THE INCREDIBLE, SHRINKING ENGINEER.(virtual relaity)(Technology Information)

Electrical and electronic design is largely a two-dimensional task. Electrons follow a path. Gates either block or sustain the electron flow. Resistance and inductance modulate the flow.

An engineer may also consider the impact of heat dissipation on a design, while a third factor representing the physical structure of the board or chip adds a further level of complexity to the design process. As densities increase and form factors shrink, the importance of that third factor has grown to become a standard analysis aspect in electronic circuitry.

But, what happens when the digital output doesn't clearly explain the physics impacting a circuit's functionality?

Well, according to Professor Robert J. Stone, Scientific Director at Muse Technology (www.musetech.com), one option is to simply pop down and visit the atoms. A founding director and current president of the international Virtual Systems and Multi-Media (VSMM) Society, based in Gifu, Japan, Stone is an internationally recognized authority in the realm of Virtual Reality (VR).

No longer encumbered by heavy headgear and sensor-studded gloves, VR is tackling real-world applications in a practical and cost-effective manner. As Stone explains, "A couple of years ago, [we took] some electronic microscope photographs of semiconductors and we used virtual reality to construct a printed circuit board ...