MICROELECTRONIC SYSTEMS NEWS
FILENUMBER: 7013
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Workshop Report Rapid Prototyping Universities
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DATE: july 1994
TITLE: Workshop Report on Rapid Prototyping for Universities
Workshop Report on Rapid Prototyping for Universities
(Contributed by Don Bouldin of the University of Tennessee)
Under sponsorship of the National Science Foundation, eleven par-
ticipants from universities and industry and seven individuals
from the NSF met during October 18-19, 1993, to assess the unique
needs educators have for rapid prototyping of microelectronic
systems and to suggest potential solutions for continuously im-
proving the state-of-the-art in U.S. universities. The following
vision statement was adopted: Educate students who can use the
paradigm of design, simulate, design-for-test, build and test (as
opposed to just design, build and test) to create microelectronic
systems, not just integrated circuits (ICs), of sufficient quali-
ty that the global competitiveness of U.S. industry will be con-
tinued and enhanced.
From this statement a number of findings and recommendations were
made. Some of these include: (1) Student projects should be
simulated thoroughly prior to submission to MOSIS for fabrica-
tion. (2) The use of Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) to
support logic design and systems-oriented courses should be
encouraged. (3) Fabrication services provided by MOSIS should
be used largely for designs in which some portion has been per-
formed manually. (4) NSF support for advanced classes
should be broadened to include not only IC fabrication via MOSIS
but also the acquistion of prototyping boards or multi-chip
modules (MCMs) (5) Remote access via the Internet to expensive
testers and prototyping systems should be made available. (6)
MOSIS should add the following services: BiCMOS process, micro-
electro-mechanical post-processing, optoelectronic device fabri-
cation and MCM prototyping. (7) A national clearinghouse should
be supported to provide ready access by the educational com-
munity to existing and rapidly emerging resources that are
presently dispersed. (8) Conferences, faculty enhancement
short courses and newsletters should be supported to encourage
widespread exchange of information.
To obtain a copy of the workshop report, Click here.
Alternately, you may request an email copy by contacting:
dbouldin@utk.edu
dbouldin@utk.edu