An Undergraduate Integrated Circuit Fabrication Laboratory

Over the last few years an integrated circuit fabrication laboratory intended primarily for use by undergraduates has been developed within the School of Electrical Engineering at Purdue University. Operating under the principle that integrated circuit design and laboratory practice are inseparable, the main objective was to allow the undergraduate student to acquire a working knowledge of how transistors, thin- and thick-film circuits, MOS field-effect transistors, and integrated circuits are fabricated. The emphasis is on how to fabricate the device in the laboratory and then to evaluate the device both electrically and metallurgically. This paper describes in detail how a device laboratory was organized for undergraduates with a minimal background in experimental technique.