Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1035071
66 SMT007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2018 compound to the centre of the mating surface of the device or the heat sink. Next, bringing the two together will displace any excess mate- rial as mating pressure increases. Finally, consider your preferred method of application. Will you use manual methods, such as syringes, or be semi- or fully-auto- mated methods with state-of-the-art dispens- ing equipment? Screen printing may be another option to consider. As with the materials them- selves, if you are making decisions on appli- cation technique, always seek expert advice to help and guide you to the correct product and the easiest application method. The goal should be a streamlined production process and provision of efficient heat transfer both in initial application and final use. SMT007 Jade Bridges is global technical support manager at Electrolube. To read past columns from Electrolube, click here. To download your copy of Electrolube's micro eBook, The Printed Circuit Assembler's Guide to… Conformal Coatings for Harsh Environments, click here. Scientists at the University of Sydney have, for the first time, developed a chip-based information recovery tech- nique that eliminates the need for a separate laser-based local oscillator and complex digital signal processing system. This is seen to significantly increase the speeds of communications networks. "Our technique uses the interaction of photons and acoustic waves to enable an increase in signal capac- ity and therefore speed," said Dr. Elias Giacoumidis, joint lead author of a new study. "This allows for the success- ful extraction and regeneration of the signal for electronic processing at very-high speed." The incoming photonic signal is processed in a filter on a chip made from a glass known as chalcogenide. This material has acoustic properties that allows a photonic pulse to 'capture' the incoming information and transport it on the chip to be processed into electronic information. This removes the need for complicated laser oscillators and complex digital signal processing. "This will increase processing speed by microsec- onds, reducing latency or what is referred to as 'lag' in the gaming community," said Dr Amol Choudhary from the University of Sydney Nano Institute and School of Physics. "While this doesn't sound a lot, it will make a huge difference in high-speed services, such as the financial sector and emerging e-health applications." The photonic-acoustic interaction harnesses stimu- lated Brillouin scattering, an effect used by the Sydney team to develop photonic chips for information process- ing. Group research leader and Director of Sydney Nano, Professor Ben Eggleton, said, "The fact that this system is lower in complexity and includes extraction speedup means it has huge potential benefit in a wide range of local and access systems such as metropolitan 5G networks, financial trading, cloud computing and the Internet-of-Things." The study is published in Optica and was a collabora- tion with Monash University and the Australian National University. (Source: University of Sydney) Photonic Chips Harness Sound Waves to Speed Up Local Networks Dr. Amol Choudhary (left) and Sydney Nano Director Professor Ben Eggleton in one of the photonics labs at the Sydney Nanoscience Hub.