Semiconducting Polymers for Multidisciplinary Education
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Semiconducting Polymers for Multidisciplinary Education David Braun1, Kevin Kingsbury2, Linda Vanasupa3 1 Electrical Engineering Department, 2Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 3 Materials Engineering Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, U.S.A. ABSTRACT Cal Poly is in the process of revolutionizing how science and engineering students learn about semiconducting materials. Semiconducting polymers currently attract widespread attention as the subjects of numerous research and development projects. Semiconducting polymers are also excellent materials with which to teach structure-property relationships, polymer synthesis, polymer film preparation, optical and electronic properties, semiconductor device fabrication principles, and device testing. One key benefit of these materials is that they encourage student participation in educational activities that bridge several disciplines. Semiconducting polymers improve student learning by making normally obscure semiconductor concepts more tangible for students in several disciplines: chemistry students create electronics applications for the compounds they synthesize, materials engineering students learn about opto-electronics techniques, and electrical engineering students gain hands-on experience with core concepts in semiconductor devices. This presentation describes the interdisciplinary projects that students and faculty have participated in thus far, particularly during the phase of lab design and construction. INTRODUCTION Semiconducting polymers blend several attractive material properties that enable inexpensive and unique applications. Much interest in polymer and organic light-emitting diodes and photo-diodes derives from their potential to deliver the next generation of flat and flexible image sensors and multimedia displays [1-10]. Forming the subjects of numerous research and development projects, semiconducting polymers also make excellent materials with which to teach a wide range of undergraduate engineering topics extending from the macroscopic to microscopic. For example, systems engineering of displays and image sensors based on semiconducting polymers involves applications which teach students concepts such as structureproperty relationships, polymer synthesis, polymer film preparation, optical and electronic properties, semiconductor device fabrication principles, and device testing. Using a polymer light-emitting diode [LED] as an example illustrates several nice features of semiconducting polymers as a multidisciplinary instructional vehicle. A polymer LED consists essentially of a plastic film sandwiched between two electrodes. 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 bottom electrode and substrate. The devices are relatively easy and inexpensive to make, because of their simple geometry. A passive matrix display or image sen
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