A remote laboratory for microelectronics fabrication

During the last decade there has been a move towards using remote laboratories in engineering education. These labs allow students to control either electrical or mechanical systems remotely via the internet. At the University of South Australia (UniSA), we have been developing a remote lab that will allow users to visually inspect and test microelectronic circuits under a microscope. In this paper, we describe the architecture of the laboratory and discuss the obstacles that are faced in designing and building a remote laboratory that deals with the accurate manipulation of micro-probes for testing microelectronic circuits. Challenges include mechanical construction of probes, motor control for accurate positioning of probes and the development of a realistic graphical user interface (GUI) which will give students an environment that closely resembles that of a real lab. This laboratory is the extension of the existing, fully functional UniSA remote lab, NetLab, which has already been successfully used in teaching students on-campus as well as off-shore.

[1]  Sho Kimura,et al.  Enhancement of Student Learning in Experimental Design Using a Virtual Laboratory , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Education.

[2]  M. Billaud,et al.  Real measures, virtual instruments , 2002, Proceedings of the Fourth IEEE International Caracas Conference on Devices, Circuits and Systems (Cat. No.02TH8611).

[3]  Michael S. Shur,et al.  Conducting laboratory experiments over the Internet , 1999 .

[4]  Zorica Nedic,et al.  A Aompact and Affordable BLDC Motor Controller for a Microelectronics Remote Laboratory , 2008, ESA.

[5]  Trond Ytterdal,et al.  Next Generation Lab-a solution for remote characterization of analog integrated circuits , 2002 .

[6]  Zorica Nedic,et al.  Remote Laboratory NetLab for Effective Teaching of 1st Year Engineering Students , 2007, Int. J. Online Eng..

[7]  T. Ytterdal,et al.  PROGRAMMABLE ANALOG INTEGRATED CIRCUIT FOR USE IN REMOTELY OPERATED LABORATORIES , 2002 .

[8]  Tor A. Fjeldly,et al.  Session LAB-on-WEB – A COMPREHENSIVE ELECTRONIC DEVICE LABORATORY ON A CHIP ACCESSIBLE VIA INTERNET , 2002 .

[9]  K. Mitchell,et al.  Microelectronics processing education using the Internet , 1995, Proceedings Frontiers in Education 1995 25th Annual Conference. Engineering Education for the 21st Century.

[10]  Ana C. Leão,et al.  Remote Access to Expensive SDRAM Test Equipment: Qimonda Opens the Shop-floor to Test Course Students , 2007, Int. J. Online Eng..

[11]  Tor A. Fjeldly.  Lab on the Web: Running Real Electronics Experiments via the Internet , 2003 .

[12]  J. A. del Alamo,et al.  EDUCATIONAL EXPERIMENTS WITH AN ONLINE MICROELECTRONICS CHARACTERIZATION LABORATORY , 2002 .