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60 The PCB Design Magazine • September 2015 will do the rest: it will optimise and panelise the PCB and on output of the final, panelised data, it will mirror, rotate, shift and scale as required by production. Any designer that mirrors layers can only hope that the CAM engineer notices this and 'unmirrors' them. Sometimes the drill/rout files use comple- tely different coordinates from those used by the copper layers, typically because the copper layers are output in Gerber and the drill files in Excellon. (We will look at this in more detail in Chapter 4.) This results in misalignment, whi- ch the CAM engineer must then correct. This is generally relatively easy as the pattern of drill holes and pads is quite characteristic, but it's less easy with very symmetrical jobs. Easy or not, the goal is to take the guesswork out of data transfer, and deliver aligned drill files. The simplest remedy is to output drill and rout files in Gerber so that the same coordinates are used for both file types. In fact, all physical layers should be aligned, so those same coordinates should be applied to the solder mask, legend, board outline, and peelable layer, and for the sake of clarity, even though it's not mandatory (as they are not a physical part of the PCB) to any accompanying drawings. Sometimes, registration is resolved by ad- ding alignment targets to the images. Don't do this. CAM engineers must manually move the layers around until the targets align, and then manually remove the superfluous alignment marks, both of which take time on the CAM sy- stem and are a far cry from automatic, standar- dized data transfer. Eliminate complications by using the same coordinates, and register your data files. Your favorite Gerber viewer will no doubt allow you to verify that they are aligned. Re- member: Output all layers in the same coordi- nate system. Next month we'll look into Chapter 3. See you then. PCBDESIGN Researchers at the universitat Jaume i in Spain have developed materials based on graphene that can catalyse reactions for the conversion and stor- age of energy. The technology patented by the uJi combines graphene and organometallic com- pounds in a single material without altering the most interesting properties of graphene, such as its electrical conductivity. The technology, developed by the Group of Or- ganometallic Chemistry and ho- mogeneous Catalysis (QOMCAT) of the uJi, is of great interest to the energy industry and is part of the so-called "hydrogen econ- omy." An alternative energetic model in which energy is stored as hydrogen. in this regard, the materials patented by the uJi allow catalysing re- actions for obtaining hydrogen from alcohols and may also serve as storage systems of this gas. it is a novel technology since it uses graphene for the first time as a support of organometallic compounds. These hybrid materials have catalytic properties and are modular and recyclable. Thus, the catalyst developed at the uJi can be recycled ten times without suffering a loss of activity, a very attractive property from the industrial viewpoint. The new material is also obtained from a novel system of obtaining hybrid materials in a single step. An easy and affordable system that allows that all the technology that is currently based on graphene can be easily converted using these new materials. Thus, the patent - ed materials can be used both in the development of catalysts as well as storage batteries or other energy types. New Graphene-based Catalysts for the Energy Industry article karel Tavernier is managing director of ucamco. THE GERBER GuIDE, CHAPTER 2