Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1150604
50 SMT007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2019 not handle any applications other than con- formal coat curing. Again, this allows you to maximize your investment in a single piece of equipment while reducing capital expendi- tures. A lot of people still buy ovens as sepa- rate, standalone units for heat-cured conformal coatings due to the "messiness" of conformal coating. In a lot of these cases, I have seen the mesh belts totally eliminated since almost all conformal coating applications require just the edge rail, which supports the product by its edges to ensure an even coating and curing. Other options for custom ovens can be for photo optics, component manufacturers, etc. Typically, for some of these applications, it is as simple as removing edge rails for double- sided SMT and changing the belts to a finer diamond mesh belt versus the standard mesh belt. Clearance heights can also be changed to accommodate taller items. I have seen appli- cations where a tunnel opening greater than 5 inches is required. In the case of most manu- facturers, the oven can easily be modified for items like this. Most ovens come with or can implement a SMEMA interface, which is a standard form of communication between machines that sends "board available" and "machine ready" signals back and forth, so the machine knows when to release another board to the reflow oven. This also ensures the line will stop in the case of any down situations. As you can see, standard SMT reflow ovens can be adjusted to accommodate a number of multifunction situation, at a much lower price and within a smaller footprint than an expen- sive specialty oven. SMT007 Chris Ellis is a sales manager/ engineer for Manncorp Inc. To read past columns or contact Ellis, click here. the ends of a topological superconductor nanowire. Inter- estingly, two Majorana fermions can combine with each other to make up one electron, allowing the quantum states of the electron to be stored nonlocally—an advan- tage for fault-tolerant quantum computing. In 2012, MIT theorists predicted that heterostructures of gold could become a topological superconductor under strict conditions. Experiments done by the UCR- MIT team have achieved all the needed conditions for heterostructures of gold. The research paper shows superconductivity, magnetism, and electrons' spin-orbit cou- pling can co-exist in gold— a difficult challenge to meet— and be manually mixed with other materials through hetero- structures. The research paper also shows the electron density of superconductivity in the sur- face states of gold can be tuned. (Source: UCR) A joint team of scientists at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) and the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology (MIT) is getting closer to confirming the existence of an exotic quantum particles called Majorana fermion, one of the most sought-after objects in quantum physics because they are their own antiparticles. Majorana fermion can split the quantum state of an electron in half and follow different statistics compared to electrons. Though many have claimed to have iden- tified them, scientists still cannot confirm their exotic quantum nature. The UCR-MIT team overcame the challenge by developing a new heterostructure mate- rial system based on gold that could be potentially used to demonstrate the existence and quantum nature of Majorana fermions. The Majorana fermion, con- sidered to be half of an elec- tron, is predicted to be found at New Material Shows High Potential for Quantum Computing