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November 2015 • SMT Magazine 11 Stephen Las marias is managing editor of SMT Magazine. He has been a technology editor for more than 12 years covering electronics, components, and industrial automation systems. eDITor's NoTe THe NeW INDUSTrIAL erA graphene has generally been described as a two-dimensional structure—a single sheet of car- bon atoms arranged in a regular structure—but the reality is not so simple. In reality, graphene can form wrinkles which make the structure more complicat- ed. graphene can also interact with the substrate upon which it is laid, adding further com- plexity. In research published in na- ture communications, rIKen scientists have now discovered that wrinkles in graphene can restrict the motion of electrons to one dimension, forming a junction-like structure that changes from zero-gap con - ductor to semiconductor, back to zero-gap conductor. More- over, they have used the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope to manipulate the formation of wrinkles, opening the way to the construction of graphene semiconductors not through chemical means—by adding other ele- ments—but by manipulating the carbon struc- ture itself in a form of "graphene engineering." "up until now, efforts to manipulate the elec- tronic properties of graphene have principally been done through chemi- cal means, but the down- side of this is that it can lead to degraded electronic properties due to chemical defects," said Yousoo Kim, head of the Surface and in - terface Science laboratory, who led the team. "Here we have shown that the elec- tronic properties can be ma- nipulated merely by chang- ing the shape of the carbon structure. It will be exciting to see if this could lead to ways to find new uses for graphene." Manipulating Wrinkles Could Lead to Graphene Semiconductors Dr. Jennie Hwang, in her regular bi-month- ly column, investigates the theory behind tin whisker phenomena. Her third installment in this series focuses on the likely key processes engaged in tin whisker growth. Last, but not least, Robert Voigt of DDM No- vastar is starting a new series for his column, this time focusing on selecting a through-hole soldering system. In Part 1 this month, he dis- cusses the available methods for through-hole soldering and provides a brief overview of their strengths and weaknesses. Despite over-the-top projections for the op- portunities being opened up by the IoT, chal- lenges, of course, will remain. According to a 2014 study by The Economist Intelligence Unit, a majority, or 86% of the manufacturers they surveyed have reported major increases in the amount of production and quality-control data stored for analysis over the previous two years. But it hasn't been easy, as only 14% of those surveyed report no problems managing the data glut from real-time production sensors and associated reporting and analytical models. I do hope you'll enjoy this issue of SMT Mag- azine. Be sure to also look out for the November issues of The PCB Magazine and The PCB Design Magazine for even more insights and perspec- tives regarding collecting and managing data from your factory floor. For December, we will highlight the differ- ent associations in our industry and how they are offering support and value in 2016. Stay tuned! SmT The tip of the scanning tunneling microscope (in yellow-orange) is moved over the graphene and the nanowrinkle.