Location: 20-105
Coordinator: David Braun
Facilitates: EE 442, EE 524, EE 544, PHYS 422
Description
The semiconducting polymer lab allows engineering and science students to make and characterize semiconducting polymer devices. Semiconducting polymers permit students to learn about semiconductor concepts and fabrication more efficiently, economically, and safely than present techniques based on conventional materials. Semiconducting polymer devices are becoming an essential undergraduate topic today.
Semiconducting polymers offer several opportunities to enrich solid-state electronics education. After learning relatively simple processing steps, the students have a working device in their hands. Certainly, they gain a chance to study the electrical behavior of these devices. Construction of light-emitting devices adds a new dimension. They have a chance to study the properties of the light produced by their "circuit." The semiconducting polymers offer an economical way to provide students with the practical knowledge they require to advance along with the rest of the field. One can view the semiconducting polymers as an extremely flexible solid-state electronics technology appropriate for Cal Poly's educational objectives.
Additionally, the lab supports opportunities for interdisciplinary instructional and research activities. Current research projects study light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and solar cells based on semiconducting polymers. Students from the following disciplines have participated in research projects and lab development: Chemistry, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Physics.
The EE department is also part of the consortium that runs our Clean Room facility in building 41. Here we make traditional semiconductor integrated circuits, micro mechanical systems and micro-fluidics prototypes.
