Where Students Make Their Own Chips

EE July/August 1987 WHERE STUDENTS MAKE THEIR OWN CHIPS by Brian Lawrenson, Department of Physics and Electronic Engineering, University of Dundee Electronics engineering graduates entering industry often meet difficulties in translating theory into practice. The advanced technology of making chips is probably one of the biggest hurdles they have to face. A Scottish university is tackling the problem by getting its students to turn out chips in the laboratory. When the Irish dramatist George Bernard Shaw wrote his condemnation of the teaching profession, "He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches", he came close to identifying one of the main difficulties in educat- ing engineering students. It lies in ensuring that the teaching of theoretical principles is firmly identified with the real world of engineering design and manu- facture. Most degree courses in elec- tronics engineering include lectures on the principles of semiconductor devices, ex- plaining how such components as tra...