Optoelectronic Device Inspection and Test Station

尽管半导体制造在美国工业中扮演着战略角色，但与光电子器件相关的课程在本科课程中并不受欢迎。这些课程往往显得过于理论性和抽象，或者过于注重技能，学生只接受职业培训。大多数实验室课程充其量只是重申一些理论概念，但大多是测试而不是制造设备。对于非传统的学生来说，这种情况尤其麻烦，包括那些在社区大学的学生，以及那些打算更新技能的职业生涯中期或有经验的工人。对于这两组人来说，这些课程似乎都是理论上的，与制造过程几乎没有相关性。针对这些需求，开发了一门具有两个独特功能的课程：它提出了一种集成的光电子器件教学方法，学生可以设计、制造和测试他们选择的器件，它使由非传统、副学士、本科生和研究生组成的不同的学生小组能够在负责设计和制造的所有方面进行团队合作。本课程中展示的场景是工作场所并行工程的复制品。将团队凝聚在一起的是产品和设备，而将他们分开的是他们的责任和背景。制造设备所需的所有设备和用品都在微细加工洁净室设施中提供给学生。通过这个项目，该系正在获得测试学生制造的设备的设备。这些仪器使学生能够探测和测试他们产品的电子和光学响应。

Despite the strategic role of semiconductor manufacturing in American industry, teaching of courses related to optoelectronic devices is not popular in undergraduate curricula. These courses often appear either too theoretical and abstract or too skill oriented, with students receiving only vocational training. Most laboratory courses at best reiterate some theoretical concepts, but mostly test rather than fabricate devices. This scenario is particularly troublesome for nontraditional students, including those in community colleges and midcareer or experienced workers intending to update their skills. For both groups, these courses appear theoretical, with little relevance to the manufacturing process. In response to these needs, a course has been developed that has two unique major features: it proposes an integrated approach to the teaching of optoelectronic devices whereby students design, fabricate, and test a device of their choice and it enables nonhomogeneous groups of students consisting of nontraditional, associate degree, undergraduate, and graduate students to work in teams responsible for all aspects of design and fabrication. The scenario played out in this course is a replica of concurrent engineering in the work place. What holds the team together is the product, the device, and what separates them is their responsibilities and backgrounds. All the equipment and supplies necessary for the fabrication of the devices are provided to the students in the microfabrication clean-room facility. Through this project, the department is acquiring equipment for testing the devices that students fabricate. These instruments enable the students to probe and test the electronic and optical response of their products.