Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1527952
82 PCB007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2024 It is an exciting time to be in PCB fabrication, especially developing process technology. As a young engineer, how have you enjoyed your experience working in PCBs, and what advice can you share with others considering this career path? I agree with you. It's a really interesting time in PCB manufacturing. I do not know the histori- cal trends because I am so new, but like all mar- kets, it is very dynamic and evolving. For me, it's important to stay curious and think outside the box. Sometimes, you need to step a little bit outside of your area to see what other people and industries are doing and try to learn from them. I really enjoy talking to customers and taking on challenges. is is a good fit for me because I like to work with people on innova- tion. I'm looking forward to many new oppor- tunities in the future. Dyconex is lucky to have you, and we are happy to have you as a scientist and contributor to the industry. Good luck as you continue to forge your career. ank you, Marcy. PCB007 A new Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC), supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Science and led by SLAC National Accelerator Lab- oratory, was awarded $14.4 million over four years to advance manufacturing of microelectronics by investigating approaches to building their compo- nents in fundamentally new ways. Instead of moving electrons through conducting metallic interconnects in the minuscule and ever- shrinking parts of devices such as microchips used in computers and cell phones, the researchers pro- pose to move information via spin waves that can propagate through semiconductors and even insu- lators. A spin wave is a wave of energy that moves through a substance due to modulation of the mag- netic moments of atoms. "Over the years people have tried to manipu- late the electrons that produce charge in traditional microelectronics by manipulating their spin, but whenever you move around electrons you have charge current, and when you have charge cur- rent you are dissipating energy, which will cause all kinds of heating and resistance," explained Yuri Suzuki, Stanford professor and principal investi- gator with the Stanford Institute of Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES), a SLAC-Stanford joint institute. "Our idea is to try a completely different para- digm—what if we can send information via spin waves without electrons or metals? For example, if we could replace copper interconnects with spin wave interconnects in devices, we aren't flowing any charge current and are going to save energy." Access to LCLS, the world's most powerful X-ray laser, is key because to measure and detect spin waves requires timescales and frequencies that LCLS can probe with its ultrafast and intense pulses of X-ray light. The team aspires to demonstrate the viability of a subset of components in micro- electronics based on magnonics, or spin waves, such as inter- connects, amplifiers or switches. (Source: SLAC National Accelerator Library) SLAC-led Energy Frontier Research Center to Advance Manufacturing Solutions for Microelectronics