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JUNE 2025 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 17 won't just be aerthoughts; they'll be baked into the early design process and carried all the way through layout. Autorouters still won't finish every design perfectly. But today's tools are smarter, easier to guide, and much better at delivering clean, rule-compliant results. It's not about giving up control; it's about reclaiming time and letting the router do what it does best. Is there anything else you'd like to add? If there's one point I'd emphasize, it's this: Great routing starts long before the autorouter is even launched. Effective placement, solid floor planning, and well-defined high-speed constraints, like crosstalk control, impedance targets, and length/delay tuning, should be built into the schematic phase. at's not just a best practice; it's essential. All these elements depend on an accurate layer stackup and robust DRC rules, which need to be defined early and driven by the hardware engineer. is is still a gap we see in many design flows. e schematic oen gets treated as a block dia- gram when, in reality, it should be setting the stage for a constraint-driven layout. I'd love to hear more from hardware engineers who cap- ture their own schematics: Are you pre-con- straining your designs? Do your tools support it? Does your process encourage it? e bottom line: A smarter schematic leads to a smarter board. e more we shi intelli- gence to the front of the process, the easier it is to deliver high-performance, manufacturable PCBs on time and on budget. DESIGN007 " Great routing starts long before the autorouter is even launched. " A research team led by physicists Ming Yi and Emilia Morosan from Rice University has developed a new material with unique electronic properties that could enable more powerful and energy-effi- cient electronic devices. The material, known as a Kramers nodal line metal, was produced by introducing a small amount of indium into a layered compound based on tanta- lum and sulfur. The addition of indium changes the symmetry of the crystal structure, and the result pro- motes the novel physical properties associated with the Kramers nodal line behavior. The researchers discovered that when they added tiny amounts of indium to tantalum disulfide (TaS₂), the material's underlying crystalline symme- try changed, leading to a uniquely protected pattern where electrons with spin up and spin down follow different pathways in momentum space, much like cars going in opposite directions on a highway. This happens until the two paths merge at the Kramers nodal line. This new material also demonstrated the ability to carry electricity without energy loss, displaying superconducting properties. This dual characteristic could enable the development of topological super- conductors, which may enhance power systems and computing technologies. The team experimented with various compositions to observe the optimal properties. Using advanced tools such as spin-resolved angle-resolved photo- emission spectroscopy and electrical transport in applied magnetic fields, they examined the tiny par- ticles within the material. "Our experiments indicate that we can precisely adjust the material's properties to accentuate its topological traits, which is vital for future applica- tions," said Yichen Zhang, a doctoral student at Rice and co-first author of the study. The researchers say this discovery is just the beginning, and they are eager to continue exploring these new materials to uncover even more remark- able properties that could lead to breakthroughs in technology and science. (Source: Rice University) Rice-led Research Team Develops Super Material That Could Change Electronics