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42 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2021 the major players—we can import the data and work with it. So, we're not limited in that sense. Also, TestWay can actually be a plug-in for Altium. So, if somebody's using Altium and they have TestWay installed on that same computer, they see a plug-in show up in Altium and they can run some of the electrical design checks right from Altium. So, the designer doesn't even really need the test guy. He can click the button and get feedback right there while he's working in that environment. From the test equipment side, we are also quite agnostic because we sup- port the ability to read in actual test coverage from over 60 different machine types, and we also produce the output files (CAD2CAM) for 50 different machine types. Shaughnessy: One hacker I interviewed said test points are always risky. He said, "If I get hold of your circuit board, I can go in through the test point and find out everything about the board and maybe the final product." Is security really a big consideration? Webb: Security is certainly becoming more of a concern to our customers. I've heard concerns about the boundary scan file, which would allow somebody to get into the part itself. More people are securing their boundary scan files these days. No, I haven't heard anybody's con- cern about a test point, but I can understand it. Somebody could probe that in the field and maybe they could find out some information that they otherwise wouldn't be able to. It's another reason test points will probably get more limited going forward on certain design types. Security is becoming more of a concern with our customers, and we're hearing more about it. We don't currently have a module or anything that addresses that, but it's certainly something we're thinking about as we hear people talking about it. Johnson: anks for speaking with us, Will. Webb: anks for the opportunity. I enjoyed it. DESIGN007 Weaving intricate, microscopic patterns of crystal or glass is now possible thanks to engineers at Rice University. Rice materials scientists are creating nanostruc- tures of silica with a sophisticated 3D printer, dem- onstrating a method to make micro-scale electronic, mechanical and photonic devices from the bottom up. The products can be doped and their crystal structures tuned for various applications. The study led by Jun Lou, a professor of materi- als science and nanoengineering at the George R. Brown School of Engineering, appears in Nature Materials. The lab uses a two-photon polymerization pro- cess to print structures with lines only several hun- dred nanometers wide, smaller than the wavelength of light. Lasers "write" the lines by prompting the ink to absorb two photons, ini- tiating free-radical polymer- ization of the material. "Normal polymerization involves polymer mono- mers and photoinitiators, molecules that absorb light and generate free radicals," said Rice graduate student and co-lead author Boyu Zhang of the pro- cess that commonly uses ultraviolet light in 3D print- ing and to cure coatings and in dental applications. The printing process required the Rice lab to develop a unique ink. Zhang and co-lead author Xiewen Wen, a Rice alumnus, created resins con- taining nanospheres of silicon dioxide doped with polyethylene glycol to make them soluble. After printing, the structure is solidified through high-temperature sintering, which eliminates all the polymer from the product, leaving amorphous glass or polycrystalline cristobalite. "When heated, the material goes through p h a s e s f r o m g l a s s t o crystal, and the higher the temperature, the more o r d e r e d t h e c r y s t a l s become," Lou said. (Source: Rice University) Nanoscale Lattices Flow From 3D Printer