Provided is an MEA for fuel cell containing hygroscopic inorganic material such as TEOS, zirconium propoxide or titanium t-butoxide. The invention further relates to a pipe-laying vessel for carrying out such method. Substantially all of the etch stop layer coating is removed from the side wall surfaces by treating the side wall surfaces using a method selected from chemical treatment and mechanical treatment, whereby a surface energy of the treated side wall surfaces is increased relative to a surface energy of the side wall surfaces containing the etch stop layer coating. The clock signal is determining using the frequency offset estimate, the phase offset estimate, and the synthesis subsystem.