it was in 1950. These statistics,as well as similar statistics on cancer mor-tality trends, indicate that surgery, chemo-therapy and radiation therapy are begin-ning to assume the characteristics ofmature technologies: advances tend to beevolutionary rather than revolutionary,and substantial improvements (such as,

for example, increasing the relative survi-val rates by a few percentage points) take avery long time and require high invest-ments. It is for these reasons that a smallbut growing number of oncologists aretaking a serious look at nonconventionalmethods for treating cancer. Prominentamong these nonconventional methods ishyperthermia where one tries to destroycancers with the help of heat.

This paper deals with one form of hyper-thermia treatment of cancer, namely local-ized hyperthermia (as opposed to whole -body hyperthermia). The paper is organ-ized into five parts: general background oncancer, the effect of hyperthermia on malig-nant cell cultures and on animal and hu-man cancers, methods for inducing local-ized hyperthermia with emphasis on theradiofrequency (rf) and microwave appa-ratus developed at RCA Laboratories, clin-ical results obtained with localized hyper-thermia, and conclusions and outlook forthe future.

What is cancer?

Cancer or malignant neoplasm can bedefined as a "relatively autonomous growthof tissue." The term "relatively autono-mous" is used to indicate that the rate ofgrowth of a cancer is, to a large extent,controlled by the cancer itself and not bythe host organism. Cancers have the abil-ity to metastasize, that is, they can estab-lish secondary growth in the host at loca-tions distant from the original or primarytumor. There are various routes throughwhich cancer cells can be carried to new

locations, the most common being theblood circulation and the lymphaticsystem.

In humans, 75 percent of all cancersstart in only ten anatomic sites (this statis-tic excludes cancer of the skin, which is themost common but also, except for mela-noma, the most curable form of humancancer). These sites are colon and rectum,breast, lung and bronchus, prostate, uter-us, lymph organs, bladder, stomach, bloodand pancreas. Figure I shows the age -ad-justed death rates from 1930 to 1977 forcancer at most of these sites in males andfemales in the United States.

Overall, cancer currently accounts forabout 20 percent of all deaths in the Unit-ed States. During 1981, approximately400,000 persons, or about 180 persons per100,000 population, will die of cancer here,making cancer the second most commoncause of death in the country. The leadingcauses of death in the United States arediseases of the heart.

The 5 -year relative survival rate is the probabil-ity of a person remaining alive 5 years afterhaving been diagnosed as having cancer, therate being adjusted for the probability of deathfrom other causes. The actual 5 -year cancersurvival rate (that is, the rate that is not adjustedfor the probability of death from other causes)is currently about 33 percent in the UnitedStates. Both rates exclude skin cancers otherthan melanoma (melanoma is a highly danger-ous form of skin cancer that is derived fromcells containing pigments), and carcinoma diag-nosed in situ (that is, diagnosed before thecancer has become invasive). See reference I fora detailed discussion of survival rates.

G1982 RCA CorporationFilial manuscript received November 23.1981Reprint RE -27-1-11


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Fig. 1. Age -adjusted cancer death rates for selected sites in theUnited States, 1930 to 1977: (a) Males; (b) Females.

Why is hyperthermiaeffective in treating cancer?

The simple answer to the question posedin the heading of this section is that manymalignant tumors are more sensitive toheat than normal tissues, that one canoften selectively heat tumors to highertemperatures than surrounding healthy tis-sues, and that it is therefore often possibleto selectively destroy cancers either by heatalone or by a combination of heat andradiation therapy or chemotherapy. Amore complete answer is that there appearto be a variety of complex interrelated fac-tors involved in the action of hyperthermiaagainst cancer. These factors range fromeffects at the cellular level to effects causedby the sluggish blood flow common inlarge tumors. The biological phenomenaunderlying many of these factors are nowonly poorly understood.

Thermal effects in cell cultures

Cultures of malignant cells grown in vitro(grown in an artificial medium rather than

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in a living organism) are often more sensi-tive to heat than are cultures of similar.but normal cells. This differential heat sen-sitivity is usually most pronounced whenthe temperature of the cultures is main-tained at about 43°C for at least one hour.At temperatures below about 40°C, neitherthe malignant nor the normal cells aremuch affected by the heating, while attemperatures much above 45°C both typesof cells are rapidly killed by the heat. Atypical result obtained at 43°C for normaland malignant cells of the same type isshown in Fig. 2. Note that there is indeed asubstantial difference in the surviving frac-tions between the two types of cells.

Studies of in vitro cell cultures also showthat heat can increase the lethal effects ofionizing radiation and of certain chemo-therapeutic agents. This is illustrated forthe case of ionizing radiation in Fig. 3,which is a plot of surviving fraction formalignant cells in vitro as a function ofradiation dose in rads.* The figure shows

* The rad is the unit of absorbed ionizing radia-tion dose. 1 rad equals 100 ergs/gm of absorb-ing material.

that for a dose of about 350 rads there isnearly a thousandfold increase in the lethaleffect of the ionizing radiation when thetemperature of the culture is increasedfrom the normal human body temperatureof 37°C (98.6°F) to 43°C (109.4°F).

What are the reasons for the dramaticincrease in the lethal effects of ionizingradiation when cell culttires are heated to

075

0 50

0 25

0

Normal Uveal Melanocytes

Malignant Melanoma Cells

0 2 4 6

Hours at 43'C

Fig. 2. Plot of surviving fraction of cells invitro as a function of time for normal and formalignant melanoma cells. The cell cultureswere maintained at 43°C. After reference 2.


10

o

U

C

Ct

001

0 001

43°C

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

Fig. 3. Plot of surviving fraction of cells invitro as a function of ionizing radiation dosefor tour different temperatures. After refer-ence 2.

about 43°C? There are no definitive an-swers yet, but the following two effectsthat have been observed in experimentswith cell cultures offer important clues. Hyperthermia (sustained heating to a-

bout 42°C to 43.5°C) apparently inter-feres with the repair of radiation -inducedsublethal damage in cells.

Cells in the middle -to -late S -phase of thecell cycle are most sensitive to hyper-thermia. This happens to be the part ofthe cell cycle where cells are most resis-tant to damage by ionizing radiation.Thus, the two therapies (or modalities)are complementary in their ability todamage cells. During the part of the cellcycle where ionizing radiation is mosteffective, hyperthermia is relatively inef-fective, and vice versa.

Two other important thermal effectsthat have been observed in cell culturesneed to be mentioned. First, hypoxic (poor-ly oxygenated) cells are more sensitive tohyperthermia than well -oxygenated cells.The significance of this observation to clin-ical treatment will become clear in the nextsubsection. Second, some malignant cellcultures develop a thermal tolerance tohyperthermia after having been exposed tosublethal hyperthermic doses. This sug-gests that tumors should be raised to hy-perthermic temperatures as rapidly as canbe tolerated by the patient.

When cells divide they usually proceed througha characteristic cycle which consists of distinctphases designated as GI, S. G2. M. and D. Inthe S -phase. DNA is synthesized.

Thermal effects in tumors

The destructive effect of heat on malignantas well as on healthy tissues is a functionof the temperature to which the tissues areraised, and the length of time the tissuesare maintained at the temperature. This isillustrated in Fig. 4, which is based on invivo (in living organisms) experiments witha particular mouse tumor. The figure showsthree ranges of combinations of tempera-ture and time. In the upper range (A),most healthy and malignant tissues aredestroyed. In the intermediate range (B),most healthy tissues survive, but the tumoris eradicated with no subsequent regrowth.(This is the range of most interest for ther-apeutic use.) In the lowest range (C),there is little or no damage to healthytissue, but the damage to the malignanttissues is insufficient for the complete de-struction of the tumor and the preventionof its regrowth.

The differential heat sensitivity of malig-nant versus healthy tissues illustrated inFig. 4 does not seem to be primarily due toany intrinsic cellular effects of the typeshown in Fig. 2. Rather, effects at thetissue level, particularly those associatedwith the vascular system of malignancies,seem to play a major role. Malignant tu-mors commandeer blood supplies fromadjacent healthy tissues, and distribute thisblood to their own tissues by means oftheir own vascular system. The exact na-ture of the tumor's vascular system de-pends on the tumor type or even on theparticular tumor itself. In general though,tumor vascular systems, particularly thoseof larger tumors, are not as efficientin moving blood as are typical normalvascular systems. Moreover, while theblood flow in most normal tissues in-creases as the temperature of the tissues isincreased from normal body -core temper-ature (x37°C) to hyperthermic temper-atures (-.43°C)+, the blood flow in manymalignant tissues decreases with tempera-ture above about 39°C, and prolongedexposure to hyperthermic temperatures of-ten causes irreversible damage to the tumorcapillaries."

For example, in healthy human skin the localblood flow increases by almost a factor of tenwhen the temperature is raised from 37°C to43°C.

r t When tumors are treated with both ionizingradiation and hyperthermia. tumor blood flowis further reduced because the ionizing radiationdamages the tumor vascular system.

48

47

46

45

44

43

42

4,30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240

TIME (MINUTES)

Fig. 4. Example of the effect of varioustemperature -time combina:ions on healthyversus malignant in vivo tissues. Range Acauses destruction of both healthy and malig-nant tissues; range B allows most healthytissues to survive, and kills the tumor withno subsequent regrowth; range C causeslittle or no damage to healthy tissue, and thetumor survives and regrows. After reference2.

Impaired blood flow in tumors causesreduced blood supply to malignant tissues.This reduced blood supply in turn causeshigh extracellular pH in the malignanttissue, a factor known to enhance thermalinjury. Furthermore, the low blood flowdeprives the malignant cells of nutrients,and nutrient -deficient cells are particularlyheat sensitive.

The impaired blood flow typical of manylarger tumors often makes it possible toselectively heat tumors to temperaturessubstantially higher than those of healthy,well-vascularized tissues nearby. When tis-sues are heated with localized hyperther-mia, most of the heat is carried away fromthe heated tissues by the blood flow. As aresult, for the same constant heat input thetemperature of tumors with impaired bloodflow will reach equilibrium at a highertemperature than will well-vascularized nor-mal tissues. If the localized hyperthermiais produced with radiofrequencies or mi-crowaves, the differences between equili-brium temperatures of tumors and healthytissues are often further increased, becausethere is typically about 50 percent moreheating of tumor tissues (except for ne-crotic tissues) than of normal tissues forthe same radiofrequency or microwavefields. This is because tumor tissues usu-ally have a significantly higher water con-tent than do normal tissues, and radiofre-quencies and microwaves are absorbed ata faster rate in tissues with high water con-tent than in tissues with low water content(see Table I).

Sterzer: Localized hyperthermia treatment of cancer 45

Table I. Approximate useful depth for hy-perthermia treatments with single radiatingapplicator.

Frequency(MHz) H L

Depth (cm)

30

100

1000

2500

5000

10 >205 >203 15

2 10

I 5

H = Tumor shielded from applicator bytissues with high water content, suchas skin and muscle.

L = Tumor shielded from applicator bytissues with low water content, suchas fat and bone.

Measurements on patients show thatthe differences in equilibrium temperaturebetween tumors and healthy tissues whenboth are heated with rf or microwaveradiation of the same power density can be

41

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POWER ONI 0 wicm22450 MHz

ANAPLASTICNECK TUMOR

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as high as several degrees Celsius, a differ-ence of important biological significance(see Figs. 3 and 4). Figure 5 shows tem-perature -versus -time curves typical of cu-taneous (affecting the skin) and subcutan-eous tumors and of healthy tissues that areheated with microwaves. The curves weretaken on a patient with an anaplastic (high-ly malignant) neck tumor. The dotted curveis the surface temperature of the tumor asa function of time when the tumor washeated with the waveguide applicator ofFig. 9a with I W of 2450 -MHz microwavepower. Note that the tumor temperaturestabilized at about 41°C. The solid curve isthe skin temperature versus time of healthytissue on the opposite side of the neckwhen heated the same way as the tumor.In this case the temperature stabilized at avalue only slightly higher than 39°C. Sim-ilar results are often obtained when tu-mors are healed with radiofrequencies. Forexample, when a subcutaneous melanomain the groin of a patient was heated with

2

POWER OFF

NORMAL TISSUEICONTRALATERAL

SIDE OF NECK

TIME ( MINUTES)Fig. 5. Heating and cooling curves measured on a patient with an anaplastic neck tumor.Temperatures were measured with thermocouples placed at the center of the heated areasof the surface of the tumor and the surface of the contralateral side of the neck.

Controls150

E

E

0

10043°C

50

100 10 20 30 40

Days After Therapy

IA)

50

2000 R + 40 °C2000R 43°C

--<2000 R+41°C2000 R + 42°C

1

10 20 30 40 50

Days After Therapy

(B)

Fig. 6. Tumor volume versus days after treatment. (A) shows data for control animals andanimals treated at four different temperatures with hyperthermia. (B) shows data for controlanimals and animals treated with 2000 rads of ionizing radiation with and without theaddition of hyperthermia at four different temperatures. After reference 2.

100 -MHz radiation, the equilibrium tumortemperature was approximately 2°C higherthan the temperature of surrounding nor-mal tissues. In this instance, the tempera-tures of both the tumor and the normaltissues were measured with a radiometeroperating at 2450 ± 100 MHz. Such aradiometer noninvasively measures aver-age tissue temperatures to a depth of ap-proximately 0.5 cm.

The synergism between ionizing radia-tion and hyperthermia that was illustratedin Fig. 2 for in vitro cell experiments alsoexists at the tissue level, and in fact formsthe basis of much of the present use ofhyperthermia in treating cancer patients.Figure 6 illustrates this synergism for thecase of a mouse tumor that respondedonly partially to hyperthermia alone (Fig.6a) or to radiation alone (two top curvesof Fig. 6b). However, when the two modal-ities were combined (lower four curves ofFig. 6b), an excellent response was ob-tained.

One of the reasons for the synergismbetween ionizing radiation and hyperther-mia can be explained with the aid of Fig.7, which shows the morphology of a typi-cal large tumor. The periphery of the tu-mor draws its blood supply from the neigh-

well oxygenated. The center of the tumoris necrotic (dead) because the tumor's vas-cular system failed to supply tissues in thecenter with sufficient nutrients to keepthem alive. Between these two regions is alayer of malignant tissue that is anoxic(poorly oxygenated) but alive. These an-oxic tissues are difficult to kill with ioniz-ing radiation, since it usually takes 2.5 to 3times greater doses of ionizing radiation tokill hypoxic cells than it does to kill fully -oxygenated cells. As a consequence, tu-mors that are treated only with ionizingradiation often shrink (malignant tissuesin the well -oxygenated outer layer are killed),but the tumors often regrow after sometime because too many malignant hypoxiccells survived the radiation therapy. Hyper-thermia complements radiation therapy be-cause, as mentioned above, hypoxic cellsare more sensitive to heat than are well -oxygenated cells. In practice, this effect isoften enhanced because anoxic tissues, dueto their poor blood circulation, can oftenbe heated to substantially higher tempera-tures than tissues with good blood circula-tion (because of the effects illustrated byFig. 5).

A number of investigators have demon-strated synergism between chemotherapyand li perthermia when treating animal


HEALTHYTISSUE

NECROTICCENTER

ANOXICMALIGNANTTISSUES

WELLOXYGENATEDMALIGNANTTISSUES

Fig. 7. Structure of a typical large tumor showing necrot c, poorly oxygenated and well -ox-ygenated tissues.

and human malignancies. The hyperther-mia potentiates the cytotoxicity (cell -poi-soning ability) of several important che-motherapeutic drugs because some of thesedrugs become more active at higher tem-peratures. Also, blood vessels and cell mem-branes in tumors allow easier penetrationof drugs when heated, and hypoxic tumorcells, which tend to be resistant to che-motherapeutic drugs are, as was pointedout above, especially sensitive to hyper-thermia.

A particularly intriguing feature of local-ized hyperthermia is that one sometimesobserves anti -cancer action at a distancefrom the treated area. For example, it hasbeen shown that when one of a bilateral(on both sides) pair of human coloniccancers growing in the cheek pouches ofhamsters is treated with localized hyper-thermia, the growth of the untreated con-tralateral (on the opposite side) tumor isinhibited. Similar effects are sometimesseen in patients treated with localized hyper-thermia-untreated lesions at distant sitesoccasionally regress or change from beingradiation resistant to radiation sensitive.'There are also claims that metastases ofcertain tumors are less common in pa-tients who are treated with localized hyper-thermia followed, after some time, by sur-gery, than are metastases in patients whoare treated only with surgery.

A possible explanation of these "action -at -a -distance" phenomena is that localizedhyperthermia stimulates the immune re-sponse of the host, thus strengthening theability of the host to fight cancer through-out his entire body. Indeed, it has beenshown by direct microscopic observationsthat localized hyperthermia helps to acti-vate some of the "policemen" of the im-

mune system (macrophages and T lym-phocytes), causing them to infiltrate tumorsites. Another observation in support ofthe immunological theory is that the abil-ity of localized hyperthermia to reduce oreliminate untreated metastatic lesions inanimals is negated if the immunologicalresponse of the animal k artificially re-pressed.

Methods for producinglocalized hyperthermia

There are several methods currently in usefor producing localized hyperthermia incancer patients. The basis for these me-thods is either perfusion with externallyheated blood or the direct heating of tis-

sues with ultrasound, radiofrequencies (rf),or microwaves.

In perfusion, blood is taken continu-ously from the patient, is heated, and isthen reintroduced into the patient. Perfu-sion requires surgery (blood vessels of thepatient must be connected to an externalpump and heater). Also, because of therelatively poor blood circulation charac-teristic of many tumors, perfusion tends toheat healthy tissues faster than malignanttissues, which is a therapeutic disadvan-tage. Still, localized perfusion of limbswith melanoma lesions has yielded goodresults.

Ultrasound is useful for localized treat-ment of cutaneous and certain deep-seatedtumors. With ultrasound it is easy to pro-duce well -focused beams with relativelysmall apertures, since the wavelength ofultrasound in tissue is small. At a fre-quency of I MHz, for example, the wave-length in tissues is typically 1.5 mm. Thereis relatively little heating in fat as com-pared with muscle, which is usually anadvantage in heating deep-seated tumors.Among the method's limitations: Largereflections from interfaces between varioustissue types may result in hot spots fromstanding waves; the energy transfer fromtissue to air is very poor (it is difficult toheat lungs); and there is very high absorp-tion in bones.

Various methods have been devised toheat tumors with if. In one method, thetumor to be heated is encircled by a num-ber of implanted metallic needle -shapedelectrodes, and rf voltages are appliedacross electrodes on opposite sides of the

POWER METERS

PATIENT

RF GENERATOR

TUMOR

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TUNER

APPLICATOR

READS RF POWER READS RF POWERLEAVING GENERATOR RETURNED TO GENERATOR

Fig. 8. Typical hyperthermia system.


a

0.8cm

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ANTENNA SURROUNDEDBY TEFLON BULB

RF INPUT

COAXIALTRANSMISSION

LINE

MICROWAVEINPUT

b

PRINTED CIRCUITANTENNA

METALCAVITY

BEAN-BAGFILLED WITH

DIELECTRIC POWDER

STAINLESS STEEL MESH SHIELD

d

RUBBERCOVER

Fig. 9. Examples of rf and microwave-hyperthermia applicators hat were developed at theMicrowave Technology Center (a) 2450 -MHz waveguide applicator filled with solid dielec-tric (used for treating small, superficial lesions); (b) 2450 -MHz "bean-bag" applicator withprinted -circuit antenna (used for treating large superficial lesions and breast tumors); (c)2450 -MHz coaxial applicator (rectal applicator for treating prostate cancer); (d) 27 -MHzwater -filled waveguide applicator (used for treating deep-seated tumors).

tumor. This causes rf currents to flowthrough the tumor and heat it. Althoughwell -localized heating can be producedwith this method in many tumor sites, themethod has the disadvantage of being inva-sive. Another rf method heats with if cur-rents that flow between capacitive elec-

trodes held against the surface of the bodyof the patient. This method is well suitedfor localized heating of protruding tumors.When deep-seated tumors are heated withcapacitive electrodes, however, the heatingpatterns inside the body of the patient areoften difficult to predict. Also, excessive

heating of skin and fat is often a problemunless multiple electrode configurations areused.

Localized and regional hyperthermia canalso be produced by inductively inducingif current flow in the tissues to be heated.Flat, pancake -shaped coils are useful for


Fig. 10. C3H mice used to study the effects of localized hyperthermia on mouse breastcancerla) control mouse with advanced breast tumor; (b) mouse treated with localizedhyperthermia.

local heating of tumors near the surface ofthe body. Regional hyperthermia can beinduced by encircling part of the patient'sbody with one or more coils. In regionalhyperthermia produced this way, however,the heating generally decreases toward thecenter of the body.

At the Microwave Technology Centerof RCA Laboratories, we have developedapparatus for producing localized hyper-thermia in cancer patients based on yetanother method, namely the use of anten-nas or applicators to broadcast if or micro-

wave energy into the tissues to be heated.The If or microwaves travel through thetissues of the body in the form of exponen-tially decaying waves, giving up energy tothe tissues via dielectric heating.

Figure 8 shows a block diagram of the

WATER- FILLEDwAVEGUIDE APPLICATORWITH 90° BEND

TISSUE VOLUMEBEING HEATED

PADDED SUPPORTFOR PATIENT

vJ

RF

STRAIGHT WATER -FILLEDWAVEGUIDE APPLICATOR

R F INPUT

TUMOR

41111

tica!

A INN

RF

R F -INPUT

Fig. 11. "Cross -fire" arrangement for heat Fig. 12 Arrangement for producing localized hyperthermia in patient using two water -filledIng tumors with two applicators. waveguide applicators.


apparatus used to induce localized hyper-thermia with radiated rf or microwaves.Power produced by a generator is matchedby means of a tuner into an applicator thatradiates the power toward the tumor to betreated. Two power meters are provided,one for measuring the power leaving thegenerator, and a second one for measuringthe power reflected back to the generator.The depth to which the rf or microwavesthat are radiated by the applicator canpenetrate into the patient and heat thetumor is primarily a function of the di-electric properties of the tissues shieldingthe tumor from the applicator and of therf or microwave frequencies used. In gen-eral, the lower the water content of theshielding tissues, the deeper the penetra-tion of a wave at a given frequency. Wavespenetrate much deeper into fat (low watercontent) than into muscle (high water con-tent). Also, at the frequencies of interest,the lower the frequency, the deeper thepenetration into tissues with a given watercontent. The approximate useful depthsfor localized hyperthermia treatments us-ing a single radiation applicator are listedin Table I (page 46).

Figure 9 shows four rf- and microwave-hyperthermia applicators that were devel-oped at the Microwave Technology Cen-ter.' 6 The applicators shown in Fig. 9a -9coperate at a microwave frequency (2450MHz); the applicator of Fig. 9d operatesat a relatively low if frequency (27 MHz).*The microwave applicators make it possi-ble to accurately focus the microwave ener-gy on the tumors to be treated, but theiruse is limited to treating cutaneous andsubcutaneous tumors, tumors within or inthe vicinity of natural body cavities, andtumors in the breasts. The if applicatorcan be used to treat deep-seated tumors,but focusing is relatively poor (the wave-lengths in tissues at 27 MHz are greaterthan 1 meter). The rf or microwave powerlevels required to raise tissues to hyper -thermic temperature vary from about I Wfor the applicator of Fig. 9a to severalhundred watts for the applicator of Fig.9d.

All hyperthermia apparatus developedby us is first tried out on animals beforeany use on humans is attempted. The firststudy on animals carried out with ourapparatus involved a group of 72 C3H

2450 MHz and 27.12 MHz are among frequen-cies set aside by the Federal CommunicationsCommission for Industrial. Scientific and Medi-cal applications. We have also built applicatorsthat operate at 100 MHz. 300 MHz. 915 MHz.and 5800 MHz.

Q & A: Hyperthermiatreatments and side effects0. What is a typical treatment plan for a patient

undergoing localized hyperthermia using rf ormicrowave radiators?

A. A minimum of about six to a maximum of abouttwenty hyperthermia sessions at the rate of two tothree sessions per week. Each session lasts aboutforty-five minutes to one hour. During each sessionthe temperature of the tumor or tumors to betreated is gradually raised to the hyperthermicrange (about 42°C to 43.5° C), and is maintained inthis temperature range for the remainder of thesession. Ionizing radiation treatments are giveneither before or after the hyperthermia sessions.

0. Are localized rf- or microwave-hyperthermia treat-ments painful?

A. Most patents tolerate localized hyperthermia treat-ments well, and feel comfortable during the treat-ments. Some patients, however, feel pain when thetemperature of the treated area is raised for the firsttime to the hyperthermic range. In such patients,the technicians administering the hyperthermiatreatment will reduce the temperatures of thetreated areas to values that feel comfortable to thepatients. The technicians will then graduallyincrease the temperatures, always staying belowthe threshold of pain of the patients. Eventually,even the most sensitive patients get used to theheating and learn to tolerate hyperthermictemperatures.

0. Can localized hyperthermia treatments be given onan outpatient basis?

A. Yes. In fact, most of the patients being treated withthe RCA -developed equipment are outpatients.

Q. Does localized rf or microwave hyperthermia pro-duce side effects in or near the treated area?

A. When carefully applied, regional side effects asso-ciated with localized hyperthermia are, at most,

mice! Breast cancer (mammary adeno-carcinoma) was induced by implants in all72 mice: 54 animals received four hyper-thermia treatments localized to the tumorsite (43°C, 45 minutes, every other day),with the applicator of Fig. 9a, while 18served as nontreated controls. Completeeradication of tumors was achieved in allthe treated animals and they showed noevidence of tumor recurrence over an obser-

vation period of 4 months, whereas all 18controls died within 4 weeks post -inocula-tion. Figure 10a shows a control mousewith breast tumor: Fig. 10b shows a mousetreated with hyperthermia.

Deep-seated tumors are often best heat-ed with two or more applicators whoseradiations intersect at the tumor (alsocalled a "cross -fire" arrangement). This isillustrated in Fig. 11 for the case of two


minor. Some patients develop skin blisters or super-ficial ulcerations on the treated areas, and in somecases there is subcutaneous fibrosis (replacementof normal tissue by fibrous tissue), but in generalmost healthy tissues tolerate hyperthermic tempera-tures well. In fact, some surface tumors heal so wellafter hyperthermia treatments that it is difficult totell after the treatments where the tumors had orig-inally been located. Healthy tissues can, of course,be damaged by heat, particularly it they are heatedto temperatures above the hypercthermic range.Localized hyperthermia treatments must thereforebe given only by well -trained technicians who aresupervised by physicians familiar with the thermaltolerance limits of various tissues and organs.

O. Does localized hyperthermia produce systemicside effects?

A. The tissues that are destroyed by localized hyper-thermia are usually removed from the tumor sites bythe blood circulation, and the resulting waste pro-ducts in the blood are removed by the kidneys. The

patient may become overloaded iftoo much tumor tissue is destroyed too quickly bythe localized hyperthermia.

Q. Can localized hyperthermia treatments promotedistant metastases?

A. There are no indications now that localized hyper-thermia treatments promote distant metastases.Many more years of careful record keeping andanalysis will be needed, however, before the medi-cal community can be absolutely certain of this. Inthe meantime, it is probably useful as a precautionto accompany the hyperthermia treatments by atleast a small dose of radiation, and to be as certainas possible that the tumor temperature does getraised to the hyperthermic range.

applicators facing each other. Cross -firearrangements have proven useful for treat-ing primary breast tumors. Here the breastis placed between two opposing bean-bagapplicators of the type shown in Fib. 9b.Another important use of cross -fire arran-gements is for treating deep-seated tumorsin the trunk of the body. Figure 12 showssuch an arrangement using two 27 -MHzwater -filled ridge waveguide applicators.

Clinical Results

Clinical experience in the United Stateswith localized hyperthermia has been lim-ited to date to a few hundred patients. Allmajor types of cancers have been treatedwith localized hyperthermia including lungcancer, breast cancer, cancer of the colon,prostate cancer, head and neck cancer,skin cancers, and so on. Fairly typical of

the results obtained so far, covering a var-iety of tumors, are the following statisticsfrom Thomas Jefferson University Hospi-tal in Philadelphia and Montefiore Medi-cal Center in New York City. Using re-duced amounts of ionizing radiation to-gether with localized rf and microwavehyperthermia resulted in total regressionof about one-third of all tumors treated,with biopsies showing no histological evi-dence of any viable remaining tumor. An-other one-third of the tumors regressedpartially (>50 percent), and about one-third showed no response. Statistics from hos-pitals that treated only cutaneous tumorswith ionizing radiation and localized rfor microwave hyperthermia are better: 78percent complete response (Memorial Hos-pital, New York City) and 56 percentcomplete response, 28 percent partial re-sponse (Hershey Medical Center, Hershey,Pennsylvania).

While localized rf and microwave hyper-thermia combined with reduced amountsof ionizing radiation has yielded encourag-ing results with many different types ofmalignancies, this type of therapy has beenfound to be particularly useful for treatingbreast cancers that have metastasized tothe chest wall, tumors that regrow afterhaving received close to the maximum tol-erable dose of ionizing radiation, head andneck cancers, and malignant melanoma.Encouraging results have also been re-cently obtained using the applicator shownin Fig. 9c on 20 patients with prostatecancer at the Weizmann Institute of Sci-ence and the Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot,Israel, and with similar patients atMontefiore.

Patients who are candidates for hyper-thermia treatment and their families andfriends usually ask many questions aboutthe treatments and their possible side ef-fects. Some of the more commonly askedquestions, and answers to them, are givenin the sidebar, "Q&A: Hyperthermia treat-ments and side effects," page 50.

Conclusionsaid outlook for future

Localized hyperthermia has several featuresthat make it an attractive modality fortreating malignant tumors. The most im-portant of these features are: the relativesafety of localized hyperthermia comparedto conventional methods of treating tu-mors; the selective destructive effect ofheat above a threshold level of about 42.5°Con malignant versus normal tissues; the


sensitizing effect of heat when used in con-junction with ionizing radiation therapy,leading to reduced radiation doses andincreased therapeutic ratio; the apparentstimulation of immune processes by hyper-thermia leading to increased host defensesagainst tumor growth; and the sensitizingeffects of hyperthermia when used in con-junction with chemotherapy.

A convenient way to produce localizedhyperthermia is to use rf or microwaveradiation. A variety of cutaneous, subcu-taneous, and deep-seated tumors have beensafely treated with this method. Therapeu-tic results have been encouraging. In par-ticular, a number of tumors that did notrespond to conventional therapies respond-ed well to combinations of localized hyper-thermia and reduced amounts of radiationtherapy.

The number of cancer patients that arebeing treated with localized hyperthermiais likely to increase rapidly during thenext few years. A growing number ofoncologists are becoming familiar with thetherapeutic possibilities of localized hyper-thermia, and the equipments for produc-ing localized hyperthermia are constantlybeing improved. Much emphasis will likelybe placed on overcoming the present mainlimitation of localized hyperthermia, name-ly that one presently treats only local man-ifestations of cancer (that is, a particulartumor) rather than the systemic aspects ofthe disease. Promising approaches to treat-ing the whole body of the patient includecombining localized or regional hyper-thermia with immunotherapy, chemothera-py, or tumor acidification', scanning thewhole body of the patient sequentiallywith regional hyperthermia, or using whole -body hyperthermia.

Acknowledgments

The apparatus for producing localized rfand microwave radiation described in thispaper was developed over a period of sev-eral years in a cooperative program be-tween the Radiotherapy Department ofMontefiore Medical Center and the Mi-crowave Technology Center of RCA Labo-ratories. The author wishes to express hisdeep appreciation to his colleagues on thisprogram: Charles Botstein, Esther Fried-enthal, Jozef Mendecki and Steve Weberof Montefiore and Elvira Beck, MarkusNowogrodzki, Robert Paglione and FrankWozniak of RCA Laboratories, and alsoto the many patients who had the courageto participate in the initial clinical trials.The author also wishes to thank WilliamHittinger, Kerns Powers and William Web-ster for their continuing encouragement ofthis work.

References

I. J. L. Lnstrom and D. F. Austin, "InterpretingCancer Survival Rates," Science 195. No. 4281.Pp. 847-851. Mar. 4. 1977.

2. F. Dietzel. "Tumor and Temperature." Urban &Schwarzenberg, Munchen -Berlin -Wien, 1975. pp.101-110.

3. J. Mendecki et al.. "Microwave -Induced Hyper-thermia in Cancer Treatment: Apparatus and Pre-liminary Results." International Journal of Radia-tion Oncology. Biology and Physics, Vol. 4.

Nov./Dec. 1978. pp. 1095-1103.

4. F. Sterzer et al.. "Microwave Apparatus for theTreatment of Cancer by Hyperthermia," Micro-wave Journal. Vol. 23. Jan. 1980. pp. 39-44.

5. J. Mendecki et al.. "Microwave Applicators forLocalized Hyperthermia Treatment of Cancer ofthe Prostate." International Journal of RadiationOncology. Biology & Physics. Vol. 6. Nov. 1980,pp. 1583-1588.

Fred Sterzer received the BS in Physicsfrom the City College of New York in 1951,and the MS and PhD degrees in Physicsfrom New York University in 1952 and 1955,respectively. He joined RCA Corporation in1954 and has worked there on the devel-opment of traveling -wave tubes, opticalcomponents, high-speed logic, and micro-wave solid-state devices and circuits. Hismost recent work involves the applicationof microwave heating to the treatment ofhuman cancers. Dr. Sterzer is currently Di-rector of the Microwave Technology Centerat RCA Laboratories, leading a group ofapproximately 85 scientists, engineers andtechnicians engaged in developing newmicrowave technologies. He is a member ofthe N.J. Commission on Radiation Protec-tion and Chairman of its Advisory Commit-tee on Non -ionizing Radiation.Contact him atRCA LaboratoriesPrinceton, N.J.TACNET: 226-2633

6. R. Paglione et al.. "27 MHz Ridged WaveguideApplicators for Localized Hypenhermia Treatentof Deep -Seated Malignant Tumors." MicrowaveJournal, Vol. 24, pp. 72-80, Feb. 1981.

7. M. von Ardenne, "Hyperthermia and Cancer Ther-apy." Cancer Chemother. Pharmacol.. Vol. 4. No.3. 1980. pp. 137-138.


M. Trachtenberg

Discovering how to ensure software reliability

A mathematical model predicts the time and manpowerneeded to debug software to meet strict reliability require-ments-before it's delivered to the user.

Abstract Ensuring software reliability is currently the most crit-ical unsolved problem in software engineering. Efforts to find thesolution are hampered by the absence of credible tools for predict-ing how much time and manpower are needed to test and debug apiece of software to a predetermined level of reliability. Our stud-ies indicate that, during testing, changes in bug -detection ratesgenerally follow a Rayleigh curve. The parameters that govern theshape of the Rayleigh curve can be accurately estimated usingprinciples of M. Halstead's "software science" approach. Evi-dence to support these findings is briefly presented

The need

The process of developing computer and microcomputer pro-grams. like any other engineering activity, is subject to variousspecification, design and implementation errors. Although mod-ern software -development practices, such as structured program-ming and design reviews, have significantly reduced the number,many bugs still remain hidden in programs delivered to users.For example, to illustrate the magnitude of this problem. 198critical bugs were detected in the first 9 months of field opera-tions of a military command and control system despite over 20man years of rigorous testing and checkout during develop-ment.' Furthermore, although subjected to one of the mostthorough computer -testing programs ever conducted, the Apollo14 encountered 18 software -based errors during its ten-dayflight.'

Because developing totally reliable software seems generallyimpractical, one would expect that software and firmware wouldbe developed like hardware, to meet specific reliability criteria,such as an acceptable mean time between failures. But this isnot being done because software engineers have no credibletools to help them to predict how much a given program designor programming technique will impact a reliability requirementor to estimate how much testing will be needed to ensure that aprogram meets a reliability requirement. Work has been inprogress within the Technical Assurance activity of Missile andSurface Radar, to develop these missing engineering tools. Thiseffort increased recently in response to a request by the govern -

r 1982 RCA CorporationFinal manuscript received April 21 1981Reprint RE -27-1-12

ment for RCA to assure that the software for a recent proposalwould meet a very severe reliability requirement. expressed as amean lime between failures of at least 1500 operational hours.

This paper describes the development of a methodology thatensures that the time and manpower allocated for software test-ing are sufficient to make the software meet a specific opera-tional reliability requirement.

Searching for a practical reliability model

In the hope of finding a currently available solution to theproblem of predicting software reliability, we searched the tech-nical literature for software reliability models.' These modelsattempt to describe mathematically how the occurrences ofsoftware failures, or of software bugs, are distributed in timeand program space. respectively. (A software failure is a test oroperational malfunction caused by a software bug; that is, by amistake in the program design or code.) We found over 25different models, showing that there is avid interest but littleagreement as to what determines software reliability.

Moreover, besides the lack of consensus, we were disap-pointed to find that the use of any of these models requiresdata known only after coding or testing begins. when it is oftentoo late to influence the software -engineering process in a cost-effective manner. The model we wanted would ideally permitearly cost and schedule trade-offs against all the factors thatinfluence software -error content.

Reversing direction

All the models we examined were deductive models, based ongeneral assumptions that determined their mathematical be-havior. In every case, the evidence given to prove that themathematics conform to experience was not convincing. We.therefore, thought that an inductive model based on actualerror histories might be more successful. Inductive modes de-velopment is opposite to deductive model development. Induc-tive model development proceeds from knowing how specificcases actually behave, to finding general explanations for theobserved behavior. Max Planck's development of the QuantumLaw of Black Body Radiation is an example of this approach.Planck worked out an excellent mathematical curve fit to pub -


'5

80 -

70-

60 -

50 -

ao-

30 -

20 -

10 -

1 1 I

I 2 3 4 5 o 1 8 9 10 11 12 13 a 14

WIT1, Itt Tesim

Fig. 1. A typical software error history during testing (from Thayer,et al.

lished experimental data and then tried out alternative hypo-theses until he found one that accounted for the fit.

The discovery

At first glance, a typical error history, as shown in Fig. I. doesnot suggest that some "invisible hand" is shaping its behavior.It appears to be very "noisy" and if a repetitive pattern is hid-ing in the noise, something special must be done to bring it out.

600-Supeowsoly "A" 600 Summon, -13

500 -710,000 Inaltuttions

500- 240,000 Insttuctions

100-f

401)-

300-

700-+ 300.

200.

100. 100 -

3 d

Tone Months n r

600 -

500 -

400-

300-

700

100-

600

500

400

300

200

100

6 2 3 4 5

low. Months I r I

Supervisolv "C'230.000 Instructions

2 3 0 5

Ttme, Months I r

Thaogolar Pattern Observed InSmoothed Data by Dockson, et al

Rayiergh Conte WeSawill Smoothed Data

Fig. 2. Extracting a common pattern in error -rate data by normal-izing and averaging data from many projects (atter Dickson, etal.4).

To solve this same problem, we found that J. Dickson, et al.. ina 1972 paper, had merged normalized error data from threeprojects into one composite histogram, as shown in Fig. 2.4This approach tended to subtract out the differences and en-hance the similarities among the separate error histories. ToDickson, the resulting profile seemed to confirm the hypothesis

,that error histories behaved in a triangular pattern. But, whenwe read the paper, the composite suggested to us the similar,but more complex, Rayleigh curve. We wondered if Rayleighcurves also fit other data, so we searched library documentsand collected all the error histories we could find (ten of them).'Then, using Dickson's method, we developed another compo-site. We found that the suggestion of a Rayleigh curve wasagain evident, as seen in Fig. 3.

Seeking the underlying cause

After tentatively verifying that a Rayleigh -like curve fits theaverage software -error history during testing, we sought anexplanation. We found that Rayleigh functions are used inmodels for predicting bombing errors and for estimating soft-ware life -cycle manpower requirements. The bombing -error mod-el (despite its suggestive title) proved unnoteworthy. The soft-ware -manpower model, fortunately, turned out otherwise.

In a 1963 paper, P.V. Norden of IBM showed that the man-power allocated for R&D projects normally follows the Ray-leigh curve,6

2

m=M

to 7272"( )

tp

where: m is the rate at which manpower is allocated at time t;M is the total manpower allocated over the life -cycle of theproject: and tp is the time of peak project activity. He alsofound that the overall project curve was actually the envelopeof the Rayleigh curves of all of the several project subcycles (forexample, planning, design, and prototype development). Inother words, each phase of an engineering project also followeda Rayleigh manning curve. Finally, he claimed that the Ray-leigh curve resulted in the most cost-effective use of engineeringpersonnel, as illustrated in Fig. 4. In a 1978 paper, L. Putnamof General Electric confirmed that the Norden-Rayleigh man-power model also held for software projects.' Based on studiesof over 200 systems, he derived the average relative amount ofmanpower involved at various times and in various phases of

250

225

200

175

150

Ern

Hole 125

100

75

50

25

8

Fig. 3. Composite histogram and Rayleigh -fit of normalized errordata from ten projects.


Manpower THIS EFFORT WASTED(Engineers Recruited Before Subtasks Are Well Defined.)

THIS EFFORT NOT AVAILABLE WHEN NEEDED(Subtesks Sufficiently Defined To Utilize Extra Effort.)

THIS EFFORT APPLIED TOO LATE(Subtasks Out Of Phase With Each Other.)

EXTRA EFFORT REQUIREDTO COMPENSATE FORMISAPPLIED PEOPLE

tSlippage

Change in Cost = t x m

Fig. 4. Consequences of a non -Rayleigh scheme of manpowerallocation (after Putnam').

the overall life cycle of a software project, as shown in Fig.The Rayleigh curve typical of the software -testing phase isshown in more detail in Fig. 6.

The connection

Manpower is the means by which the progress of an engineer-ing activity is controlled. In software testing, progress is mea-sured by the number of errors detected and corrected. Thesetwo variables are essentially related because, for reasons of effi-ciency, programmers do not usually seek to find new errorsuntil they have corrected the old ones. A safe assumption isthat this error rate is proportional to the rate at which man-power is applied to the testing activity, as long as new errorsare detected at a rate sufficient to maintain a workload forcorrection and computer time is sufficient to cover error -correc-tion needs. The fact that programmers are usually busy duringtesting indicates that these two requirements are generally met.The mathematical consequence of this argument is that

X = Pm (2)

where A is the error rate during testing, P is a constant of pro-portionality equal to the project's average testing productivity(for example, average errors detected and corrected per man -month), and m is the rate at which manpower is applied duringtesting. Since Putnam showed that the manning of every phaseof a software project tends to follow a Rayleigh curve, we cantake m and substitute its Rayleigh expression as given in equa-tion (I):

2ityx=Px -2 te-I" (12 = -TB te-1/ k(3)tp tp tp tp /

where B is the number of bugs that can be detected and cor-rected given M manpower working at a P level of testing pro-ductivity, and tp is the time of peak debugging activity.

Hence, we see that our Rayleigh -like error histograms aredirectly attributed to normally experienced Rayleigh -like alloca-tions of manpower in the testing phase.

Before going too far

Norden claimed that allocating manpower according to a Ray-leigh curve resulted in optimal usage of time and personnel. If

Fig. 5. The manpower requirements of a software Me cycle andeach of its phases follows a Rayleigh -like curve (after Putnam').

ManpuwiRate Im

Peak Testing Activity.09% Manpower Budget Used.)

Windup 01 Testing Begins.(78% Manpower Budget Used.)

1.71

Time WI )

Testing Formally Ends.

Region Where Formal TestingIs Not Usually Economical(Less Than I Errors Rema,

Fig. 6. Average manpower utilization curve during testing (afterPutnam').

this is true, then having a Rayleigh -like error -rate behaviorwould be desirable, since by equation (2) it would be indicativeof optimal manpower usage. Before proceeding. we wanted toconfirm Norden's claim. For this, we compared the program-mer productivity of Putnam's Rayleigh -driven projects withcomparable non -Rayleigh -biased projects from the Rome AirDevelopment Center (RADC) productivity statistical database.'As seen in Table I, we did find a tendency for significantlyhigher productivities in Rayleigh -driven projects.

The appearance of Rayleigh error rates resulted from merg-ing the statistics from many projects. Perhaps this appearancewas only a macro -statistic, valid for an aggregate but not for anindividual case. Before continuing, we wanted to check thispossibility. To this end, we fitted a Rayleigh curve to the test-ing -error data of "Project 3," the most comprehensive andaccurate project -error statistics available.' As seen in Fig. 7. wefound that it fit the data, especially after smoothing, wellenough to justify continued study.

Finding the missing relations

Looking at equation (I), we see that the shape of the Rayleighmanning curve is governed by the parameters M (requiredmanpower) and t (time of peak manning). As seen in equation(3), the shape of the corresponding testing -error -rate profile iscontrolled by the parameters B (total bug content) and thesame tp. If we knew the values of these parameters, we couldallocate the software -testing manpower in the most efficientmanner as well as predict when the number of bugs or thetesting failure rate would be reduced to an acceptable level. Ournext problem was to find ways to estimate these values fromthe information available during early project planning.

Evaluating 1 was no problem once we saw that it was theremaining unknown in equation (3) after B was determined and

Trachtenberg: Discovering how to ensure software reliability 55

Table I. Programmer productivity of Rayleigh -biased versus un-biased projects.

Rayleigh -biased projects Unbiased projects

ProjectID

Lines of Pro -code (K) ductiv-

it y

Project Lines of Pro -ID code (K) ductiv-

ity

ACS 168 928 N.A. 103 589

MPIS 132 328 N.A. 198 384

SAAS 165 255 N.A. 250 278

VTADS 485 218 N.A. 240 242

SIDPERS 630 164 N.A. 128 191

SAILS AB/X 954 146 N.A. 500 169

SAILS AB/C 699 124 N.A. 221 91

STANFINS 504 124 N.A. 487 41

- - - N.A. 155 39

- - - N.A. 136 32

Average 286 206

Weightedaverage (by 198 175lines of code)

Lines of source code per man -month

A and t were set to those values equivalent to the software -reli-ability requirement and software -delivery date, respectively.

For estimating M and B. the only techniques known to uswere statistical ones based on correlating widely varying data,which would not have yielded very credible results. Fortunately.before we committed ourselves to a statistical approach. ourlocal RCA technical library acquired and put on display abook, M. Halstead's Elements of Software Science, that ad-dressed our very problems in theoretical terms.' Halstead's the-ories explained the sources of observed statistical variation andthereby permitted us to develop accurate techniques for esti-mating the values of the parameters of the Rayleigh curve.

Based on Halstead's theory, we derived the following esti-mating formulas:

2.9 T -.FB= EB, = (is)' 13 and (4)Eo

5.0 F (I5)1.7M =

Li -s(5)

where: B, is the probable hug content of the ith softwaremodule:

M, is the manpower needed to find and fix allthe bugs in the ith module:F is the estimated number of modules in the soft-ware system:

S is the estimated number of executable sourcestatements in a module:

/ is 7.5 or 2.7, depending on whether the moduleis written in high -order language (HOL) or as-sembly language. respectively:

L measures the economy of expression permitted

Fig. 7. Raw and smoothed data on errors detected while testingProject 3 and its Rayleigh curve fit (after Thayer').

by the specific language (for example, FOR1 RAN,BASIC) in which the module is written:

s is the effective discrimination rate or "speed"of the average programmer: and

E. is the average programmer's "Poisson" constantof error making.

Values of L. s and E.. appropriate for different conditions,have been empirically derived by Halstead, ourselves, and oth-ers to make the formulas adaptable for software developed andtested under various situations.

Yes, you can do something about it

Equations (4) and (5) suggest ways to reduce the generation ofprogramming errors and the corresponding manpower neededfor their detection and correction. Strategies can be employedto increase L. s. and E. and thereby reduce probable bug con-tent B and test effort M For example, RADC has shown thatsoftware using structured programming and HOL develops, onthe average, half the errors per 1000 statements as software notusing these techniques." Furthermore, an IBM study showedthat the use of independent design and code reviews prior totesting (which effectively increases E. and s) resulted in theoccurrence of 38 -percent fewer errors during testing and a 25 -percent reduction in total project manpower.12

But what about computer time?

Manpower is only one of the critical software -testing resourcerequirements. Computer time is equally important. How mustit be allocated in order to ensure a Rayleigh debugging rate? Inour literature search we found that J.D. Musa of Bell Labsalready laid the groundwork to answer this question. In a 1975IEEE paper, Musa theorized and empirically demonstrated thatthe number of bugs detected in software. b, is a function of theCPU time x used in its execution:"

h = B(I -eAx), (6)

where B is the total number of undetected bugs at the start oftesting, and A is a constant peculiar to each software system.

This implied that when the computer time used for testing. v.


changes in each calendar period t, such that

dx= Kt. (7)

dtthe result is a Rayleigh bug -detection rate. This can be seen byintegrating (7)

Kt2x=2

(8)

and substituting the result in (6)

b= B(I -A10212) (9)

and then differentiating this with respect to

db B A- Ki212

dt=

A Kto (10)

Setting AK = 1/42 in (10) gives us a Rayleigh equation identicalto the form shown earlier in equation (3).

What equation (7) means is that, to support Rayleigh anderror -detection rates, the computer time needed for actual test-ing (exclusive of that needed for compilations, memory dumps,and so on) must be linearly incremented throughout testing. Bymodeling the typical testing activity, we determined that thiscondition normally occurs automatically during testing."

Validating the model

Because our model integrates so many factors of softwaredevelopment (module size, language, profile, and amount ofmanpower) it has been difficult to find the necessary compre-hensive data against which to check it; therefore, only a fewtests have been made so far. The model has been confirmed inthe following cases.

Prediction of bug content

The only available statistics on module size versus module bugswere collected by Thayer, et. al. They reported 2006 system -level bugs while testing 25 modules of a system called Project 3.Using equation (5) with the appropriate values'° of F. S. and 1.led to an estimate of 2099 bugs (less than 5 percent off).

Estimate of required manpower

No manpower statistics are available for Project 3. In theirabsence, we checked our model against an RADC statisticalmodel based specifically on Project 3 type (command and con-trol) systems." The RADC model estimated that 474 man -months of testing were required for Project 3. Our formula (4)with appropriate values of F. S. L and s gave an estimate of503 man -months (a difference of only 6 percent).

Conclusion

Partial answers to two related critical contemporary problemsof software engineering -predicting and then ensuring softwarereliability -were found to be scattered throughout the technicalliterature. All that was needed for a comprehensive methodol-ogy for dealing with these problems was to interpret and selec-tively pull together these isolated findings.

The model resulting from this integration agrees closely with

ll l 1 ''Marty Trachtenberg is Man-ager in Technical AssuranceRCA MSR, where he is pri-marily responsible for MSRSoftware Design Reviews. In1960, with a background inscientific programming, hejoined the RCA Computer Di-vision. There he designedand managed the develop-ment of system software. Heleft RCA in 1968 to work forAuerbach Associates as aconsultant specializing in theevaluation of computer soft-ware and hardware. He re-joined RCA in 1978.Contact him at:Missile and Surface RadarMoorestown, N.J.TACN ET: 2 2 4-34 82

the few empirical tests that we have been able to make. Itpromises to provide a basis for the conscious employment ofsoftware -engineering -management strategies for optimal controlof the software bug content before and after testing. We hopeto start collecting comprehensive data from RCA's softwareand firmware projects to further test and, if necessary, improvethe accuracy of this model.

References

I. Thayer. T. et at. Software Reliability. Elsevier North -Holland. N.Y. (1978).2. DoD. Defense Computer Resources Technology Plan (June 1979).

3. IIT Research Institute, Quantitative Software Models. DACS, RADC,Grins AFB. N.Y. (March 1979).

4. Dickson. J.. Hesse, J.. Kientz. A.. and Shooman. M., "Quantitative Anal-ysis of Software Reliability." 1972 IEEE Proceedings of Annual Reliabilityand Maintainability Symposium. pp. 148-157.

5. The data for five error histories can be found in Reference I and areidentified as Projects 2.1A. 2.IB, 2.1812. 2.2. and 3. The remaining fiveerror histories are documented in Reference 4 and are identified as Appli-cations A. B. C. D. and the composite of 3 supervisors.

6. Dean. B.. Editor Operations Research in Research and Development. JohnWiley & Sons. N.Y., Chapter 5 (1963).

7. Putnam. L.. "A General Empirical Solution to the Macro Software Sizingand Estimating Problem." IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering,Vol. SE -4, No. 4, pp. 345-361 (July 1978).

8. Selected from the RADC Software Productivity Statistics. a listing of datafrom 400 software projects, available from Data and Analysis Center forSoftware (DACS), RADC/ISISI. Griffis AFB. N.Y.. 13441.

9. Halstead. M. Elements of Software Science. Elsevier, N.Y. (1977).10. Trachtenberg. M.. "Estimating Software Debugging Requirements Based

on a Rayleigh Error Rate Model: Part II," unpublished.I. DACS Newsletter. RADC/ISISI. Vol. 1. No. I.

12. Fagan, M.E.. "Design and Code Inspections to Reduce Errors in ProgramDevelopment." IBM System Journal, Vol. 15. No. 3. pp. 182-211 (1976).

13. Musa, J.D., "A Theory of Software Reliability and its Application," IEEETransactions on Software Engineering. Vol. SE -I. No. 3. pp. 312-327 (Sept.1975).

14. Trachtenberg, M.. "Estimatmg Software Debugging Requirements Basedon a Rayleigh Error Rate Model: Part I." unpublished.

IS. Doty Associates. Inc.. Software Cost Estimation Study, Guidelines for Im-proved Software Cost Estimating. Vol. III. RADC-TR-77-220 (August1977).

Trachtenberg: Discovering how to ensure software reliability 57

H.A. Wittlinger

Linear integrated circuits are going digital

The once sacred "maybe" world of linear integrated circuits hasbeen invaded by the "yes -no... 1, 0" world of digital circuitry.This invasion has benefited both disciplines and, ultimately, theconsumer.

Abstract: Digital circuitry is being usedin what were formerly linear circuitdesigns. Beginning with the RCA CA3090FM -stereo decoder, introduced in 1971, theauthor traces the development of digitalcircuitry in various RCA circuits,particularly those, like the CA3162, thatincorporate both linear and digital designtechniques. The author concludes with alook at the areas where analog circuitdesigns still provide unparalleledadvantages.

During the last ten years, digital circuitryhas slowly gained ground on electronicsthat once relied exclusively on linear de-sign. We see digital design techniques invad-ing this once sacred area of linear design,and superbly enhancing the performanceof everything from home entertainmentsystems to the various electronic items wecarry with us, like watches and calcula-tors.This is only the beginning.

This article will trace the digital expan-sion into the domain of linear integratedcircuits (ICs), show some of the applica-tions considerations and flexibility of lin-ear and digital ICs, and finally predictwhat will be available.

Historical background

One of the earliest linear designs to incor-porate digital techniques was the RCA

r1982 RCA CorporationFinal manuscript received April 3. 1981.Reprint RE -27-1-13

CA3090, FM -stereo decoder introducedin 1971. This device has over 70 activetransistors plus an assortment of diodes,resistors, and several capacitors. A 76-kHz voltage -controlled LC oscillator iscounted down to 19 kHz where it is phaselocked to the I9 -kHz pilot carrier. Adoubly balanced mixer demodulates theFM -detector output signals into left andright stereo signals. Even after ten years,this device is still being used in manycurrent receivers.

Several years after the CA3090, RCAannounced an industrial integrated -circuitcomparator, the CA3099, shown in Fig.I. which by virtue of an internal flip-flopeliminates one of the nuisances associatedwith Schmitt triggers and comparators-oscillation near the trip point. A singleinput connected to two different input -differential comparators (one is an NPNand the other a PNP) accommodates aninput -signal range equal to the supply volt-age applied to the integrated circuit. Ef-fectively, the hysterisis band may be extend-ed from a built-in 3 -mV band to the totalsupply-an extremely flexible input struc-ture. A simplified version of the original14 -pin multi -featured device was later in-troduced. This new 8 -lead device, theCA3098, has enjoyed popularity in bothindustrial and consumer control systems.

Current products

Another device that represents a mix ofboth analog and digital signal -processingtechniques is the alarm -system integratedcircuit, the CA3164. As shown in Fig. 2,

one ultra -high input -impedance amplifiermay be used to monitor the common leadto a differentially connected, ionizationchamber used in smoke detectors.

Amplifier input -phase sense is such thatsmoke particles, entering the open ioniza-tion chamber, raise the resistance of thatchamber and cause the potential on theinput to the alarm's integrated circuit tobe reduced. Once this potential falls belowa predetermined calibration level, the com-parator output is applied to the input ofan OR gate. From this point on, the sig-nal is digitally processed until it activatesthe alarm output stages, which in thisintegrated circuit are push-pull power am-plifiers. Considerable logic is incorporatedwithin this analog and digital integratedcircuit to test the battery, warn the user ofa low -battery condition, and allow forremote alarm units. This device is evenprogrammable to either turn on the alarmcontinuously or pulse the alarm in the"beep" mode.

The CA1524 switching regulator IC usesa flip-flop to ensure precise duty -cyclecontrol, with the elimination of the pos-sibility of both push-pull outputs beingturned on simultaneously. Analog circuitrywithin the device supplies a regulated5 -volt zener-referenced output, a saw -tooth generator and a comparator con-trolled by an error amplifier to generatevariable duty -cycle -output drive signals.Also included within this IC is a differen-tial -type current -sense amplifier and aninput terminal to shut down the device.

One of the more complex industrialintegrated circuits that incorporates bothlinear and digital design techniques on a


RIB R2825K 25K

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Fig. 1. The CA3099. Another industrial IC using digital techniques.

single chip to make a 3 -digit analog -to -digital (A/D) converter is the CA3I62.The digital section of this IC uses inte-grated injection logic (121) logic, while theintegrating converter uses standard bipo-lar transistors. A single 5 -volt supply pow-ers this IC that has a bandgap referencevoltage, differential signal input, and com-mon -mode voltage range extending belowthe normal ground or substrate connec-tion to the IC. This latter characteristicallows the meter to read from -99 mV to999 mV. A binary -coded -decimal (BCD)to -seven -segment decoder IC with inter-nal -segment current limiting complementsthe A/D converter. Three digit -drive tran-sistors complete the digital panel metercircuit, Fig. 3.

The linear IC group did extensive workwith the CMOS transistor array, theCD4007A. It was decided to add this de-vice to the linear product line with char-acterization and specifications for linear

operation. From this effort, the CA3600 imately 32 dB with I I -MHz unity -gain cross -emerged. Each amplifier of this device ing. It has been used in conjunction withhas an open -loop voltage gain of approx- the CA3080, an operational transconduc-

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Fig. 2. The CA3164. An alarm system IC employing innovative BiMOS circuitry to achieveless than 1 pA input current with an MOS gate -protected input.

Wittlinger: Linear integrated circuits are going digital 59

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Lance amplifier, as a precision-strobed micro -power comparator, as shown in Fig. 4,and by itself as a linear gain block in lin-ear and digital systems. This latter circuitis shown in Figs. 5(a) and 5(b).

The concept of using CMOS devicesfabricated on a sapphire substrate helpeddevelop one of the more powerful CMOScomponents, a six -bit parallel or flash A/Dconverter. Figure 6 shows a functionalblock diagram of the industry's first 6 -bit

CMOS/SOS flash A/D converter. Sixty-four high-speed CMOS inverters are usedas strobeable, auto -balanced compara-tors. One complete conversion is madeevery 66 nanoseconds.

Several functions occur during each por-tion of the 15 -MHz clock cycle. The firstportion may be considered the auto -bal-ance cycle when all the comparators arebalanced by closing the switches, shortingthe comparator input to the output. This

Fig. 4. The CA3600 is used in conjunction with the CA3080A asa strobeable micropower comparator.

assumes, of course, that each PMOS andNMOS device making up the amplifier issimilar. These devices are similar to thegain blocks shown on the CA3600 exceptthat these devices are much smaller anddiffused on a sapphire substrate to enhancethe high-speed performance. When the in-put of each gain block is shorted to itsoutput, each comparator output and inputis at approximately half of the supply volt-tage. This operating point is also the high-est current condition, resulting in the max-imum comparator bandwidth.

Also during the auto -balance phase, eachinput -coupling capacitor is connected toits respective tap on the polysilicon refer-ence ladder network on the chip. Eachinput capacitor is thus charged to thepotential at its tap location on the laddernetwork.

During the next phase of the input -clock cycle, the switches shunting the com-parators are opened and the input -cou-pling capacitor is switched to the un-known. At this time all the comparatorseither switch high or low depending uponwhere the sampled input is with respect tothe ladder network. This data is stored,decoded and applied to the output latchand also applied to the three -state outputstage.

The sapphire and high-speed CMOSdevices give this device its high speed.


Fig. 5(a). The CA3600 is used as a feedback AC amplifier withits gain of approximately -Rf /Rs.

Fig. 5(b). The CA3600 is used as an open -loop AC amplifier. C3bypasses AC feedback.

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Wittlinger: Linear integrated circuits are going digital 61

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Fig. 8. A linear approach to a long -interval timer.


Fig. 9. Acoustical D/A converter developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories (Photo Cour-tesy Bell Labs).

Moreover, the CMOS circuitry helps con-serve power so that this device consumesless than 50 mW when operating at 11MHz with a 5 -volt supply. Additionalclock phasing control and the strobeableoutput latches permit connections of asecond converter for 7 -bit operation or anincrease in the conversion rate to 30 MHz,with an 8 -volt supply, as shown in Figs.7(a) and 7(b). A new 8 -bit converter, theCA3308, is to be announced during thefirst quarter of 1982.

An actual application problem will showthe unusual turns a customer's design re-quest can take and show some of theunusual advantages that our modern in-tegrated circuits possess.

The customer required a 45 ± 5 minutetimer. A push -to -start switch activates thetiming cycle, which operates a triac. Atthe end of the cycle, the triac shuts downuntil the push -to -start button is again de-pressed. A CMOS 18 -stage counter, clock-ing the power -line frequency, combinedwith a CMOS logic gate will perform thefunction. This would require two CMOSpackages. A linear approach is also pos-sible using a dual BiMOS operational ampli-fier, the CA3260.Figure 8 shows a sche-matic diagram of this approach. One am-plifier operates as an ultra -low input-current integrator, while the other ampli-fier functions as a Schmitt comparator toreliably switch the drive to the triac at theend of the timing cycle.

Because the comparator trip pointsand the integrating current are a functionalmost exclusively of the supply voltage inthese CMOS output stage amplifiers, theinternal timing is independent of the supplyvoltage variations. Ultimately. cost con-siderations of all available approaches willdetermine the final system.

Two excellent examples of the intro-duction of digital techniques to consumerequipment are in the areas of color TVand digital audio. W.A. Lagoni describeda baseband comb filter (in the April/May/June 1980 issue of the RCA Engineer) thatis a prime example of product -performanceenhancement. In this system, the accuracyof the charge -coupled -device (CCD) combfilter is determined by the precision of theclocking oscillator, which in this case isderived from a 3.58 -MHz crystal -controlledsubcarrier oscillator. Thus extremely pre-cise, narrowband reject points are obtain-able. This filtering technique results inbetter color pictures with reduced colorbeat patterns (normally associated withthe narrow colored strips on conventionalTV receivers). Additional linear circuitryalso uses the output from the CCD deviceto further enhance the vertical resolution.

In the past, audio development has pri-marily centered on systems and accesso-ries, such as the various cartridge record-ers, and the stereo- and quadraphonics -reproduction systems. During the last fiveyears, however, two major areas of signif-

icant improvement have been made. Oneis the introduction of digital recordingand the other is digital control of turn-table speeds.

Ideally the microphone would digitizethe signal initially, but this has not hap-pened-yet. Actually, the microphone isnot one of the limiting factors in today'saudio systems. Analog tape recorders areusually the limiting factor in both signal-to-noise ratio and, ultimately, dynamicrange and distortion. New materials andfabrication techniques for both recordingtape and tape recorder heads and mate-rial have made improvements to both theselimiting factors in the last few years.

Digital recording techniques have shownthat these limitations can be overcomeand can extend the dynamic range to great-er than 95 dB for a total range of 56,000 -to -1. or 16 bits, which would representone part out of 65,536. To a first order,dynamic range is only a function of sys-tem quantization. Greater dynamic rangerequires more discrete steps that result inadditional digital bits.

An added bonus in using these tech-niques is the dramatic reduction in wowand flutter. Since a clock signal must beused in the digitizing process, this signalcan also be used to control constant -speed capstan systems via analog servosystems. If this is not satisfactory, thenspeed correction can be accommodatedwith storage registers.

Similar techniques are used to maketoday's luxury audio turntables. Opticaltachometer outputs phase lock the directlydriven turntable motor speed to a crystaloscillator via an analog servo system.

Recently, an acoustical D/A converterfor telephone receivers was described byJ.L. Flanagan at Bell Telephone Labora-tories. This receiver translates pulse -width-modulated information into fairly goodfidelity audio. Figure 9 shows this device.Bell is also working on an A/D conver-ter. CODEC circuits developed for tele-communication are other examples of asuperb blend of analog and digitaltechnologies.

All these products are new and eventu-ally everyone will benefit from this in-troduction of digital techniques to ouranalog world. Despite the invasion of ana-log circuit designs by digital circuits, ana-log designs will remain where they canprovide any of the following: Simple and rapid solution to a problem. Monitoring, conditioning and amplify-

ing low-level signals, before applicationto an A/D converter.

Wittlinger. Linear integrated circuits are going digital 63

Differential line drivers and receivers,where the excellent common -mode rejec-tion characteristics of the differential am-plifier may be used even for digitalsignals.

Signal -level translators when convertingfrom one logic form to another.

Aid in analog processing of signals fromphase detectors and discriminators inphase -locked -loop systems.

Convert digital outputs for D/A con-verter back to unusual analog signallevels, for example, provide unusual pow-er, voltage, or current drives.

Conclusion

Man is most responsive to analog inputs.Large quantities of information are con-veyed by the display of an analog watchor by the rate, deflection, and direction ofan analog meter. More digital multimetermanufacturers are now offering instru-ments with both analog and digital dis-plays. Watch manufacturers are also intro-ducing timepieces with both displays. Even

Hal Wittlinger received the BSEE from CaseInstitute of Technology. In 1956. he joinedthe Tube Division of RCA and worked onhorizontal deflection amplifiers and damper

diodes. Before joining the Solid State Divi-sion in 1966, he worked at Astro-Electron-ics. Here he designed television camerasfor weather satellites and worked on videoprocessing and regulating systems. In addi-tion, he was responsible for the design ofthe synchronization system of the portablecolor TV camera used by NBC in the 1968presidential conventions.

He is presently an Engineering Leader,working with advanced operational -typelinear integrated circuits for use in a widevariety of applications ranging from instru-mentation and control to consumer appli-cations and computer interface systems.

Contact him at:Solid State DivisionSomerville, N.J.TACNET: 325-7028

the human body converts analog stimuliand handles the signal in a digital manner.Better understanding of man's digital na-ture, I am sure, will inevitably allow theblind to see and the deaf to hear. Recog-nition of the analog and digital aspects of

man will enhance his existence in thisworld. We must strive to better under-stand all aspects of these complex systemsof nature so that we, as designers, canprovide the complex systems needed inthe future.


Patents

AdvancedTechnology Laboratories

Heagerty, W.F. 'Pryor, R.LFolded-cascode amplifier arrangementwith cascode load means -4284959

Pryor, R.L. tHeagerty, W.F.Folded-cascode amplifier arrangementwith current mirror amplifier -4284958

Siryj, B.W. I Gilson, A.P.Optical disc changer apparatus -4286790

Siryj, B.W. I Horton, C.RjScott, R.D.Thermal processor in an apparatus fordeveloping photographic film -4293212

Siryj, B.W.Solar tracking apparatus -4295621

Astro-Electronics

Auerbach, V.Fault -tolerant interface circuit for paralleldigital bus -4298982

Binge, D.S.Hinge construction with positive lockingmeans -4290168

Goldberg, E.A.Degaussing arrangement for maser sur-rounded by magnetic shielding -4286304

Automated Systems

Thornhill, J., Jr.1Elder, R.B.Earth self -orienting apparatus -4292861

CommercialCommunications Systems

Herman, R.Printed circuit board supportstructure -4301495

Johns, M RAntenna array with impedance matchingusing mutual coupling -4301458

Matta, J.J. ISkalina, A.Feed system for a circularly polarizedtetra -coil antenna -4295144

Nikolayuk, N.Circularly polarized slotted pylonantenna -4297706

Zorbalas, G.S.Motor speed control circuit -4296446

Consumer Electronics

Carter, G.W.Controlled local oscillator with apparatusfor extending its frequency -4288875

Dodds, D.L.Television display errorcorrection -4296359

Fitzgerald, W.V., Jr.Vertical deflection circuit -4293803

Hettiger, J.Keyed noise finer in a televisionreceiver -4295161

Hettiger, J.Keying signal generator responsive to plu-ral Input signals -4295163

Knight, P.R.Horizontal deflection generator and drivercircuit -4298830

Laboni, W.A.Signal processing circuit having a non-linear transfer function -4295160

Luz, D.W. Willis,I D.H.Deflection and power supply circuit withreduced start-up drive -4282460

Naimpally, S.V.Luminance and chrominance signal sepa-ration network -4288811

Nicholson. J.E. Wilmarth. P.C.Television receiver chassis adapted to becompatible with different tuner andcabinet configurations -4297726

Shanley, R.L., II I Hettiger, J.

Failure compensated automatic kinescopebeam current limiter -4295166

Shanley, R L , II

Composite keying signal generator for atelevision receiver -4291336

Tults, J.Keyboard encodingarrangement -4282516

Wilmarth, P.C.Color television receiver degaussingcircuit -4295078

Coronet Industries

Silcox, D.R IDoster, J.LFilament winding apparatus -4297095

GovernmentCommunications Systems

Clay, B R

Technique for recording a hologram suit-able for use in optical retrievalsystem -4289372

Crow ey, A.T.Digitally adjustable phase shiftingcircuit -4295098

Nossen, E.J.System and method for frequencydiscrimination -4291269

Nossen, E.J.Frequency demodulation system -4291275

Laboratories

Avins, J.Y.Incremental encoder -4300039

Balberg, I.Silicon MOS inductor -4282537

Barnette, W.E. (Fox, E.C.Compensation apparatus for a servosystem with periodic commandsignals -4300226

Bell. A.E.Repicable optical recordingmedium -4285056

Bell, A.E. 'Bloom A.Bartolini, R.A. I Burke, W.J.Thin protective overcoat layer for opticalvideo disc -4300143

Bell, A.E.Replicable optical recordingmedium -4300227

Bo'iringer, W.Regulated deflection circuit with start-upand electronic circuit breakercontrol -4291257

Carroll, C.B. (Schaller, F.C. I Beres, E.A.Automatic apparatus for molding apreform -4281816

Carroll, C.B. IScheible, H.G.Method for preparing stylus lappingdiscs -4297312

Co'nizzoli, R.B. IVibronek, R.D.Method of detecting a thin insulating filmover a conductor -4296370


Credelle, T.L. IGange, R.A.Beam clean up structure for flat paneldisplay devices -4298819

Datta, P.Conductive molding composition anddiscs therefrom -4299736

Demers, R.R.Wafer and boule protection during theblade return stroke of a wafersaw -4287256

Dinardo, J.R., JrMethod for fabricating flyleads for videodisc styli -4282311

Ettenberg, M. INuese, C.J.III -V direct-bandgap semiconductoroptical filter -4300811

Faith, T.J., Jr.Laminated conducting film on anintegrated circuit substrate and method offorming the laminate -4302498

Fisher, A WMethod for determining silicon content inlayers of aluminum and silicon -4282266

Gibson, W.G.Signal separation networks -4283741

Hanak, J JLaser processing technique for fabricatingseries -connected and tandem junctionseries -connected solar cells into a solarbattery -4292092

Henderson, J.G. IMaturo, R.J.Search type tuning system with directaddress channel selection apparatus -4291413

Hernqvist, K.G.Method for coating a selected portion ofthe internal neck surface of aCRT -4285990

Hernqvist, K.G.CRT with means for suppressing arcingtherein -4288719

Heyman, P.M. IBortfeld, D.P.Apparatus and method for reading anidentifying label on an informationrecord -4292511

Himics, R.J. 'Kaplan, M. IDesai, N.V.Method of exposing and developing ahomopolymer resist -4286050

Hsu, S.T.Method of manufacturing bulk CMOSintegrated circuits -4295266

Hsu, S.T.Electrically programmable control gateinjected floating gate solid state memorytransistor and method of makingsame -4297719

Hung, L.K. 'Bloom, A.Water -based photoresists using stilbene

compounds as crosslinkingagents -4299910

Ipri, A.C.Input protection device for insulated gatefield effect transistor -4282556

James, E.A.Fabrication of video discflyleads-4284712

Johnson, H.C.Interrogating radar for use with taggedtargets -4292637

Keizer, E.0.1Alphonse, G.A.System for measuring stylus shoelength -4296371

Kiess, H.G. IBinggeli, B.K.Readout of electrostatically storedinformation -4296478

Maby, E.W.1Kawamoto, H. IValembois, P.V.Ion implanted stylus -4296144

McCandless, H.E.Electron gun -4298818

Paglione, R.W.Apparatus and method for application ofradioactive and microwave energy to thebody -4292960

Perlow, S.M.Impedance transformationnetwork -4295107

Priestley, E.B. 'Call, P.J.Method of depositing a silicon oxidedielectric layer -4282268

Reitmeier, G.A.Television image size alteringapparatus -4282546

Rhodes, R.N.Checkerboard color filter providingtolerance -4286285

Rhodes, R.N.Color filter -4288812

Rhodes, R.N. 'Schroeder, A.C. 'Moles, W.H.Color encoding filter -4290671

Rutishauser, E.A.NTSC to PAL transcoder-4283738

Sanford, R.F.Automatic shutdown arrangement forstand-alone televisionmodulator -4286336

Scott, H.M.Switching regulator with independentfeedback path filter -4298892

Simshauser, E.D. I Nosker, R.W.Signal loss detector for videodisc -4287587

Southgate, P.D.Apparatus for discerning the noticeable

presence of spatial fluctuations of intensitywithin a two-dimensional visualfield -4282510

Southgate, P.D.'Crooks, H.N.Apparatus for discerning the noticeablepresence of spatial fluctuations of intensitywithin a two-dimensional visualfield -4282511

Southgate, P.D.Inspection system for detecting defects inregular patterns -4292672

Sterzer, F.Ridge-waveguide applicator for treatmentwith electromagnetic energy -4282887

Sterzer, F.Serrodyning system employing an adjus-table phase shifting circuit -4297641

Truesdell, R.L. 'Ross, M.D.Apparatus for measuring the characteris-tics of a wideband electromechanicalrecording system having atransformer -4295216

Vanraalte, J.A.Modular tube shadow mask supportsystem -4283654

Warren, H.R.Magnetic recording with reduced cross-talk and interchannel timedisplacement -4296430

Weimer, P.K.Architecture line -transfer CCDimagers -4291239

Missile & Surface Radar

Chressanthis, A.G.Gaffney, B.P. 'Halpern, H.M.Digital CFAR signal processor for phasecoded radars -4293856

Kolc, R.F.Nozzle for dispensing viscousfluid -4291642

Schelhorn, R.L.Composite substrate -4296272

Stachejko, V.U-shaped iris design exhibiting capacitivereactance in heavily loaded rectangularwaveguide-4301430

Young, W.C.Assembly for positioning the couplingprobe of a waveguide-4287496

Picture Tube Division

D'Amato, R.J.Color picture tube having improved cor-rugated apertured mask -4293791


Godfrey, R.H. 'Peck, J.O.Cathode-ray tube screen borderimprovement -4300070

Harper, S.A.Method for improving the adherence of aphosphor-photobinder layer to a glasssupport -4284694

Kuzminski, H.W.Color picture tube having improved slittype shadow mask and method of makingsame -4296189

Maddox, W.J.Light transmission measurementmethod -4289406

Nolan, R.A.Color picture tube having improved slittype shadow mask and method of makingsame -4300069

Nubani, J.I.Method for testing panel -to -funnel sealinglayer of a cathode-ray tube -4302725

Ragland, F.R., Jr.Method for determining the average widthof luminescent stripes of a viewingscreen -4286164

Ragland, F.R., Jr.Mercury arc lamp having communicatingmercury reservoir -4295074

Roberts, D.L.Color picture tube having improved slittype shadow mask -4293792

Rudy, W.G.Method for vaporizing getter material in avacuum electron tube -4302063

Simon, P.B. I Barbin, P.L.Television raster centering aid -4282461

RCA Records

Mattson, G.A.Tape cartridge -4301976


Christopher, T.J. 'Wilber, J.A.Periodically biased video disc playerservo system -4286282

Clemens, J.K.Transcoder-4286283

Hughes, L.M. 'George, K.L.Stylus cleaning apparatus for video discplayer -4285524

James, J.E.Wide range drift compensated FM signalgenerator -4286237

McNeely, M.LApparatus for molding recordeddiscs -4302175

Mindel, M.J. 'Miller, M.E.Rustman, J.C. 'Palmer, R.C.Method for improving the quality of lowfrequency output of a video disc pickupstylus -4287689

Pyles, G.D. 'Wilber, J.A. 'Christopher, T.J.Fast recovery squelch circuit for a videodisc player -4286290

Wilber, J.A. 'Christopher, T.J.VFO having plural feedbackloops -4286235

Ziegel, D.H.Work holder -4286414

Solid State Division

Ahmed, A.A.Amplifier with cross -over currentcontrol -4297644

Ahmed, A.A.Series voltage regulators for developingtemperature -compensated voltages -4282477

Ahmed, A.A.Current dividers using emitter -coupledtransistor pairs -4284945

Assour, J.M. 'Bates, T.I.Bender, J.R. 'Neilson, J.M.Semiconductor thyristor device havingintegral ballast means -4292646

Balaban, A.R. 'Steckler, S.A.Pulse generator for a horizontal deflectionsystem -4282549

Beelitz, H.R. IPreslar, D.R.Method of integrating semiconductorcomponents -4282538

Carter, D.R. I Doner, C.E.Hammersand, F.G. ITomcavage. J.R.Circumferentially apertured cylindricalgrid for electron tube -4295077

Delrio, E.H.Means to orbit and rotate target waferssupported on planet member -4284033

Denning, R. ISpak, M.A. IPolhemus, B.Method of applying thin metal deposits toa substrate -4297393

Dietz, W.F.Horizontal deflection circuit and powersupply with regulation by horizontal out-put transistor turn-off delaycontrol -4301394

Dingwall, A.G.Transition detector circuit -4286174

Harwood, L.A.Transistor protection circuit -4302792

Heuner, R.C.Starting circuit for low power oscillatorcircuit -4282496

Hoover, M.V.Class AB push-pull FET amplifiers -4296382

Howard, T.B., Jr.Etching tank in which the solution circu-lates by convection -4302273

Hsieh, P.K.1Vaccarella, R.M.Level shift circuit -4295065

Kessler, S.W., Jr. 'Olmstead, J.A.Semiconductor power device havingsecond breakdown protection -4291324

Koons, P.R. 'Neilson, J.M.Method of treating SIPOS passivated highvoltage semiconductor device -4297149

Kucharewski, N. IGillberg, J.E.Gated oscillator -4286233

Leidich, A.J.Reference current supplycircuits -4282478

Leidich, A.J.Amplifier with electrically controlled gain,with output suitable for directcoupring-4286226

Leidich, A.J.Class AB push-pull quasi -linearampiliers-4295101

Malchow, M.E.Temperature -sensitive voltagedivider -4295088

McKeon, E.F.Switching network -428491 1

Nyul. P. 'Hughes, F.R.Method of bonding two parts together andarticle produced thereby -4295151

Rodgers. R.L., IllRelaxation oscillators with electrical con-trol of periodicities of oscillation -4292605

Schade. O.H., Jr.Current regulating circuitry -4300091

Schade, O.H., Jr.Reference potential generatingcircuits -4302718

Steckler, S.A. 'Balaban, A.R.Circuit arrangement for multiplexing aninput function and an output function at asingle terminal -4293870

Steckler, S.A. 'Balaban, A.R.Deflection system and switched -modepower suply using a common rampgenerator -4292654

Wittlinger, H.A. 'Salerno, C.F.Position sensing and displaymeans -4294321


Pen and Pod I LI m Recent RCA technical 3apers and presentations

To obtain copies of papers, check your library or contact the author or his divisionalTechnical Publications Administrator (listed on back cover) for a reprint.

Americom

M.R. Freeling IL. SchiffTechnical Standards for Direct BroadcastSatellite Systems-RCA Review, Vol. 42,No. 3 (9/81)

Astro-Electronics

J. Badura IR. Gounder IS. lnoAnalytical (FEM) and Test Evaluation ofAdvanced Composite Antenna Reflectorsfor Communication Satellites -13thNational SAMPE Tech. Conference, Mt.Pocono, Pa. (10/13-15/81)

J. FrohbieterFrom Echo 1 to Entertainment Plus -28thAnniversary Conference American Astro-nautical Society, San Diego, Ca.(10/29/81)

L. GombergOutlook for Meteorological Satellite andRelated Technology-Tech. MarketingSociety of America, Munich, Germany(10/19/81) London, England(10/22/81)

K.K. Oey IS. TeitelbaumHighly Reliable Spaceborne Memory Sub-system-AIAA Computers in Aerospace IIConference, San Diego, Calif. (10/26/81)

K.K. Oey IS. TeitelbaumSCP-050 The Next Generation CMOS SOSLSI Spaceborne Computer-AIAA Compu-ters in Aerospace II Conference, SanDiego, Calif. (10/26/81)

Automated Systems

F.F. MartinManagement of Design-to-Cost-DefenseSystems Management College,Moores-town, N.J. (11/81)

M. Shilo IN.P. VeederA Portable Automated Cable Tester forU.S. Army Combat Vehicle Support-Elec-tronic Connector Study Group, Inc., Phila-delphia, Pa. (11/12/81)

L.B. SmithOrientation of Cooperative Students intoIndustry-Panel Discussion at Northeast-ern Univ., Boston, Mass. (11/81)

GovernmentCommunications Systems

D.G. HerzogIO.E. Bessette IA.A. TapsonyAn Example of a High Performance OpticalDisc System Approach-Published: Con-ference Proceedings; Presented: 13th Elec-tro-Optics Laser 81 Conference, Anaheim,Calif. (11/17/81)

A. KaplanDigital Signal Processing-Instructor atseminar given at SATCOM Agency, Ft.Monmouth, N.J. (9/16/81)

A. KaplanDigital Signal Processing-Instructor atseminar given to RCA Engineering andManagement (9/9/81)

A.P. MollProtecting Against Failure in a Program-mable Instrumentation System-Mini-Mi-cro Systems (9/81)

Laboratories

R.S. CrandallA Comparison of p-i-n and Schottky -Bar-rier Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon, a-Si:H, Solar Cells-RCA Review, Vol 42, No.3 (9/81)

R.S. CrandallField Nonuniformity Due to Photogener-ated Carriers in a p-i-n Solar Cell-RCAReview, Vol. 42, No. 3 (9/81)

R. DubeA Fuzzy Sets Approach to InformationRetrieval from A Criminal History DataBase-A/1E Transactions, Vol. 13, No. 3

M. Ettenberg ID. BotezD.B. Gilbert IJ.C. Connolly H.V.I KowgerThe Effect of Facet Mirror Reflectivity onthe Spectrum of Single -Mode cw Con-stricted Double-Heterojunction DiodeLasers-IEEE Journal of Quantum Elec-tronics, Vol. QE -17, No. 11 (11/81)

M. Ettenberg II. LadanyMetallization for Diode Lasers-J. Vac. Sci.Technol., Vol. 19. No. 3 (10/11/81)

M. EttenbergOn the Spatial Mode Stability of OxideStripe cw Lasers during AcceleratedAging at 70°C-J. Appl. Phys., Vol 52, No.6 (6/81)

T.J. Faith R.S. IrvenJ.J. O'Neill, Jr. IF.J. Tams, IllOxygen Monitors for Aluminum and AI -OThin Films-J. Vac. Sci. Technol., Vol. 19.No. 3 (9/10/81)

S.T. HsuGIMOS-A Nonvolatile MOS MemoryTransistor-RCA Review, Vol. 42, No. 3(9/81)

S.T. HsuObservation of Electron and Hole Trans-port Through Thin SiO2 Films-RCAReview, Vol. 42, No. 3 (9/81)

L. Jastrzebski A.E. Bell IP. Wu (nowwith Exxon) I P.J. ZanzucchiThe Role of Plasma Diffusion in Heat Dis-sipation during Laser Annealing-J. Appl.Phys., Vol. 52, No. 6 (6/81)

L. JastrzebskiDeep Levels Study in Float Zone Si Usedfor Fabrication of CCD Imagers-Journalof the Electrochemical Soc., Vol. 128, No. 9(9/81)

M. Kumar I R.J. Menna IH. HuangPlanar Broad -Band 180° Hybrid PowerDivider/Combiner Circuit-IEEE Transac-tions on Microwave Theory and Tech-niques, Vol. MTT-29, No. 11 (11/81)

M. Kumar IR.J. Menne IH. HuangBroad -Band Active Phase Shifter UsingDual -Gate MESFET-IEEE Transactionson Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol.MTT-29, No. 10 (10/81)

I. Ladany IR.T. Smith C.W. MageeMeltback and Pullover as Causes of Dis-turbances in Liquid -Phase EpitaxialGrowth of InGaAsP/InP 1.3 µ m LaserMaterial-J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 52, No. 10(10/81)

G.H. Olsen I F.Z. Hawrylo I D.J. ChanninD. Botez I M. Ettenberg1.3 m LPE- and VPE-Grown InGaAsPEdge -Emitting LEDs-IEEE Journal ofQuantum Electronics, Vol. QE -17, No. 10(10/81)

S.S. PerlmanComputer Simulation of Horizontal Tran-sient Response of the NTSC Color -TV Sys-tem-RCA Review, Vol. 42, No. 3 (9/81)

D.H. Pritchard IJ.K. Clemens I M.D. RossThe Principles and Quality of the Buried -


Subcarrier Encoding and Decoding Sys-tem and Its Application to the RCA Video -Disc System-RCA Review, Vol. 42, No. 3(9/81)

M.D. Ross J.K. Clemens IR.C. PalmerThe Influence of Carrier -to -Noise Ratioand Stylus Life on the RCA VideoDisc Sys-tem Parameters-RCA Review, Vol. 42, No.3 (9/81)

L. Schiff1M.R. FreelingTechnical Standards for Direct BroadcastSatellite Systems-RCA Review, Vol. 42,No. 3 (9/81)

D.L. Staebler I R.S. Crandall IA. WilliamsStability of n-i-p Amorphous Silicon SolarCells-Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 39, No. 9(11/1/81)

J.L. VossenVLSI Metallization: Some Problems andTrends-J. Vac. Sci. Technol., Vol. 19, No.3 (9-10/81)

Missile and Surface Radar

K. AbendSpectral Estimation for Radar Imaging ofAircraft-IEEE Night, Philadelphia Section,University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,Pa. (10/20/81)

K. AbendThe Utility and Performance of SpectralEstimation in Radar Imaging-U.S. DODTri-Service Combat Identification SystemConference, Ft. Monmouth, N.J. (10/81)

O.G. AllenASOC's Twenty-fifth Annual Symposium,King of Prussia, Pa. (11/19/81)

F.J. BuckleySoftware Quality Assurance-Instructor,IEEE Software Quality Assurance Course,San Francisco, Calif. (10/14-16/81)

F.J. BuckleySoftware Quality Assurance-SoftwareQuality Assurance, Sacramento State Uni-versity, Sacramento, Calif. (10/13/81)

F.J. BuckleySoftware Quality Assurance-Instructor,IEEE Seminar on Software Quality Assu-rance, Washington, D.C. (11/18-20/81)

F.J. BuckleyIEEE Standard 730-A Standard for Soft-ware Quality AssurancePlans-(11/13/81)

C.L. ChristiansonNext Generation Surface Radar Fire Con-trol Meeting Multifunction Needs withModular Evolution-AIAA Sensor SystemsConference, Los Angeles, Calif.(9/17-18/81) Palo Alto, Calif.(9/21-22/81)

R.I. CredonSupport Systems-ElectricalSupport Systems-MechanicalRoom Arrangements-Combat SystemsEngineering and Ship Design Seminar, MIT(8/81)

I.E. GoldsteinBackground and Introduction and TopsideDesign-Combat Systems Engineeringand Ship Design Seminar, MIT (8/81)

Two popular papersSome landmark research papers showup as references in other authors' pa-pers more often than others. An out-side company that sells information onsuch developments recognized twoRCA Laboratories authors this year forpapers they wrote some time ago. Bothpapers were cited over 100 times, ac-cording to the Institute for ScientificInformation. The authors, titles, and ab-stracts are listed below.

Goodman, A.M. Metal -semiconductorbarrier height measurement by the dif-ferential capacitance method-one car-rier system. J. Appl. Phys. 34:329-38,1963. (RCA Laboratories, Princeton,N.J.)

Abstract: The differential -capacitance -measurement method for characteriz-ing an ideal metal -semiconductorSchottky -barrier contact is based onassumptions which may or may notbe valid. Some of these deviations fromideality were examined in order to de-termine their effects upon the interpre-tation and validity of measurementson real contacts.

Kressel, H., and Nelson H. Close -con-finement gallium arsenide p -n junc-tion lasers with reduced optical lossat room temperature. RCA Rev. 30:106-13, 1969.Abstract: The first practical hetero-structure room -temperature operationinjection laser is reported. This newsingle heterojunction AIGaAs/GaAsstructure has a threshold current densityof 10,000 A/cm2. This is a factor offive lower than previous typical GaAshomojunction lasers. An explanationfor the improvement is presented.

L.J. GrantnerAnti -Submarine Warfare: Detect, Control,Engage and Anti -Submarine Warfare: ShipImpacts-Combat Systems Engineeringand Ship Design Seminar, Naval SystemsDepartmert, MIT (8/81)

J. Haness1J. FriedmanOvercoming the Engineer's Fear of Com-municating-Conference Proceedings,Frontiers in Education Conference, RapidCity, S. Dakota (10/19-21/81)

P.L. KadakialD.J. HermanCore Resource Management of LargeReal -Time Computer Program Develop-ment-AIAA Computers in Aerospace IIIConference, San Diego, Calif.(10/26-28/81)

W. KelEngineering Aesthetics in WarshipDesigr -Naval Engineers Journal (10/81)

R.F. KolcAttachment of Hermetic Chip Carriers toVarious Substrate Materials-4st AnnualInternational Electronics Packaging Con-ference, Cleveland, Ohio (11/10/81)

R.F. KolcHigh Density Packaging for an ArtificialPancreas -1st Annual International Elec-tronics Packaging Conference, Cleveland,Ohio (11/9/81)

R.F. KolcHigh Density Packaging for an ArtificialPancreas-Rotary Club Meeting at MSR(9/81)

R.F. KolcImplemented Diabetic Insulin Pump-IEEEPhiladelphia Section Meeting, Philadelphia,Pa. (9/22/81)

B.J. MatulisFrom the Laboratory to Product Design-Conference Record, 1981 IEEE Engineer-ing Management Conference, Dayton,Onio (11/9-11/81)

F.E. OlivetoProductivity through Reliability-Productiv-ity and Technology Innovations Sympo-sium, The Engineers' Club of Philadelphia(11/12/81)

M.H PlofkerCombat System Availability-Combat Sys-tems Engineering and Ship DesignSemnar, MIT (8/81)

M. RauchwerkA Method for Digital Analysis of RadarSubsystem Performance-ConferenceDigest International Electrical, ElectronicConference and Exposition, Toronto(10/5-7/81)

F. ReiflerOptimal Orthogonal Control-MathematicsColloquium, Georgetown Univ., Washing-ton, D.C. (10/23/81)

R.J. RenfrowTopside Design-Radar and TopsideDesign-Weapons-Combat SystemsEngineering and Ship Design Seminar, MIT(8/81)

E.E Roberts, Jr.Error Budgeting Alignment and Ships'Flexure-Combat Systems Engineeringand Ship Design Seminar, MIT (8/81)

R.L SchelhornNew Metal Core Substrate Materials for


Chip Carrier Circuit Applications-NEP-CON Northwest, San Mateo, Calif.(11/3/81)

R.L. SchelhornMetal Core Materials for Thick Film Sub-strate Aplications-ISHM 1981 Proceed-ings, ISHM '81, Chicago, III. (10/21-23/81)

R.L. SchelhornThick Film Copper Multiple Applications-

NEPCON Northwest, San Mateo, Calif.(11 / 3-5/81)

J.T. ThrestonSystem Functional Analysis and Func-tional Allocation; Performance Trade-offAnalysis; Anti -Air Warfare-Detect/Con-trol/Engage; Contemporary Combat Sys-tem Designs; and Computers/DigitalTechnology-Combat Systems Engineer-ing and Ship Design Seminar, MIT, 8/81)


J.J. BrandingerThe RCA CED VideoDisc System-AnOverview-RCA Review, Vol. 42, No. 3(9/81)

Engineering News and Highlights

Seeley is new TPA

Paul E. Seeley, Manager of TechnologyPlanning, has been appointed TechnicalPublications Administrator at RCA Auto-mated Systems, Burlington, Massachusetts.Mr. Seeley joined RCA in 1955 as an engi-neering manager and became responsiblefor design and development of electro-op-tical equipments for aircraft, space andground -based applications. He graduatedfrom MIT with a B.S. degree in Physics,received a Certificate of PMD from theHarvard Business School, and obtained anM.S. in Engineering Management fromWestern New England College. He is cur-rently responsible for the planning and ap-plication of current and future technologiesat Automated Systems. Paul is a memberof Sigma Xi; the American Institute of Phys-ics Society; the National Society of Profes-sional Engineers; and is a Senior Memberof IEEE.

Contact him at:Automated SystemsBurlington, Mass.TACNET: 326-3095

Schoedler joins CorporateEngineering Education

James B. Schoedler joined CorporateEngineering Education as Administrator,Technical Education Programs in October1981. In this position, he is principallyresponsible for the development of theManufacturing Engineering EducationProgram.

Mr. Schoedler was trained as an electri-cal engineer, spent four years with the U.S.Air Force beginning in 1966, and alsoworked for Jetronic Industries in Philadel-phia, a manufacturer of marine electronicsequipment. Since 1974, he has been in-volved in the production of video -basedtraining programs, most recently as SeniorCMX Editor and Post -production Managerfor Videosmith in Philadelphia. He hasproduced, directed or edited a variety ofbroadcast and non -broadcast televisionprograms as well.

In 1978, Mr. Schoedler received the M.S.degree in Systems Engineering from theUniversity of Pennsylvania with a concen-tration in communications systems.

Contact him atCorporate Engineering EducationCherry Hill, N.J.TACNET: 222-5141

Staff announcements

Commercial CommunicationsSystems Division

Joseph C. Volpe, Division Vice -President,Broadcast Transmission Systems, an-nounces the appointment of Bruno F. Mel-chionni, Manager, Transmission SystemsProduct Operations, and Albert T. Monte-muro as Manager, Technical Services andProduct Management

Consumer Electronics

James E. Carnes, Director, New ProductsLaboratory, announces his organization asfollows: Billy W. Beyers, Jr., Manager, Dig-ital Products Development; Dal F. Griepen-trog, Manager, Project Engineering; ScottA. Keneman, Manager, Television DigitalSystems; James L. Newsome, Manager,Technology Applications; Richard A. Sun-shine, Manager, Engineering Systems;Donald H. Willis, Manager, Deflection Sys-tems Development: Craig S. Young, Man-ager, Advanced Mechanical Engineering;and James E. Carnes, Acting Manager,Signal Systems Development.

Laboratories

Carmen A. Catanese, Director, Picture TubeSystems Research Laboratory, announcesthe appointment of Curtis R. Carlson asHead, Image Quality and Human Percep-tion Research.

Robert D. Lohman, Director, Display Pro-cessing and Manufacturing Research La-boratory, announces the appointment ofAnthony S. Baran as Manager, AdvancedDevelopment-Manufacturing Technology.Mr. Baran will report to the Director, DisplayProcessing and Manufacturing Research


IMP

Laboratory, and receive business guidancefrom the Division Vice -President, Engineer-ing-Picture Tube Division.

RCA Global Communications

Valerian F. Podmolik, President and ChiefExecutive Officer, RCA Global Communica-tions, Inc. announces the following appoint-ments: Joe T. Swaim, Vice -President,Switched Services Engineering and Opera-tions; and Donald R. Stackhouse, Vice -Presi-dent, Leased Facilities and SystemsOperations.

Solid State Division

John E. Mainzer, Director, Power Opera-tions, announces his organization as fol-

lows: Donald E. Burke, Manager, PowerEngineering; Joseph V. Colarusso,Manager, Planning; George W. lanson,Manager, Wafer Fabrication; Keith E.Loofbourrow, Manager, Device Manufac-turing-HiRel, Aerospace, Hybrid; Vincent J.Lukach, Manager, Quality and ReliabilityAssurance, Joseph R. Spoon, Manager,Industrial Relations at Mountaintop; andParker T. Valentine, Manager, ProductMarketing (Power).

Donald E. Burke, Manager, Power Engi-neering, announces his organization as fol-lows: Donald E. Burke, Acting Manager,Bipolar Transistor Products (High Speed,Low Power, Hometaxy); Eugene J.Chabak, Manager, Hybrid Products; Ray-mond T. Ford, Manager, MOS Products; F.Peter Jones, Manager, Bipolar TransistorProducts (Switch Max, High Voltage, Epi

Base); Alan L. Sands, Manager, ThyristorProducts; Robert J. Satriano, Manager,Package Development; and Wallace D.Williams, Manager, Characterization andTest.

George W. lanson, Manager, Wafer Fabri-cation, announces his organization as fol-lows: Michael A. Caravaggio, Manager,Maintenance; William B. Hall, Manager,Process Engineering; and George W. Ian -son, Acting Manager, Wafer FabricationManufacturing.

Keith E. Loolbourrow, Manager, DeviceManufacturing, announces his organizationas follows: Eugene J. Chabak, Acting Man-ager, Hybrid Manufacturing; and Keith E.Loofbourrow, Acting Manager, HiRel,Aerospace Manufacturing.

Professional activities

Eta Kappa Nu Jury of Awardmeets at RCA

The 1981 Eta Kappa Nu (Honorary Electri-cal Engineering Society) Jury of Awardconvened at RCA "SelectaVision" Video -Disc Operations on November 6, 1981, toselect the Outstanding Young ElectricalEngineer of the United States. The JuryMeeting was organized by James A. D'Arcy(RCA "SelectaVision" VideoDisc Opera-tions), who is Chairman of the Eta Kappa NuAwards Organization Committee, Dr. Jay J.Brandinger, Division Vice -President andGeneral Manager of RCA "SelectaVision"VideoDisc Operations, was a member ofthe Jury. The other members of the Jurywere:

Dr. Stacy V. Holmes, Captain, USN NavyElectronics Systems Command

Dr. Robert W. Lucky (Bell Laboratories)Executive Vice -President, Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE).

Mr. Jack D. Kuehler, IBM Corporate Vice -President and President, IBM GeneralTechnology Division

Mr. Darrell V. Menscer, President, Pub-lic Service Indiana

Dr. Sydney R. Parker, Professor of Elec-trical Engineering, Naval PostgraduateSchool (Past President, Eta Kappa Nu)

The purpose of the Eta Kappa Nu Recog-nition Award is to emphasize among Elec-trical Engineers that their service to man-kind is manifested not only by achievements

441 ii r V

The 1981 Jury of Award Meeting. Seated left to right, Dr. Stacy V. Holmes, Dr. Robert W.Lucky, and Dr. Jay J. Brandinger. Standing left to qiht, Mr. Jack D. Kuehler, Dr. Sydney R.Parker, Mr. James A. D'Arcy, and Mr. Darrell V. Menscer.

in purely technical affairs, but in a varietyof other ways. Since 1936, forty-five youngmen who were less than 35 years of ageand who had received their Baccalaureatedegree less than 10 years before, havereceived the Award and 98 men of similarcharacteristics have received honorablemention. The most recent RCA employeeto receive this Award is John G.N. Hen -

demon (RCA Labs) who was the 1977 winner.The Award is given on the basis not onlyof what success the young Electrical Engi-neers have had in their vocation, but alsowhat they did to broaden themselves cultur-ally and what they did for others. The 1981wirners will be honored at an award ban-quet on February 1, 1982, in New YorkCity

RCA Engineer 27-1 Jan./Feb. 198271

Hopkins elected Fellow of SMPTE

Dr. Robert Hopkins, Manager of Field Cam-era Engineering and Product Manage-ment for RCA Commercial CommunicationsSystems Division, has been elected a Fel-low of the Society of Motion Picture andTelevision Engineers.

SMPTE Fellowships are conferred onmembers of the Society who, because oftheir proficiency and contributions, areconsidered to have attained a superior rankamong engineers or executives in the mo-tion picture, television or related industries.

Over the past seven years, Dr. Hopkinshas published articles on digital video invarious journals, and he was responsiblefor the development of the RCA digital

frame -store synchronizer. He serves as theChairman of the SMPTE Committee on NewTechnology, and his standards -committeework for the SMPTE has led to the devel-opment of world-wide digital video compat-ibility. Through his leadership the Society'sinternational scope of activities has beenexpanded significantly.

Dr. Hopkins joined RCA in 1964 as Mem-ber of Technical Staff of the RCA DavidSarnoff Research Laboratories, Princeton,N.J., a position he held until 1976. In thatyear, he joined RCA Broadcast Systems inCamden as Leader of Engineering Staff andserved as an engineering unit managerbefore taking his present position.

Technical excellence

Technical excellence achievementRemote Automatic Weather Station (RAWS)

Left to right (front row) A. Frim, E. Wirtz, J. Looney. Lett to right (back row) D. Priestley,Chief Engineer, R. Elder, J. Dong, R. Wilkins, J. McNamee, A. Hospodor, Vice -Presidentand General Manager.

A team working on the Remote AutomaticWeather Station (RAWS) has been selectedby the Burlington Technical ExcellenceCommittee for a Technical ExcellenceAward for their work on the Advanced De-velopment Models.

The RAWS consists of a set of remotestations and a master station with a VHFdata transmission link. The remote stationautomatically measures wind speed anddirection, barometric pressure, temperatureand relative humidity. The data transmittedfrom the remote station is received at themaster station and displayed using a ther-mal printer. RAWS is a joint program withAutomated Systems at Burlington respon-sible for the remote stations, and Govern-ment Communications Systems at Camdenresponsible for the master station. Theremote station design group developed

power supplies, microprocessor control cir-cuits, and data acquisition circuits thatwere integrated with purchased meteorological sensors and a GFE VHF digital datalink.

The team members are:

J.W. DongA.H. FrimJ.A. LooneyJ.A. McNameeR.E. WilkinsE.L. Wirtz

Engineering TechnicianSenior Project MemberSenior MemberSenior Project MemberEngineering TechnicianSenior Engineering

Scientist

The team produced deliverable equip-ment that met all critical specifications formeasurement accuracy, operating lifetime,and data -transmission performance. They

successfully solved a number of designproblems, and efficiently coordinated withGCS on the data link and the meteorologi-cal equipment. The design assembly of twomodels was completed in only 10 months.

Mountaintop TechnicalExcellence Awards

The Mountaintop Technical ExcellenceAward is designed to recognize and rewardmembers of the technical community whohave consistently exhibited initiative, lead-ership, technical competence, attitude, andfollow-up.

Bartholomay Kubasik

The Technical Excellence Committee hasreviewed candidates at the request andrecommendation of fellow technical staffmembers and is proud to announce thatWalter Bartholomay and George Kubasikare recipients of the Mountaintop Techni-cal Excellence Award for November, 1981.The committee will honor these recipientsat a luncheon and also at an annual dinner.


Editorial RepresentativesContact your Editorial Representative at the TACNETnumbers listed here to schedule technical papersand announce your professional activities.

Commercial Communications TACNETSystems Division (CCSD)Broadcast Systems' Bill SepichKrishna PrabaAndrew Billie

Camden. New Jersey 222-2156Gibbsboro, New Jersey 222-3605

Meadowlands, Pennsylvania 228-6231

Cablevision Systems John Ovnick Van Nuys, California 534-3011

Consumer Electronics (CE)' Clyde HoytFrancis HoltChuck LimbergDon Willis

Indianapolis, Indiana 422-5208Indianapolis, Indiana 422-5217Indianapolis, Indiana 422-5117Indianapolis, Indiana 422-5883

Government Systems Division (GSD)Advanced Technology Laboratories Merle Pietz Camden. New Jersey 222-2161

Astro-Electronics Frank Yannotti 229-2544Carol Klarmann 229-2919

Automated Systems Paul Seeley

Dale Sherman

Princeton, New JerseyPrinceton, New Jersey

Burlington, Massachusetts 326-3095Burlingtor, Massachusetts 326-2985

Government Communications Systems Dan Tannenbaum Camden, New Jersey 222-3081Harry Ketcham Camden, New Jersey 222-3913

GSD Staff Ed Moore Cherry Hill. New Jersey 222-5833

Missile and Surface Radar' Don Higgs Moorestown, New Jersey 224-2836Jack Friedman Moorestown, New Jersey 224-2112

National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Bob Mausler New York, New York 324-4385

Patent OperationsJoseph Tripoli Princeton, New Jersey 226-2992

Picture Tube Division (PTD)' Ed MadenfordNick MeenaJack NubaniJ.R. Reece

Lancaster, PennsylvaniaCircleville. Ohio

Scranton, PennsylvaniaMarion. Indiana

227-3657432-1228329-1499427-5566

RCA CommunicationsAmerican Communicatiois' Murray RosenthalCarolyn Powell

Global Communications*Dorothy Unger

AIMS

TACNET

Princeton, New Jersey 258-4192Princeton. New Jersey 258-4194

RCA Limited (Canada)Bob McIntyre

RCA Records Greg Bogantz

New York, New York 323-7348

Ste Anne de Bellevue 514-457-9000

Indianapolis, Indiana 424-6141

RCA Service Company' Joe SteogerRay MacWilliamsDick Dombrosky

Cherry Hill, New JerseyCherry Hill, New JerseyCherry Hill, New Jersey

Research and EngineeringCorporate Engineering Hans Jenny

LaboratoriesEva Cukes

SelectaVision a

Nelson Crooks

222-5547222-5986222-4414

Cherry Hill. New Jersey 222-4251

Princeton, New Jersey 226-2882

VideoDisc OperationsIndianapolis, Indiana 426-3164

Solid State Division (SSD)'John Schoen

Power DevicesHarold Ronan

Integrated CircuitsDick MoreySy SilversteinJohn Young

Somerville, New Jersey 325-6467

Mountaintop. Pennsylvania 327-1633or 327-1827

Pilm Beach Gardens, Florida 722-1262Somerville, New Jersey 325-6168

Findlay Ohio 425-1307

Electro-Optics arid DevicesJohn Grosh Lancaster. Pennsylvania 227-2077

Solid State Technology CenterJudy Yeast Somerville, New Jersey 325-6248

Technical Publications Administrators, responsible for review and approvalof papers and presentations, are indicated here with asterisks before their names.

RCA EngineerA technical journal published byCorporate Research and Engineering"by and for the RCA engineer"

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