An IC die and a flexible circuit structure are integrated into a lower stack element that can be stacked with either further integrated lower stack element iterations or with pre-packaged ICs in any of a variety of package types. This production process is suitable for production of non-aqueous secondary battery separators, and yields non-aqueous secondary battery separators with good handling properties and at low cost, whereby the ion permeability, adhesion with electrodes and electrolyte solution retention can be strictly controlled. The global multiplexer has a plurality of inputs, each of which is coupled to a corresponding output of the plurality of local multiplexers. A guard mechanism is provided on a valve shaft of the throttle valve. The apparatus transmits beam 17 from terminal 12 with two different scan patterns, a rosette pattern 625 or 650 for the central part of the scan, and a spiral pattern 600 for the remainder of the scan. The method or apparatus may form one or more images using one or more laser beams to alter an electrostatic charge on a photoreceptor, check the one or more images for one or more sets of image perfections arising from electric field attenuation in the photoreceptor, and compensate for the electric field attenuation.