A system to facilitate a service oriented email client application. Such techniques provide a self-aligned contact process that protects gate electrodes from shorts due to etching from misaligned patterns. The optical switching system exchanges the optical signals with the optical interface. The resulting membrane has a haze of no more than about 12%. The drink receptacle of the invention combines good NBC protective or resistance properties with high mechanical stability, in particular puncture resistance, and also with a greater ease of manufacture.