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OCTOBER 2019 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 43 professionals and ever-evolving industry con- tent. The excitement in the air at the PCB West conference did not disappoint! If you didn't, or couldn't, attend this year, I highly recommend that you attend next year's event. The confer- ence presents a great opportunity for network- ing and professional development in PCB de- sign in our ever-evolving industry. In the next section, you will find the remain- ing training sessions to take advantage of as well as upcoming PCB design events. 2019 Training and Certification Schedule IPC Certified Interconnect Designer (CID) • October 8–11: Carmel, IN • October 21–24: Anaheim, CA • November 2–5: Raleigh, NC • November 5–8: Dallas, TX IPC Advanced Certified Interconnect Designer CID+ • October 21–24: Anaheim, CA • November 2–5: Raleigh, NC • December 3–6: Manchester, NH Note: Dates and locations are subject to change. Contact EPTAC Corporation to check current dates and availability. A minimum enrollment of seven students is required for a class to be held. PCB Design Events • AltiumLive 2019 October 9–11: San Diego, CA • PCB Carolina 2019 November 13: Raleigh, NC The IPC Designers Council is an interna- tional network of designers. Its mission is to promote printed circuit board design as a pro- fession and to encourage, facilitate, and pro- mote the exchange of information and inte- gration of new design concepts through com- munications, seminars, workshops, and pro- fessional certification through a network of local chapters. DESIGN007 Stephen Chavez, MIT, CID+, is a member of the IPC Designers Council Executive Board and chairman of the communications subcommittee. To read past columns or contact Chavez, click here. The most common FET in modern times—called MOSFET, short for metal—oxide–semiconductor field-effect transis- tor—was built using silicon around the end of the 1950s. However, silicon-based FETs miniaturized below a cer- tain size face issues arising from the short channel effect, which negatively impacts the flow and control of electric current. Scientists led by Dongzhi Chi at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), in collabora- tion with colleagues at the National University of Singa- pore and Shenzhen University, China, are now seeking to circumvent this limitation with an alternative materi- al: molybdenum disulfide. "The reported grain size of single- crystal, sulfurization-grown molyb- denum disulfide was typically limit- ed to several tens of micrometers or less with conventional molybdenum precursors such as molybdenum metal and molybdenum oxides," explained IMRE's Shi Wun Tong, the lead author on the study. "This limited the fabrication and demonstration of high-perfor- mance devices on large-area and grain boundary-free molybdenum disulfide single crystals." The group explored the use of an alternative crystal precursor, sodium molybdate dihydrate, which not only provides the initial molybdenum for crystal formation, but also enhances the nucleation and later- al growth of the crystal, enabling much larger crystals to be produced. Now, the researchers are looking to incorporate these crystals with various self-powered, ultrathin and flexible electronics. (Source: Agency for Science, Technol- ogy and Research) Bigger, Better Conductive Crystals a Boon for Electronics