EEE3026 : Electronic Devices and Semiconductor Technology
- Offered for Year: 2025/26
- Module Leader(s): Dr Sarah Olsen
- Lecturer: Professor Anthony O'Neill
- Owning School: Engineering
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 1 Credit Value: | 10 |
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 10 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
Aims
To provide specialist knowledge of electronic devices and related components.
To enable students to have a better understanding of state-of-the-art devices (e.g. transistors) and their applications.
To enable students to compare competing electronic and related technologies.
To provide a specialist knowledge of processes used in chip manufacturing.
To show students how electronic devices are fabricated in a clean room.
To enable students to gain understanding of fabrication processes and characterisation of devices in a clean room environment.
Outline Of Syllabus
Introduction to electronic devices; electronic system exemplar: smartphone.
Junctions: Metal-semiconductor junction, Schottky contact, Ohmic contact, p-n junction, LED, photodiode;, Smartphone: camera, optical and MEMS (electromechanical) sensors.
MOS Junction. MOS electrostatics, depletion accumulation and inversion
MOSFET: mode of operation, I-V characteristic, sub-threshold, transistor and IC cross sections.
CMOS: Inverter, power dissipation, short channel effects, impact of scaling of electrical characteristics, threshold Voltage, electrostatic integrity, scaling strategies, limits to scaling.
Carrier transport: transconductance degradation, mobility components, velocity-field, universal mobility, field dependence, short channel regime.
MOSFET Evolution: STI and LOCOS isolation, metal and polysilicon gates, LDD, parasitics, halo doping, retrograde doping, strained Si, high-k dielectrics, finFETs, nanosheet FETs,. More than Moore, passives, SoC, 3D-integration
III-V compound semiconductor devices:, properties of silicon versus other semiconductors, MESFET, mode of operation, I-V characteristic, heterojunctions, MODFETs, I-V characteristic
Bipolar Transistor: dc characteristic, Gummel plot, Bipolar evolution, heterojunction bipolar (HBT).
Displays: OLED, touchscreen, digitizer (smartphone)
Memory: addressable arrays, DRAM, SRAM, flash
Power transistor: vertical topologies, UMOS, DMOS, specific on-resistance, analysis using pin, Si versus wide bandgap semiconductor
Device Fabrication:. Wafer fabs, mask design, process flow
Patterning: lithography, resolution, alignment, photoresist, e-beam, EUV, maskless
Starting Material: wafer engineering, crystal structure, Czochralski growth, defects,
Material addition: Thin films,: chemical vapour deposition (dielectrics, polysilicon, metals), physical vapour deposition (evaporation, sputtering), atomic layer deposition, metallisation options
Material subtraction:. Wet and dry etches, etching parameters, reactive ion etching, deep reactive ion etching, chemical mechanical polishing
Thermal processing:. Tube furnaces, RTP, wet and dry oxidation, oxide quality, local oxidation,. diffusion, Doping, ion implantation, annealing
Interconnects: multilevel metallisation, low-k dielectrics, reliability, CR delay
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 24:00 | 24:00 | Preparation for written exam on device fabrication. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 19 | 2:00 | 38:00 | Lectures in semester 1 and 2 |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 9:30 | 9:30 | Preparation and completion of formative assessment on device fabrication |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 24:00 | 24:00 | Preparing 2000 word report for assessment on electronic devices. |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 1:30 | 1:30 | Written Exam |
| Structured Guided Learning | Structured research and reading activities | 6 | 1:00 | 6:00 | Completing tests from canvas (semester 1) |
| Structured Guided Learning | Structured research and reading activities | 19 | 2:00 | 38:00 | Reading and reflecting to supplement understanding of material taught |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 3 | 2:00 | 6:00 | Tutorials involving characterisation and clean room |
| Guided Independent Study | Reflective learning activity | 5 | 3:00 | 15:00 | Reflection and notes on workshops |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 1 | 38:00 | 38:00 | Reviewing lecture notes; general reading |
| Total | 200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
Lectures provides the core material. Weekly problem solving sessions in semester 1 give students the opportunity to query material taught each week. Face-to-face lectures can be replaced with online synchronous sessions supported by non-synchronous videos if the public health situation requires it. Workshop sessions in semester 2 provide an opportunity to develop understanding of practical clean room processes used in chip fabrication and techniques used in the characterisation of electronic devices. Taught lecture material covering chip fabrication processes provide theory for the workshops.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Exams
| Description | Length | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Written Examination | 90 | 2 | A | 50 | In-person, closed-book exam. |
Exam Pairings
| Module Code | Module Title | Semester | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Device Fabrication | 2 | N/A |
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | 1 | M | 50 | 2000 word written assignment on mobile phones |
Formative Assessments
Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.
| Description | Semester | When Set | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oral Examination | 2 | M | Oral assessment to demonstrate understanding of device fabrication |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
The coursework provides the opportunity for the student to demonstrate their knowledge and skills developed from the electronic device (semester 1) lecture course material (M1, M2). The exam in semester 2 assesses the student knowledge of device fabrication (M1, M2), while the formative oral assessment in semester 2 ensures the student has engaged and acquired key knowledge from the workshops.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- EEE3026's Timetable