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A Senior Level Polymer Electronics Course: Unique Instruction or Just Low Cost?

David Braun, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Abstract

After progressing from research laboratories to factories to the market, semiconducting polymers now appear in commercial products and offer educational opportunities. Semiconducting polymers are excellent materials with which to teach semiconductor device fabrication principles, device testing, optical and electronic properties, polymer synthesis, polymer film preparation, and structure-property relationships. Previous publications have emphasized multidisciplinary course modules based on semiconducting polymers.1 This work emphasizes how the use of semiconducting polymers in an undergraduate polymer electronics course benefits electrical engineering and computer engineering students.

Introduction

This article reasons that semiconducting polymers improve student learning by making normally obscure semiconductor concepts more tangible in a relatively inexpensive laboratory environment. We describe primarily experiences resulting from teaching Cal Poly’s Polymer Electronics Lab course (EE 422) since 2000. Course modules cover the sequence of operations and analysis required to fabricate and test light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on semiconducting polymers.2 As a result of building and testing the polymer LEDs, students gain hands-on experience with core concepts in semiconductor devices and opto-electronic device characterization.

Metal Cathode Polymer Films ITO Anode Substrate

Figure 1 – Polymer LED Geometry

A polymer LED consists essentially of a plastic sandwich. Figure 1 illustrates the device geometry. Applying a positive voltage to the anode relative to the cathode causes current to flow through the polymer film and light emission from the polymer film through the transparent

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Braun, D. (2005, June), A Senior Level Polymer Electronics Course: Unique Instruction Or Just Low Cost? Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14165