Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1040234
OCTOBER 2018 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 9 Andy Shaughnessy is managing editor of Design007 Magazine. He has been covering PCB design for 18 years. He can be reached by clicking here. Part of the problem is that CAM people often fix the error without telling the designer, so the designer never knows that there was a problem in the first place, which perpetuates the issue. What can we do to optimize the design data package and make the handoff to the fabrica- tor as smooth as possible? We asked a variety of industry experts to weigh in on this topic. Steph Chavez, a CID instructor with EPTAC Corporation and IPC Designers Council Execu- tive Board member, explains how designers can break the design data bottleneck, and why it's so critical that designers and fabrica- tors stay in touch throughout the design cycle. Mark Thompson brings us a feature column that explains what fabricators would like to see in each design data package. (Shameless plug: This column details Mark's new I-Connect007 eBook, The Printed Circuit Designer's Guide to… Producing the Perfect Data Package.) Next, CAM engineers JanNell Taylor and Andy Schilloff of GreenSource Fabrication discuss their preparation for the company's upcoming entry into the commercial market, and how they will be able to trigger jobs from their off-site location in a different state. Then, Kelly Dack, CID+, answers the old question, "What's in a name?" He discusses many of the ways that designers are inadvertently shooting themselves in the foot by assigning similar or confusing naming conventions to layers of art- work. We wrap things up with a feature by col- umnist Jan Pedersen of Elmatica who explains the need to move design data fully into the digital realm. As Jan says, "We're close, but we're still not quite there yet." This month, we're introducing a brand-new column, "Connect the Dots," by Bob Tise and Dave Baker of Sunstone Circuits, as well as columns from our regular contributors Barry Olney, Vern Solberg, and John Coonrod. We also have an interview with Mike Creeden and Steph Chavez from the IPC Designers Council who discuss their upcoming column "The Dig- ital Layout," which will launch next month. If you don't already subscribe to Design007 Magazine, what are you waiting for? Click here to subscribe to our magazine and newsletters. See you next month! DESIGN007 Current computing technology is based on electronics, where electrons are used to encode and transport infor- mation. Due to some fundamental limitations, such as energy- loss through resistive heating, it is expected that electrons will eventually need to be replaced by photons, leading to futuristic light-based computers that are much faster and more efficient than current electronic ones. Physicists at the University of Exeter have taken an important step towards this goal, as they have discov- ered new half-light, half-matter par- ticles that inherit some of the remark- able features of graphene, the so-called "wonder material." This discovery opens the door for the development of photonic circuitry using these alternative particles, known as massless Dirac polari- tons, to transport information rather than electrons. A unique feature of Dirac particles is that they mimic relativistic particles with no mass, allowing them to travel very efficiently. However, it is very difficult to control them. This fundamental drawback—the lack of tunabil- ity—has been successfully overcome in a unique way by the physicists at the University of Exeter. "Our work has crucial implications for the research fields of photonics and of Dirac particles," adds Dr. Eros Mariani, principal investigator on the study. "We have shown the ability to slow down or even stop the Dirac particles, and modify their internal structure, their 'chirality' in technical terms, which is impossible to do in graphene itself." (Source: University of Exeter) New Half-Light Half-Matter Particles May Hold the Key to a Computing Revolution