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OCTOBER 2018 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 23 eliminate duplicate sets of data that slow down the quote process for faster quotes. Neither of the previous examples is showstoppers that do not allow us to build the part, but they do take additional edit time, and if discrepancies exist, address them before fabrication. Quick Tips Lastly, here are a few items you should know about that can increase manufacturing costs: 1. Minimize blind vias when they are not needed based on part real estate/ interconnects, because they add approximately eight hours to manufacture time 2. Minimize the number of drill sizes you use and combine those within 1 or 2 mils of one another to save costs 3. If a part is conducive to score, set it up as a score instead of a tab rout because tab routs add additional time and drills for the perforation holes 4. Avoid the use of minimum radius areas where two different rout sizes are needed because it increases the cost 5. Avoid using multiple 0.001" draws on silkscreens because this exponentially increases the data size and takes longer through computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) Conclusion It is important to make sure any drawing notes address customers' reliability concerns in a manner that is clear to the fabricator and minimizes any time lost due to note clarifica- tions or the absence of notes. DESIGN007 Mark Thompson is in engineering support at Prototron Circuits. To read past columns or contact Thompson, click here. To download your copy of Thompson's eBook, The Printed Circuit Designer's Guide to… Producing the Perfect Data Package, click here. Sightings of Majorana modes are rare and have up to now always involved states at the edge of special, topo- logical materials. As reported in the October issue of "Nature Materials," a new discovery shows that the bulk electronic states of a three-dimensional Dirac semimetal can also play host to topological superconductivity and the related Majorana zero-modes. As these states are pro- tected by fundamental symmetries, their discovery on the inside of a crystal, hidden from the disturbing influences of the environment, is a valuable next step towards their application in topological quantum computation. Spotting Topological Superconductivity In a new development, researchers from the universi- ties of Twente and Amsterdam, as part of a Dutch national research programme into so-called topological insulators, have combined forces to show that inside a tuned crystal of bismuth hide the Majorana modes signaling topological superconductivity. While it may not be found in your kitchen cupboard at home, the heavy atoms of bismuth—in the form of pure crystals—have served as a test set-up for research into the behavior of electrons in a solid for almost a hundred years. For example, it was in bismuth that it was dis- covered that the electrical resistance of a material can change or even oscillate by applying or changing a mag- netic field, a phenomenon which has grown into an indis- pensable tool in modern materials research. (Source: University of Amsterdam) Superconducting at the Speed of Light