WARNING!

Electronic Emission Notices
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Statement This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with instructions contained in this manual, may cause harmful interference to radio and television communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: - - - - REORIENT OR RELOCATE THE RECEIVING ANTENNA INCREASE THE SEPARATION BETWEEN THE EQUIPMENT AND THE RECEIVER CONNECT THE EQUIPMENT INTO AN OUTLET ON A CIRCUIT DIFFERENT FROM THAT OF THE RECEIVER CONSULT THE DEALER OR AN EXPERIENCED AUDIO/TELEVISION TECHNICIAN
NOTE: Connecting this device to peripheral devices that do not comply with Class B requirements, or using an unshielded peripheral data cable, could also result in harmful interference to radio or television reception. The user is cautioned that any changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the users authority to operate this equipment. To ensure that the use of this product does not contribute to interference, it is necessary to use shielded I/O cables. Copyright This manual is copyrighted with all rights reserved. No portion of this manual may be copied or reproduced by any means. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this manual, no responsibility for errors or omissions is assumed. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. Trademarks All brand names, logos and registered trademarks mentioned are property of their respective owners.
NVIDIA ION PCIEx16 series Motherboard
Motherboard Specifications-------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Motherboard Layout------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6 Hardware Installation----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 Safety Instructions------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9 Preparing the Motherboard--------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Installing Memory DIMMs--------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Installing the Motherboard-------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Installing the I/O Shield------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11 Connecting Cables and Setting Switches------------------------------------------------- 12 20-pin ATX Power-PW1----------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Front Audio Header-FP_S1- ----------------------------------------------------------------- 13 serial Port Header - COM--------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 SPK Header-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 USB Headers------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 14 SPDIF-out Header------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 15 Front Panel Header- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Connecting Serial ATA Cables--------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Fan Connections-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Expansion Slots--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Mini PCIE Slot------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 PCI Express x16 slots--------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Jumper Settings--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Configuring the BIOS----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Enter BIOS Setup- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Main Menu--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 Advanced Menu- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 20 CPU Configuration- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 20 IDE Configuration--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 Floppy Configuration----------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 ACPI Configuration------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 APM Configuration- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 21 Event Log Configuration- ---------------------------------------------------------------- 21 MPS Configuration------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 PCI Express Configuration--------------------------------------------------------------- 21 Smbios Configuration---------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 USB Configuration-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 PCI/PnP Menu---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 Boot Menu--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23 Security Menu---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 Chipset Menu----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25

Motherboard Specifications
q hipset C v NVIDIA MCP7A-ION Series q ize S v Mini-ITX form factor of 6.69inch x 6.69 inch(171mm x 171mm) q Microprocessor support v Intel ATOM 230 / 330 CPU Support for 533 MT/s(533MHz FSB) v q perating systems: O v Supports Windows XP 32bit/64bit and Windows Vista 32bit/64bit q System Memory support Supports DDRII667/800. Supports up to 4GBs DDRII memory. v Supports dual Channel DDR2 128-Bit Memory Interface v q SB 2.0 Ports U Supports hot plug and play v Ten USB 2.0 ports (six rear panel ports, four from onboard USB headers) v Supports USB 2.0 protocol up to 480 Mbps transmission rate v q Onboard Serial ATA II Independent DMA operation on four ports (three is onboard SATA headers, v one is rear panel e-SATA). Data transfer rates of 3Gb/s. v q n board RTL8211CL Gigabit LAN(Optional) O Supports 10/100/1000M bps operation v q n board RTL8201EL Fast Ethernet(Optional) O Supports 10/100Mbps operation v upports half/full duplex operation vS q nboard Audio(Optional) O Azalia High-Definition audio v Supports 6-channel v Supports Jack-Sensing function v q reen Function G Supports ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) v RTC timer to power-on the system v AC power failure recovery v q CI Express Interface P CI Express Generation 2.0 compatible vP 5 GHz support, for a total bandwidth of 5 Gbps per direction per lane v Wake up function is supported v lock spread spectrum capability. vC
q nboard Graphics support O v Integrated 300MHz DAC for analog displays with resolutions up to 1920x1440 at 75Hz. v Integrated GeForce 9xxx Series GPU,Supports DX10 VGA / DVI / HDMI output support(optional) v q ntegrated HDMI Interface with HDCP I upports DVI or HDMI 1.3 interfaces vS ecure digital audio merged from integrated HDA codec with no external audio vS signals required upport for HDCP 1.3 using soft or hard HDCP keys vS DCP encryption support when configured as DVI or HDMI link without the vH need for external HDCP key crypto ROM q ual Head Display Controller D ull NVIDIA nView multi-display technology capability, with independent vF display controllers for the CRT, TMDS, DisplayPort, and HDMI interface ach controller can drive same or different display contents to different resoluvE tions and refresh rates q xpansion Slots E One Mini PCI Express slot.(Occupied by WiFi module in some models) v One PCI Express x16 slot v

Motherboard Layout

K b d Keyboard /USB JP3
Figure 1 shows the motherboard and Figure 2 shows the back panel connectors.

C_FAN1

121 121

USB-FP_U2 USB-FP_U1

HDMI SPDIF-OUT DVI/VGA eSATA/USB LAN/USB
Front Audio -FP_S1 CHIP_FAN- J2505

DDRII1

DDRII2

Chiset

20 pin ATX Power-PW1

SATA1 SATA2 SATA3

Clear CMOS - JP2
Lithium cell CR2032 3V SC7

Mini PCIE

S_FAN1

Figure 1. Board Layout

1. 20-pin ATX Power Connector 2. System Fan Connector 3. Front Panel Header 4. Speaker Header 5. SPDIF-out Header 6. COM Header 7. Serial-ATA (SATA) Connectors 8. PCI Express x16 9. Clear CMOS Jumper 10. Mini PCIE Slot

SPK1 SPDIF

11. Chip Fan Connector 12. Front Audio Header 13. Backpanel Connectors 14. USB power Jumper(PCB Ver:01) 15. USB Headers 16. CPU 17. Chipset 18. CPU Fan Connector 19. DDRII DIMM Sockets

Rear Panel

Figure 2: Backpanel connectors
1.PS/2 keyboard connector 2.USB Connectors 3. DMI Port H 4. SPDIF Out(Coaxial / Optical) 5. DVI Connector 6. eSATA Connector 7.Port Blue Green Pink 2-Channel Line-In Line-Out Mic In
4-Channel Rear Speaker Out Front Speaker Out Mic In
6-Channel Rear Speaker Out Front Speaker Out Center/Subwoofer
8. LAN Connector Lan Port with LEDs to indicate status. Yellow/Light Up/Blink = 10 Mbps/Link/Activity Yellow and Orange/Light Up/Blink = 100 Mbps/link/Activity Yellow and Orange/Light Up/Blink = 1000 Mbps/link/Activity 9. VGA Port
10. WiFi antenna connctor(Optional) Remove the red antenna connector cover(as picture 1), install the antenna to the connector and make sure that screw down clockwise(as picture 2),at last as picture 3.

510 15

* How to identify PCB Version
The bottom side of motherboard PCB shows 236-DA123-xx01F Motherboard PCB Version:01
Note: * Different motherboard PCB version could carry slightly different features and components placement. Please refer to the following diagram to identify PCB version:

236-DA123-xx01F

According to your requirement modulate to the antenna as right picture.

120 240

Hardware Installation
This section will guide you through the installation of the motherboard. The topics covered in this section are: q Preparing the motherboard v nstalling the memory I q nstalling the motherboard I q Connecting cables and setting switches

Safety Instructions

To reduce the risk of fire, electric shock, and injury, always follow basic safety precations. Remember to remove power from your computer by disconnecting the AC main source before removing or installing any equipment from/to the computer chassis
Preparing the Motherboard

Installing Memory DIMMs

The motherboard shipped in the box does not contain a memory. You need to purchase these to complete this installation.
Your new motherboard has two 1.8V 240-pin slots for DDR2 memory. These slots support 256 MB, 512 Mb, 1GB / 2GB / 4GB DDR2 technologies. There must be at least one memory bank populated to ensure normal operation. Use the following the recommendations for installing memory. (See Figure 1 for the location of the memory slots.) q One DIMM: You can install the DIMM into any slot. q Two DIMMs: Install into slots 1 and 2. The idea is to run on dual channel mode.
Lithium cell CR2032 3V S C7

DDRII-1 DDRII-2

Use the following procedure to install memory DIMMs into the slots on the motherboard. Note that there is only one gap near the center of the DIMM slot. This slot matches the slot on the memory DIMM to ensure the component is installed properly. 1. Unlock a DIMM slot by pressing the module clips outward. 2. Align the memory module to the DIMM slot, and insert the module vertically into DIMM slot. The plastic clips at both sides of the DIMM slot automatically lock the DIMM into the connector. the
Installing the Motherboard
The sequence of installing the motherboard into the chassis depends on the chassis you are using and if you are replacing an existing motherboard or working with an empty chassis. Determine if it would be easier to make all the connections prior to this step or to secure the motherboard and then make all the connections. It is normally easier to secure the motherboard first. Use the following procedure to install the I/O shield and secure the motherboard into the chassis.
Installing the I/O Shield
The motherboard kit comes with an I/O shield that is used to block radio frequency transmissions, protects internal components from dust and foreign objects, and promotes correct airflow within the chassis. Before installing the motherboard, install the I/O shield from the inside of the chassis. Press the I/O shield into place and make sure it fits securely. If the I/O shield does not fit into the chassis, you would need to obtain the proper size from the chassis supplier.

USB-Pin Definition Assignment VCC VCC USBP0USBP1USBP0+ PIN 10 Assignment USBP1+ GND GND KEY OC#

SPDIF-out Header

SPDIF-Pin Definition PIN 3 Assignment GND SPDIF-out VCC

SPDIF 1

Front panel header The front panel header on this motherboard is one connector used to connect the following four cables : FP1-Pin Definition
Pin 5 Signal HDD_LED+ PW_LED+ HDD_LEDPW_LEDGND Pin 10 Signal PWR_SW RESET GND NC KEY
q WRLED P Attach the front panel power LED cable to these two pins of the connector. The Power LED indicates the systems status. q WR SW P Attach the power button cable from the case to these two pins. Pressing the power utton on the front panel turns the system on and off rather than using the b power supply button. q DD LED H A ttach the hard disk drive indicator LED cable to these two pins. The HDD indicator LED indicates the activity status of the hard disks. q RST SW A ttach the Reset switch cable from the front panel of the case to these two pins. The system restarts when the RESET switch is pressed. Note: ome chassis do not have all four cables. Be sure to match the name on S the connectors to the corresponding pins.
Connecting Serial ATA II Cables
The Serial ATA II connector is used to connect the Serial ATA II device to the motherboard. These connectors support the thin Serial ATA II cables for primary storage devices. The current Serial ATA II interface allows up to 3Gb/s data transfer rate. There are three serial ATA II connectors on the motherboard that support AHCI and RAID configurations. SATA II Pin Definition PIN SIGNAL
7 GND TXP TXN GND RXN RXP GND

SATA -1

SATA -2 SATA -3

Fan Connections

There are three fan connections on the motherboard. The fan speed can be detected and viewed in the PC Health Status section of the CMOS Setup. If your system working at a torrid room,you can append a FAN to the heatsink.Connect the FAN cable(as picture 11) to SYS fan connector(as picture 10) and fixup the FAN on the heatsink with screw(as picture 12). note: Fan is only for 330 CPU board!
SYS FAN Connector GND +12V Sense
Control Sense +12V CHIP FAN Connector GND 5V GND

CPU FAN Connector

Expansion slots
The NVIDIA MCP7a motherboard provide one expansion slot.

PCI Express x16 slot

Mini PCIE slot
There is one Mini PCI Express slot,reserved for WiFi Module.

PCI Express x16 slots

There is one PCI Express x16 slot reserved for graphics or video cards. The bandwidth of the x16 slot is up to 4GB/Sec complianting with PCIE 1.1 specification. When installing a PCI Express x16 card, be sure the retention clip snaps and locks the card into place. If the card is not seated properly, it could cause a short across the pins. Secure the cards metal bracket to the chassis back panel with the screw used to hold the blank cover.

IDE Configuration

The items in this menu allow you to set or change the configurations for the IDE devices installed in the system. Press <enter>to display the configuration options: q On-chip SATA Controller This item allow you to enabled or disabled the SATA controller. q SATA Mode select This item allow you to set the SATA to IDE/AHCI/RAID mode. q Hard Disk Write Protect This will be effective only if device is accessed through BIOS. q IDE Detect Time Out The items allow you to select the time out value for detecting ATA/ATAPI devices. q ATA(PI) 80pin cable detection The items allow you to select the mechanism for detecting 80pin ATA(PI) cable.
Floppy Configuration ACPI Configuration APM Configuration
The items in this menu allow you to set or change the configurations for the floppy devices installed in the system. The items in this menu allow you to setting general APCI configuration. These items allow you to configure Advanced Power Management.
Event Log Configuration MPS Configuration
Make as read,clear,or view Event log statistics. The items in this menu allow you to configure MPS.
PCI Express Configuration Smbios Configuration USB Configuration
The items in this menu allow you to enable or disable PCI Express L0S and L1 link power states. SMBIOS SMI wrapper support for PnP Function 50h-54h. The items in this menu allow you to change the USB-related features.Press <enter> To display the configuration options: q Legacy USB Support Allows you to enable or disable support for USB devices on legacy operating systems. q USB 2.0 Controller Mode Allows you to configure the USB 2.0 controller in HiSpeed or Full Speed.
q BIOS EHCI Hand-Off Allows you to enable support for operating systems without an EHCI hand-off feature.

PCI/PnP Menu

The PCI PnP menu items allow you to change the advanced settings for PCI/PnP devices. The menu includes setting IRQ and DMA channel resources for either PCI/ PnP or legacy ISA devices , and setting the memory size block for legacy ISA devices. Press <enter> To display the configuration options:
q Clear NVRAM The items allow you to select whether clear NVRAM during system boot. q Plug and Play O/S When set to [No], BIOS configure all the devices in the system. When set to [YES] and if you install a Plug and Play operating system, the operating system configures the Plug and Play devices not required for boot. q PCI Latency Timer Allows you to select the value in units of PCI clocks for PCI device latency timer register. q Allocate IRQ to PCI VGA When set to [YES], BIOS assigns an IRQ to PCI VGA card if the requests for an IRQ. When set to [No], BIOS does not assign an IRQ to the PCI VGA card even if requested. q Palette Snooping When set to [enable], the pallete snooping feature informs the PCI devices that an ISA graphics device is installed in the system so that the latter can function correctly. q PCI IDE BusMaster When set to [enable], BIOS use PCI busmastering for reading /writing to IDE drives. q OffBoard PCI/ISA IDE Card Use this option to set the PCI slot number for some PCI IDE Cards holding. q IRQ-xx assigned to When set to [PCI Device], the specific IRQ is free for use of PCI/PnP devices. When set to [Reserved], the IRQ is reserved for legacy ISA devices.

Boot Menu

The Boot menu items allow you to change the system boot options.Press <enter> to display the configuration options:
Boot settings configuration
The items allow you to configure Boot settings. Press <enter> To display the configuration options: q Quick Boot Enabling this item allows the BIOS to skip some power on self tests while booting to decrease the time needed to boot the system. When set to [Disabled], BIOS performs all the POST items. q Quiet Boot When set to [Disabled], displays normal POST message. When set to [Enabled], displays OEM Logo instead of POST messages. q Add On ROM Display Mode Sets the display mode for option ROM. q Bootup Num-Lock Allows you to select the power-on state for the NumLock. q PS/2 Mouse Support Allows you to enable or disable support for PS/2 mouse. q Wait for F1 If Error When set to [Enabled], the system waits for the F1 key to be pressed when error q Hit DEL Message Display When set to [Enabled], the system displays the message press DELL to run setup during POST. q Interrupt 19 Capture When set to [Enabled], this function allows the option ROMS to trap interrupt 19.

occurs.

Boot Device Priority Hard Disk Drivers CD/DVD Drivers
The items allow you to specify the boot device priority sequence. This option allows you to specify the boot device from hard disk drivers. This option allows you to specify the boot device from CD/DVD drivers.

Security Menu

The security menu items allow you to change the system security settings. Press <enter> to display the configuration options:
Change Supervisor/User Password
Select this item to set or change the supervisor/user password. The Supervisor/user Password item on top of the screen shows the default not installed. After you set a password , this item shows installed. To set a Supervisor/user Password: 1. Select the change supervisor/user password item and press <Enter>. 2. From the password box, type a password compose of at least six letters and/or number, the press <Enter>. 3. Confirm the password when prompted: The message Password installed appears after you successfully set your password. To change the supervisor/user password, follow the same steps as in setting a use password. To clear the supervisor/user password, select the change supervisor/user password then press <enter>. The message password uninstalled appears.

Boot Sector Virus Protection
The items allow you to enable or disable booting sector virus protection.

Chipset Menu

The chipset menu items allow you to change the advanced chipset settings. Press <enter> to display the sub-menu:

CPU Bridge Configuration

This option allows you to configure CPU bridge chipset configuration, include CSI links speed, CSI Frequency, Memory Frequency, and so on.
North bridge configuration
The items allow you to configure north bridge features, include Memory, Graphic, Video, and so on.
South bridge configuration
The items allow you to configure south bridge features, include USB, HAD, PCIE Port, Onboard Lan/1394, CPU GTL REF, and so on.

Exit Menu

The exit menu items allow you to load the option or failsafe default values for the BIOS items, and save or discard your changes to the BIOS items. Press <enter> to display the sub-menu:

Save Change and Exit

Once you are finished making your selections, choose this option from the Exit menu to ensure the values you selected are saved to the CMOS RAM. An onboard backup battery sustains the CMOS RAM so it stays on even when the PC is turned off. When you select this option, a confirmation window appears.Select OK to save change and exit.

Discard Changes and Exit

Select this option only if you do not want to save the changes that you made to the setup program. If you made changes to fields other than system date, system time, and password, the BIOS asks for a confirmation before exiting.

Discard Changes

This option allows you to discard the selections you made and restore the previously saved values. After selecting this option, a confirmation appears. Select Ok to discard any change and load the previously saved values.

Load Optimal Defaults

This option allows you to load the default values for each of the parameters on the setup menus. When you select this option, a confirmation window appears. Select Ok to load default values. Select Exit and Save Change or make other changes before saving the values to the non-volatile RAM.

Load Failsafe Defaults

This option has been set by the manufacturer and represents settings which provide the minimum requirements for your sys to operate.

Installing Drivers and Software
Note: It is important to remember that before installing the driver CD that is shipped in the kit, you need to load your operating system. The motherboard supports Windows XP 32bit and 64bit and is Vista-capable. The kit comes with a CD that contains utility drivers and additional software. The CD that has been shipped with your NVIDIA MCP7A motherboard contains the following software and drivers: q Nvidia chipset driver q HDA Sound driver q Nvidia HDMI Audio driver q Wireless Install driver

Drivers Installation

1. Insert the driver CD after loading your operating system. Waiting for one minute you can see below interface.
2. Follow the below steps to install Nvidia chipset driver.
3. Follow the below for HDA sound driver installing.
4. Follow the below for Nvidia HDMI Audio driver installing.
5. Follow the below for Wireless LAN driver installing.
At last, you can open below page that provides information about the hardware devices on this motherboard, and check whether finish your installation.

HDMI SETUP

1. You can connect HDMI device to the HDMI port directly, or connect to DVI port by a DVI - HDMI dongle. 2. Enter Control Panel, double click Sounds and Auddio Devices, select NVIDIA HDMI Audio as default play back device, then click ok.
Realtek HD Audio Driver Setup
Getting Started After Realtek HD Audio Driver being installed (insert the driverCD and follow the onscreen instructions), Realtek HD Audio Manager icon will show in System tray as below. Double click the icon and the control panel will appear:
Sound Effect After clicking on the Sound Effect tab, 3 sections Environment, Equalizer and Karaoke are available for selection.
Environment Simulation You will be able to enjoy different sound experience by pulling down the arrow, totally 23 kinds of sound effect will be shown for selection. Realtek HD Audio Sound Manager also provides five popular settings Stone Corridor, Bathroom, Sewer pipe, Arena and Audio Corridor for quick enjoyment.
Equalizer Selection The Equalizer section allows you to create your own preferred settings by utilizing this tool. In standard 10 bands of equalizer, ranging from 100Hz to 16KHz are available:

Speaker Configuration

Step 1: Plug in the device in any available jack. Step 2: Dialogue connected device will pop up for your selection. Please select the device you are trying to plug in. * If the device is being plugged into the correct jack, you will be able to find the icon beside the jack changed to the one that is same as your device. * If not correct, Realtek HD Audio Manager will guide you to plug the device into the correct jack.

Connector Settings

Click to access connector settings
Mute rear panel when front headphone plugged in
Once this option is checked, when front headphone is plugged, the music that is playing from the back panel, will be stopped.
Disable front panel jack detection (option)
Did not find any function on front panel jacks? Please check if front jacks on your system are so-called AC97 jacks. If so, please check this item to disable front panel jack detection.
Enable auto popup dialogue, when device has been plugged in.
Once this item checked, the dialog Connected device would automatically pop up when device plugged in. S/PDIF Short for Sony/Philips Digital Interface, a standard audio file transfer format. S/PDIF allows the transfer of digital audio signals from one device to another without having to be converted first to an analog format. Maintaining the viability of a digital signal prevents the quality of the signal from degrading when it is converted to analog.

Output Sampling Rate

- 44.1KHz: This is recommended while playing CD - 48KHz: This is recommended while playing DVD or Dolby. - 96KHz: This is recommended while playing DVD-Audio.

Output Source

- Output digital audio source: The digital audio format (such as.wav,.mp3, .midi etc) will come out through S/PDIF-Out.

Speaker Calibration

After you have successfully plugged in speakers and assigned to the right jacks, you are only one more step to go to enjoy the intended sound. We provide Speaker Calibration to help you check if the speakers are located in the correct position.

Microphone

This page is designed to provide you better microphone / recording quality. Below picture indicates both Noise Suppression & Acoustic Echo Cancellation are both enabled.
Noise Suppression If you feel that the background noise, especially the sound generated from the fan inside PC, is too loud? Try Noise Suppression, which allows you to cut off and suppress disturbing noise. Beam Forming Also known as directional recording, this option lets you do the following: Once beam forming is enabled; only the sound from certain direction will be recorded. You will get the best quality if you chose 90 position, which we recommend you to use, this effectively means that you speak right into the microphone. Note: A Stereo Microphone is required when using Beam Forming function. Acoustic Echo Cancellation This function prevents playback sound from being recorded by microphone together with your sound. For example, you might have chance to use VOIP function through Internet with your friends. The voice of your friend will come out from speakers (playback). However, the voice of your friend might also be recorded into your microphone then go back to your friend through Internet. In that case, your friend will hear his/her own voice again. With AEC (Acoustic Echo Cancellation) enabled at your side, your friend can enjoy the benefit with less echo.

Audio Demo

The section 3D Audio Demo grants you another possibility to enjoy your sound. The Audio Demo allows you to listen to sound in an extraordinary way.

Information

This section provides information about your current system audio device.

SATA RAID User Manual

Setting up the BIOS 1. Setting your computer, then press Delete to enter the Bios setup. 2. Use the arrow keys to select Advanced menu.When enter the Advanced, use the arrow keys to select the Item IDE Configuration.
3. Press Enter to display the IDE Configuration,then use the arrow keys to Select the item SATA mode select and set it RAID Mode.
4. Use the arrow keys to Select the item nVidia RAID Setup. 5. Press enter to display the RAID Setup
6. From the Raid Setup window,enable RAID, then enable the disks that you want to use as RAID disks. 7. Press F10 to save the configuration and exit. The PC reboots. 8. Enter the RAID BIOS Setup by pressing F10 when prompted, and proceed to set up the NVRAID BIOS as described in the next Section.
Entering the RAID BIOS Setup 1. After rebooting your computer, wait until you see the RAID software promptint you to press F10. 2. The NVIDIA RAID Utility Define a New Array window appears
3. In the RAID Mode field, use the UP or Down ARROW key to select a RAID Mode. The supported RAID modes include Mirroring (RAID 1), Striping (RAID 0) and Stripe Mirroring (RAID 0+1), Spanning(JBOD) and RAID 5. The following is an example of RAID 0 array creation. 4. If RAID 0(Striping) is selected, you can manually set the striping block size. in the Striping Block field, use the UP or DOWN ARROW ey to set the Striping Block size. The KB is standard unit of Striping Block size. We recommend you leaving it to the default setting-Optimal(64k). The size range is from 4k to 128k. 5. Select the hard drivers which you wish to be included in the disk array. The Free Disks section displays the information about the currently installed SATA hard drives. Press the TAB key to move to the Free Disks section. Select the target hard drives using the UP or DOWN ARROW key and use the RIGHT ARROW key to add the hard drives to the Array Disks section.
6. Press F7 after selecting the target hard disks. A message which says Clear disk data? will appear. If you are sure to clear the data in the selected hard drives, press Y. (If the hard drives contain previously created RAID array, you need to press Y to clear the data from the hard drives.)
7. After that, then Array List screen displaying the RAID array you created will appear. If you want to set the disk array as boot device, use the UP or DOWN ARROW key to select the array and press B. The Boot section will show Yes.

8. To read more information about the RAID array, press ENTER to enter the Array Detail screen, where you should see detailed information about RAID mode, disk block size, disk model name, and disk capacity, etc.
9. To delete the array, press D in the Array Detail screen. When the Delete this array? message appears, press Y to confirm or N to cancel. Press ENTER to return to the Array List screen. To exit the Nvidia RAID utility, press ESC in the main menu or Ctrl+X in the Array List screen. Now, you can proceed to install the SATA controller driver and operating system.
Installing the RAID Drivers 1. After you complete the RAID BIOS setup, boot from the windowsxp CD. The Windows Setup program starts.
Press F6 and wait a few moments for the Windows Setup screen to appear.
3. Specify the NVIDIA drivers. (1). Insert the floppy that has the RAID driver, press S, then press Enter.
(2). Select NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER and then press Enter.
(3). Press S again at the Specify Devices screen, then press Enter. (4). Select NVDIA Nforce Storage Controller and then press Enter.
4. Press Enter to continue with Windows XP Installation. Be sure to leave the floppy disk inserted in the floppy drive until the blue screen portion of Windows XP installation is completed, then take out the floppy. 5. Follow the instructions on how to install Windows XP. During the GUI portion of the install you might be prompted to click Yes to install the RAID driver. Click Yes as many times as needed in order to finish the installation. This will not be an issue with a signed driver.

291-MA123-00

Sensors and Actuators B 51 (1998) 163 170
A modular luminescence lifetime imaging system for mapping oxygen distribution in biological samples
Gerhard Holst a,*, Oliver Kohls a, Ingo Klimant b, Bettina Konig a, Michael Kuhl 1,a, 2,a Thomas Richter
Max-Planck-Institute for Marine Microbiology, Microsensor Research Group, Celsiusstr. 1, D-28359 Bremen, Germany Institute for Analytical Chemistry, Chemo- and Bio-Sensors, Uni6ersity of Regensburg, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany Received 14 April 1998; received in revised form 6 June 1998; accepted 7 July 1998
Abstract We developed a new modular luminescence lifetime imaging system (MOLLI), that enables the imaging of luminescence lifetimes in the range of 1 ms to 1 s. The system can easily be adapted to different experimental applications. The central parts of the system are a recently released CCD-camera with a fast electronic shutter and gated LED (light emitting diode) or Xe excitation light sources. A personal computer controls the gating and image acquisition via a pulse delay generator. Here we present the new imaging system and give examples of its performance when used for measuring two-dimensional oxygen distributions with planar optodes. Furthermore, future applications of the system in biology are discussed. 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Luminescence lifetime imaging; Fluorescence lifetime imaging; Oxygen optode; Planar optode
1. Introduction Imaging of two-dimensional solute distributions with luminescent indicators has become an important tool in medicine, biology and physics. Most of the described image measuring systems and experimental setups were designed for specic applications like measurements of oxygen distribution in tissue [1 5], pH and Ca2 + distribution in cells [6,7], oxygen partial pressure on skin surfaces or oxygen ux into skin [8,9], oxygen distribution across the water-sediment interface [10] and in biolms [11]. These setups were optimised for the corresponding experimental situation, but they lack versatility and many of them were e.g. conned to microscope setups [1217]. Furthermore, imaging systems for time-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: + 2028834; fax: + 2028690; e-mail: gholst@mpi-bremen.de 1 Present address: Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Strandpromenaden 5, DK-3000 Helsingr, Denmark. 2 Present address: Institute for Biology II, Schanzlestr. 1, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany.
and frequency-domain measurements often consist of complicated and rather bulky setups, using lasers as light sources, optical modulators, and sensitive slow scan CCD-cameras combined with fast gatable image intensiers. New bright semiconductor light sources, light emitting diodes (LED), that emit in the blue and blue-green part of the spectrum, offer a much cheaper and simpler alternative for a fast modulated or gated light source as compared to lasers. Furthermore, a recently developed sensitive and fast gateable CCD-camera simplies lifetime imaging as it allows fast gating directly on the photosensitive chip. The image is digitised in the camera, and can be read out with the camera control board. An additional frame grabber is thus obsolete. We combined these new technologies with a trigger controller and a personal computer (PC) to develop a modular imaging system, which can easily be adapted to various applications. Here we describe the new imaging system and show its performance in applications where two-dimensional O2 distributions are mapped via lifetime imaging of planar O2 optodes.
0925-4005/98/$ - see front matter 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved. PII S0925-4005(98)00232-9
G. Holst et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 51 (1998) 163170
Table 1 Overview of different luminescence lifetime imaging methods Lifetime detection Frequency domain method Procedure + Source
Sinusoidal modulation and phase angle shift

Ratioing method

Rectangular modulation and ratioing Pulse and gate

Time-domain method

Better separation of different spe- Complex setups (that need an im- [26,25,28] cies with similar lifetimes age intensier for sinusoidal modulation of gain), good optical ltering necessary Higher signal-to-noise ratio than Background luminescence cannot [9] time-domain and fast calculation be separated, good optical ltering necessary Simple separation of high backSpecies with similar lifetimes are [15,3,5,27] ground with short lifetimes, sim- difcult to separate, background ple optical ltering with long lifetimes is difcult to separate

2. Theory

2.1. Oxygen sensing [2,6]
The dynamic quenching of luminescence by oxygen [1,7 10,3,4,18,5,19 24,11] is the basis for the measurement of oxygen distributions in various systems. The applied sensors have a planar structure with the luminescent indicator embedded in a polymer matrix that is spread on a transparent support foil. The sensor area is imaged through an optical emission lter in the case of intensity images or directly in the case of lifetime images by lenses or imaging bres coupled to a photosensitive CCD-chip of the camera. Each pixel on the CCD now monitors the light intensity either as the absolute luminescence light emission, or, with proper timing, a part of the luminescence decay curve. The oxygen optodes were calibrated with a two component model of the Stern Volmer equation [22]: I tan(F) frac ~ = = = +(1 frac) ~0 I0 tan(F0) (1+ KSV [O2]) (1)
centrations, and calibration free sensing applications [5] are possible. Table 1 gives an overview of the different possible methods for lifetime imaging, their inherent advantages and disadvantages. The presented camera can not be modulated sinusoidally for frequency-domain evaluation, which has an advantage if images of different luminophores with similar lifetimes should be separated [25,13,14]. The phase delay ratioing method by Hartmann et al. [8,9] is possible with the new camera. However, it is not suitable for our applications because there can be an enormous background luminescence in the natural systems investigated with the new imaging system. The new system, therefore, measures luminescence in the time-domain via a so called pulse-gate method [15,35]. Fig. 1 shows the detection principle applied for each pixel. For excitation the light source is
~, I, F= decay time, intensity or measured phase angle in presence of oxygen, ~0, I0, F0 =decay time, intensity or measured phase angle in absence of oxygen, frac= fraction of quenchable luminophore, KSV =bimolecular quenching coefcient, [O2], oxygen concentration.

2.2. Image detection

Luminescence lifetime imaging has two major advantages over intensity based imaging. It allows a good contrast enhancement and background suppression of unwanted luminescence contributions in the image. If this background luminescence has a different decay time than the luminophore of interest it is possible to separate the two signals by lifetime imaging. Further, lifetime imaging does not depend on intensity variations due to photobleaching (if it does not take place faster than the image acquisition) or variable indicator con-
Fig. 1. Principle image acquisition timing scheme for luminescence lifetime imaging. The luminescence signal vs. time corresponds to the light signal that is detected by each pixel of the CCD-chip. The timing starts with excitation light on and the camera shutter closed, the luminophore absorbs light and luminescence is emitted. Then the excitation light is switched off and the camera shutter is opened with a possible delay.

This intensity is, assuming a monoexponential decay curve with the apparent lifetime ~, described by the following equation: Ii = I0 ~ exp

ti Di 1 exp ~ ~

with the unknown intensity I0 at time t0 when the excitation light is switched off (see Fig. 2). Instead of tting the Values Ii to I0 and ~ we generate the new values: W1 = ln W2 = ln

I1 I2 I3 I2

(4) (5)
If the image collection happens with the condition: D1 = D2 = D3 = D= const. the new values give the following relations:
Fig. 2. Timing scheme for recording of images to evaluate the luminescence lifetime to generate lifetime images. All detected images have time windows of the same width D and integrate the intensity Ii of the decay curve. Each window has a different delay ti compared to the switch off time of the excitation light. To collect enough light, this window open operation for a certain delay ti is performed several hundred times and the light information is integrated on the CCD-chip.

W1 = W2 =

t1 t2 ~ t3 t1 ~

(7) (8)

Therefore the lifetime per pixel can be directly calculated with the known delay times ti : ~= (t1 t2)2 + (t3 t2)2 W1 (t1 t2)+ W2 (t3 t2) (9)
switched on and illuminates the planar optode, the arriving luminescence intensity increases until an equilibrium between absorbed and emitted energy of the dye molecules is reached. Then the light source is switched off and the camera shutter is opened allowing luminescence and ambient light to reach the CCDchip. This is repeated for a number of times, while incident light during the shutter open time is integrated on the CCD-chip before being passed to the PC. This procedure is repeated a couple of times to average the images and improve the signal-to-noise-ratio. To evaluate the corresponding lifetime of the light information detected by each pixel, three sets of images are collected, where each set is acquired with a different delay time ti relative to the switch off of the excitation light source. The following image collection procedure is performed. Three sets of images (i =1, 2, 3) are collected (see Fig. 2), while each image detection with a time interval Di has a certain delay ti compared to the excitation light off. To receive enough light intensity, each image represents the integral over a number, ni, of illumination events. The measured images Si are stored. The intensity of one image is given by: S Ii = i, ni i=1, 2, 3 (2)
This method is not limited compared to a general t to all values Ii. The generation of each value Wi (Eqs. (7) and (8)) with subsequent t (Eq. (9)) do not yield to a principal deviation from a general t as long as Eq. (6) is valid. The calculation of the values (Eqs. (7) and (8)) has, by divison of the average values, the smallest error accumulation and is numerically stable. A variation of the timing window interval D, that is constant for all images, principally gives the opportunity to detect a non-limited number, n, of values to evaluate ~ and, therefore, an error degression in the size of 1/

n. This can be an advantage in the case of very noisy signals.

3. Experimental

3.1. Planar optode
The sensing layers for the comparison of luminescence intensity versus lifetime images were made of three different luminophores. The background or noise layer was a commercial luminescent paint (Feuerrot, Conrad Electronics, Hirschau, Germany) with a luminescence decay time B 1 ns. This paint was spread on a microscope slide. The layers that should be
identied were made of two different oxygen indicators. One indicator was a Tris (4,7-diphenyl-1,10phenantrolin)-ruthenium(II) perchlorate [8,9,2224], dissolved in an organically modied sol-gel (ormosil) with dispersed titanium dioxide scattering particles. The other example was a platinum-octaethyl-porphyrine (Porphyrin Products, Utah, USA), dissolved in polystyrene that also can be used for oxygen determination. Both oxygen indicators were spread on microscope slides. For the oxygen measurement the ruthenium based sensor was knife-coated on a polyester foil that was cut to a size of 2840 mm2 to t into the test setup.
3.2. Imaging system and application
The imaging system (Fig. 3) consists of an electrically cooled CCD-camera (SensiMod, PCO Computer Optics, Kehlheim, Germany) with a direct fast electronical shutter feature, due to a new and fast charge carrier transport from the light detection cell to the shift register, where the electrons can be accumulated until the picture frame is read out. Additionally, the camera has a special modulation input to control directly the fast shutter (ton =500 ns and toff =500 ns, maximum frequency=1 MHz). The camera (dynamic range= 12 Bit, resolution=pixel) is connected via a serial bre-optical link to a camera control PCI-board in a Pentium based PC. The PC controls image acquisition, storage, display and the timing. For the precise timing of the excitation light source switching and image acquisition, the PC is connected via a GPIB interface to a delay pulse generator (DG535, SRS Stanford Research Systems, Sunnyvale, USA). Timing con-
Fig. 4. Schematic drawing of the experimental setup for demonstrating the background suppression feature of luminescence lifetime imaging. The excitation light is coupled via bre-optical ring light onto two different luminescent layers on microscope slides. The emission passes through the hole of the ring light, an emission lter (for the intensity images) and the lens to the CCD-camera.

trol und primary image aquisition was programmed in C (Watcom C/C + + 10 Compiler, Sybase, Emeryville, USA), while the image calculations and visualisation were programmed in a special software language made for the handling of large amounts of data (IDL 5.0, Research Systems, Boulder, USA). For the experimental applications, the camera was equipped with a macro lens (Tevidon, F1.6/f = 35 mm, PCO) that imaged an area of mm2 onto the CCD-chip. This corresponds to a theoretical resolution of 50 mm pixel 1. Two different light sources were applied for illumination, respectively excitation of the planar optodes. For lifetimes \ 6 ms and luminophores with very low quantum efciency, a Xenon ash lamp with adjustable output power and a maximum repetition rate of 30 Hz (A0021F, Oxygen Enterprises, Philadelphia, USA) was connected to a bre-optical ring light, that was specially designed for the applications, i.e. a homogenous illumination of a circle of 50 mm diameter in a distance of 50 mm (Scholly Fiberop tic, Denzlingen, Germany). The second light source was developed for lifetime measurements from 100 ns upward and consists of up to 12 light emitting diodes (up = 470 nm, BP280CWPB1K, DCL Components, Hungerford, UK), that are coupled into the same breoptical ring light. To enable fast switching of the LEDs, a special driving circuit with adjustable current was designed. The camera and the ring light were xed in a special light tight housing, that can easily be applied to a vertically mounted sensing layer.
Fig. 3. Schematic overview of the modular luminescence lifetime imaging system. The imaging system consists of a fast gateable CCD-camera, SensiMod, a Pentium based PC, and a trigger control unit, trigcon. The application oriented part consists of the imaging object, planar optode, the excitation light source, ex-light, an optional light guide (lg) to transport the light to the imaging object, if necessary, optical lters (of). The emitted luminescence (em) reaches the camera via a lens.

3.3. Experimental setups

For testing the luminescence background suppression, microscope slides were mounted in front of the camera setup (Fig. 4). The rst strongly luminescent layer was the slide with the commercial paint, followed
Fig. 5. Schematic drawing of the experimental setup for the oxygen mapping with planar optodes. A thermostated (not shown) test chamber with six perfusion channels was perfused separately by water with dened levels of dissolved oxygen (ox1ox6). Towards the camera, the channel test chamber is closed with the planar optode pressed by a plastic window onto these channels. The chamber has a size of about mm2 to accept planar optodes of mm2. The excitation light again is coupled into a bre-optical ring light as in Fig. 4.

was designed with six different ow channels, that were connected to a peristaltic pump. Water with different oxygen concentrations can be guided through these channels, while the whole system is surrounded by a thermostating housing to keep the temperature constant. The planar optodes were pressed by a plastic window onto these channels and an outer o-ring (Fig. 5). Therefore, the system was closed towards the camera. Water was pumped from water bottles immersed in water with the same temperature as the test setup. The test water in the bottles was constantly ushed with nitrogen (Fig. 5, ox4), oxygen (Fig. 5, ox2) and room air (Fig. 5, ox1, ox3), and while channels 5 and 6 were lled with tap water and closed. In the results channel 5 (Fig. 5, ox5) cannot be seen because it was out of the camera eld of view, which was adjusted for 50 mm pixel 1 resolution. Images were taken at 2 pixel vertical and horizontal binning, so the spatial image resolution was reduced to 100 mm pixel 1.
4. Results and discussion by the slides with the two different oxygen indicators. To be able to compare the situations, the optical emission lter was kept at its position in front of the camera. The images were recorded with different timing between excitation light and camera. For oxygen mapping, a special multichannel setup Fig. 6 shows the advantage of luminescence lifetime imaging in general. The pure intensity images (Fig. 6a, c) show a nearly constant grey distribution emphasising that the background luminescence is larger then the signal. Additionally, a lot of inhomogeneities can be
Fig. 6. Images of the background suppression tests, (a) and (c) are luminescence intensity images and (b) and (d) are delayed, decay curve proportional images. Layer 1 was for all cases a microscope slide with a uorescent paint and layer 2 was in the upper case, a letter X made of a ruthenium oxygen indicator (see text) with a decay time of 2.8 ms and in the lower case, a letter M made of a porphyrine oxygen indicator with a decay time of : 30 ms. The time delay of (b) was 1 ms and the delay of (d) was 4 ms.
seen (dark and white dots in Fig. 6a, c), that are due to the applied spreading procedure of the luminescence paint and some dirt on the microscope slide. When now the images are delayed by a certain time, td, the uorescence of the paint is decayed while the two stripes forming a X of the ruthenium indicator (Fig. 6b) as well as the drawn M of the porphyrine compound (Fig. 6d) clearly can be detected. The ruthenium based optode had a decay time at room air of about 2.8 ms, therefore, the delay of the image in Fig. 6b was td =1 ms. The drawn M with the porphyrine had a decay time of :30 ms, but the image taken with a delay time td =4 ms (Fig. 6d) is not as high in contrast as the X. This is due to the fact that the porphyrine has a lower quantum efciency, a higher quenching coefcient compared to the ruthenium, and the sensing layer did not contain any additional scattering particles. The results with the oxygen mapping setup clearly demonstrated that the test chamber needs further improvement (Fig. 7a to c). The images show no sharp channel structure. Obviously, oxygen diffused from the 100% channel (Fig. 5 ox2, the black one in Fig. 7a and b, the white one in Fig. 7c) into neighbouring channels (ow direction in Fig. 7 was from the left to the right), while the channel with zero oxygen (Fig. 5 ox4, the white one in Fig. 7a and b, the black one in Fig. 7c) received oxygen from the channels above and below (Fig. 5 ox3, ox6), respectively. Nevertheless, the lifetimes in the middle of the channels were in the same range as determined with single point measurements based on a phase modulation technique (i.e. ~0 = 4.0.05 ms, ~20 =3.2 90.05 ms, ~100 =2.1 90.05 ms for oxygen saturation of 0, 20, 100%, respectively). Fig. 7 shows the luminescence intensity image with all associated imperfections, like texture within the sensing foil due to the knife coating process and the fast and difcult to control evaporation of the solvent of the ormosil. Additionally, some shadows can be seen, that are caused by water between the transparent window and the polyester support foil of the optode. Both phenomena are gone in the lifetime image (Fig. 7b), and the converted image of oxygen values (Fig. 7c), which represents an inversion of Fig. 7b because now the location of the most oxygen is white and the absence is black. The lifetime image was calculated both with a set of three delayed images and with four delayed images with a window at a width of D =2 ms and delay times of t1 =500 ns, t2 =1 ms, t3 =2 ms and t4 = 3 ms, respectively. Additionally, a background blank image was subtracted with the same time window but with lights off, because the CCD-chip has a specic locally xed noise distribution. Both tting calculations resulted in the same lifetime distribution. This indicates the stability of the tting procedure as well as the quality of the information gained within the

Fig. 7. Images with the oxygen mapping setup. Image (a) is an luminescence intensity image of the planar optode in the test setup with a certain texture of the sensing foil and some shadows due to an additional liquid layer in the setup between polyester support foil and terminating window. Image (b) is a luminescence lifetime picture evaluated by the described timing and calculation scheme, and image [c] is the corresponding oxygen image, that demonstrates the unwanted diffusion between each perfusion channel of the test chamber (see Fig. 5).
images. A 2 pixel vertical and horizontal binning was used for the oxygen mapping to increase the absolute signal range. We also took images without binning at full spatial resolution of 50 mm pixel 1. Here the calculations gave the same lifetimes but resulted in
higher noise levels. The correspondence between the spatial image resolution per pixel, given by the camera chip and the lenses (either 50 or 100 mm pixel 1 in the demonstrated results), and the possible measuring resolution of the planar optodes has to be further investigated with specic test setups. This is necessary because of possible oxygen diffusion processes parallel to the optode surface, which could smear the spatial information.
5. Conclusion A modular lifetime imaging system (MOLLI) based on a new, fast gateable CCD-camera was developed. This camera reduces the amount of equipment needed for lifetime imaging systems and allows for an easy adaption of the imaging system to different applications like optode based oxygen mapping in sediments and biolms, around cells and aggregates. Although the test setup for application of dened oxygen concentrations to the planar oxygen optodes was not optimum, the imaging system demonstrated the advantages of luminescence lifetime imaging in background signal suppression and less noise sensitive signal readout of planar optodes. This combined with the possibility of the measurement of two-dimensional distributions of solutes at high spatial resolutions instead of single proles with microsensors the new system is a powerful tool for the investigation of natural biological systems.
Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge the technical support of PCO Computer Optics for modication of the camera and help in programming the interfaces. We acknowledge nancial support from the European Commission via the EC MAST III project MICROMARE (950029).

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development of optical and optical chemical microsensors and their sensing schemes for application in biological systems. Bettina Konig, born 1972, studied chemistry at the University in Regensburg, Germany, where she received the diploma in 1997 with a thesis about enzymatic determination of glucose by a combination of optode and microtiter plate techniques. From 1997 she joined the Microsensor Research Group of the MPI for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany, as a Ph.D. student, where she is currently working on the development of new planar optodes and their application in biological environments. Michael Kuhl, born 1964, studied biology at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, where he received a M.Sc. degree in microbial ecology in 1988 with a thesis on the development of bre-optic microprobes and a measuring system for microscale light measurements in sediments and biolms. From 1988 to 1992, he completed his Ph.D. at the Department of Microbial Ecology, University of Aarhus, Denmark. His Ph.D. work involved the use of both optical and electrochemical microsensors to study the microenvironment in compact microbial communities. From 1992, he joined the MPI for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany, as a post doc to build up microsensor research at the institute. From 1995 to 98 he was the head of the microsensor research group at the MPI in Bremen. Currently he holds a special research associate professorship at the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His scientic interests are the development and use of bre-optic and electrochemical microsensors in microbial ecology. Thomas Richter, born 1962, graduated in mathematics (automorphic forms) and physics (negatively charged cluster ions) at the University of Freiburg, Germany, in 1987. In 1994 he received his Ph.D. at the University of Freiburg (Faculty of Biology). His work was about light propagation in higher plant leaves with a combined experimental and theoretical approach, including bre-optic light measurements inside the leaf. He is working at the University in Freiburg on leaf photosynthesis and was a visiting scientist in microsensor research at the MPI from October 1997 to June 1998. His scientic interest concernes light driven processes in connection with ecological studies of photosynthetic performance in higher plants.
Biographies Gerhard Holst, born 1962, studied electronical engineering at the RWTH University in Aachen, Germany, where he received the diploma in 1990, with a nal work about reectance pulse oximetry with electro-optical and hybrid bre-optical sensors. From 1991 to 1994, he completed his Ph.D. in the group of Professor D.W. Lubbers at the Max-Planck-Institute (MPI) for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany, about a new optical chemical sensing principle, the oxygen ux optode and its phase modulation based measuring system. From 1994 he joined the microsensor research group of the MPI for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany, as a post doc, where he is currently working on the development of new bre-optic microsensors, microoptodes, their time resolved measuring schemes, and systems for laboratory and eld applications. Oli6er Kohls, born 1965, graduated in technical chemistry at the University of Hannover, Germany, in 1992. In 1995 he received a Ph.D. at the University of Hannover. His work was about optical oxygen sensors, their measuring systems and their application in biotechnological process monitoring. Since 1995, he works in the MPI for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany. His scientic interest is the development of optical microsensors and their application in the natural environment, especially marine systems. Ingo Klimant, born 1964, graduated in analytical chemistry at the Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany in 1990. In 1993, he received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Karl-Franzens University in Graz, Austria. His work involved the design of optical sensing schemes for oxygen and ammonia. From 1994 to 1996, he worked as a post doc at the MPI for Marine Microbiology in the microsensor research group and developed a variety of microoptodes for application in aquatic environment. Since 1996, he is at the Institute for Analytical Chemistry, Bio- and Chemical Sensors at the University of Regensburg, Germany. His scientic interest is the