Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1163814
SEPTEMBER 2019 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 15 IPC can keep them involved even if they don't come to the face-to-face meetings without them having to pay to join IPC?" Because you have to be an IPC member to be a committee chair. Again, I'm looking towards retirement now. But I either have to pay the IPC membership or drop my committee chairs. I haven't real- ly talked about that with the management at IPC or TAEC, but I think that's something that I have to look at bringing up in TAEC because we do have a large number of people looking toward retirement. Shaughnessy: A couple of people have said to me this week, "I don't know what I'm going to do. I want to be the conference chair, but I don't want to pay a lot of money each year." McConnell: I could pay it now, but after I retire, I can't. So, that's going to be a problem in a few years. Shaughnessy: But it sounds like you're having fun. McConnell: I love getting together with my oth- er IPC members, including sitting and talking at conferences and lunchtime breaks. I always try to find a table with an empty seat where I don't know anyone. Then, I meet the peo- ple beside me and hear interesting technical discussions that I probably would never have thought about. It has been a fascinating way to grow my knowledge of the industry, even after 30 years. Shaughnessy: I appreciate your time, Karen. It's always great to talk to you. McConnell: Thank you for covering this, Andy. DESIGN007 Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Re- search (MPIP), led by Dr. Kamal Asadi, have solved a four- decade challenge of producing very thin nylon films that can be used in electronic memory components. As the microelectronic industry is now shifting toward wearable electronic gadgets and e-textiles, the comprising electronic materials, such as ferroelectrics, should be inte - grated with our clothes. Nylon was discovered also to ex- hibit ferroelectric properties; positive and negative electric charges can be separated, and this state can be maintained. The ferroelectric materials are used in sensors, actuators, memories, and energy- harvesting devices. The advantage in using poly - mers is that they can be liquified using adequate solvents; therefore, they can be processed from solution at low cost to form flexible thin-films, which are suitable for electronic devices, such as capacitors, transistors, and diodes. Scientists at the MPIP, in collaboration with researchers from the Johannes Gutenberg Uni- versity of Mainz and Lodz University of Technol- ogy, have developed a method to fabricate ferro- electric nylon thin-film capacitors by dissolving nylon in a mixture of trifluoroacetic acid and acetone and solidifying it again in a vacuum. They were able to real- ize thin nylon films that are typically only a few hundred nanometers thick, which is several hundred times thinner than human hair. These new findings pave the way towards multifunc- tional fabrics that serve as a cloth for our body, and at the same time, can generate electricity from our body move- ment. (Source: MPIP) Nylon as a Building Block for Transparent Electronic Devices?