First to perfect copper-based chips, Motorola sat idly by while IBM announced its own copper process in 1997.

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The lutetium oxide from which the crystals are made (in only a slightly updated process from the way we all made copper sulphate crystals in high school chemistry classes) all came from China.

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Although the process of transferring a musical composition from a gleam in the composer's eye into a handwritten manuscript and, finally, a performance-ready score has come a long way from the days of copper-plate engraving, it's a process rife with the possibility of transmittal error.

WSJ: Ravel| Mother Goose| New York Philharmonic| Arbie Orenstein

To assemble these little critters, Ibiden has developed its own plastic resins and a new process for building up layers of plastic that contain intricate patterns of copper wiring (see diagram).

FORBES: It's all in the packaging

For example cathode ray tubes those monstrous glass blobs found behind the housings of all of our old TVs and monitors, cost far more to process properly and safely than the value they can produce from the lead, copper and glass in them.

FORBES: It's Easy Enough To Solve The Problem Of E-Waste

For example, Turkish mining law is investment-friendly, as there is little bureaucratic control, an easy permitting process, and lower fees, and allows broader activities for companies involved in mining gold, copper and boron.

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IBM's approach is based on a process developed by IBM Research to crank out so-called thin-film solar cells based on copper, indium, gallium and selenide.

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