US Patent Issued to United States of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA on March 25 for "Method of fabricating structured membranes" (Maryland Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,259,656, issued on March 25, was assigned to United States of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA (Washington).

"Method of fabricating structured membranes" was invented by Elissa Williams (Greenbelt, Md.), Kevin Denis (Crofton, Md.) and Hsiang-Yu Liu (Lanham, Md.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A structured membrane fabrication method begins with a membrane wafer on a substrate and at least one thin-film on the membrane wafer such that portions of the membrane wafer are exposed. The exposed portions of the membrane wafer and each thin-film are covered with an acetone-inert protectant. Portions of the protectant are etche...