Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/652863
74 The PCB Design Magazine • March 2016 do not occur often either but everyone takes steps to protect against them. The netlist is a powerful check on the image data; it is akin to the checksums that are widely used to make data transfer reliable. Including the netlist is simple. It is sufficient to include an IPC-D-356A file in the data set. IPC-D-356A contains all the necessary information, and more. Virtually all manufacturers can read IPC- D-356A and most CAD systems can output it. It is sometimes claimed that comparing netlist and image data throws up many false errors. This is largely a problem of the past when implementations were new and buggy. Nowadays most netlist files are OK. There is another way to view this: the netlist is the basis of any PCB layout, and the essential function of a PCB is to physically implement that netlist. The PCB fabricator is expected to electrically test the fabricated boards and to guarantee that the shipped boards' netlist is correct. It is therefore of paramount importance that the fabricator works from the correct netlist, so it is an obvious requirement that the netlist be supplied to the fabricator rather than leaving him to reverse engineer it from the images. A professional PCB fabrication data set must include a netlist. Omitting it amounts to a self- inflicted competitive disadvantage. Because the inclusion of a netlist is so simple and is such a powerful security check on the data, Ucamco's position is that if a data transfer error occurs that would have been flagged by checking back to a netlist, the responsibility lies at least partially with the party that has neglected to include a netlist, or that has neglected to use a supplied netlist. Remember, always include an IPC-D-350A netlist file in the PCB fabrication data set. This column has been excerpted from the Guide to PCB Fabrication Data: Design to Fabri- cation Data Transfer. PCBDESIGN Karel Tavernier is the managing director of Ucamco. the gerBer guide, chapter 7 & 8 Scientists at the Uni- versity of Twente research institute MESA+ have de- veloped an electrode in the form of a hollow po- rous copper fibre which is able to convert carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into carbon monoxide (CO) extreme- ly efficiently. In principle the invention enables a wide variety of industrial processes, for example in the steel industry, to be made more sustainable. Researchers have developed a hollow copper fibre which can be used to convert CO 2 into CO with a very high efficiency. The fibre, which serves as an electrode, is provided with countless min- ute pores. If the fibre is placed in a bath of wa- ter, a voltage potential applied, and CO 2 pumped in, the CO 2 is converted into CO as it passes out through these pores. Small copper particles are added to a polymer solution. This solution is guided through a small, ring-shaped slit in a water bath, in which the poly- mer solution solidifies into the form of a thin hollow fibre. A thermal treat- ment is then employed to remove the polymer and partially fuse the copper particles. The result is a copper oxide fibre. The researchers particularly envisage an impor- tant area of application for these copper electrodes to be in the steel industry, where large volumes of CO 2 are produced and CO is needed to convert iron ore into iron. Researchers Develop Highly Efficient Hollow Copper Electrodes