Project Overview

Project Title:
Automated Testing Station for Sensing Applications

Project Abstract:
The goal of this project is to develop an automated probe station enclosed in a sealed housing for gas sensing and photodetection applications. The station will include a series of commercial LEDs mounted on a homemade PCB designed by our team. Through this PCB, we will be able to shine the sensor with pulses of different wavelengths under a vacuum or through different gasses. The current-voltage characteristics will be recorded using Keithley MU as a function of the gas type and quantity; the gas supple will be controlled with a homemade PCB coupled with a mass flow controller. The setup will be mainly used to evaluate the performance and sensing characteristics as well as the long-term stability of semiconductor materials and devices. Automated monitoring of all the key parameters and coding will help to accelerate the time for testing, data processing, and reporting. The setup will inclde resources from the Microelectronics Research Center (MRC) at Iowa State University, commercial LEDs and motors, and lab-made gas sensors and photodetectors. Our team will desgin/build PCBs for controlling the elctronic parts. Our team will also work with scientists in MRC to test gas sensors and photodetectors and analyze the data obtained.

Deliverables:

  • Integrate LEDs with different wavelengths mounted on two PCBs and a built-in probe station in an enclosure.
  • Full automation of light pulsing and color, gas supply, and device testing.
  • Obtain and analyze data from sensors.
  • Team Members & Advisor

    Thomas McCoy

    Team Organizer/Software Developer


    From: Brimfield, Illinois
    Major: Software Engineering
    Skills: Software development, Database management, Web-app development
    Programing Languages: C, C++, C#, Java, Javascript, SQL, CSS, HTML

    Garth Anderson

    PCB Research & Design

    Member Bio

    Malvin Lim

    PCB Research & Design

    Member Bio

    Matthew Rief

    CAD Design

    Member Bio

    Moneim Ismail

    Advisor


    Ph.D.: Materials Science & Engineering, Iowa State University, USA, 2015
    MSc.: Experimental Physics, Mansoura University, Egypt, 2007
    B.Sc.: Physics, Mansoura University, Egypt, 2003





    Weekly Reports

    Report 1 - 09/26/22
    Report 2 - 10/03/22
    Report 3 - 10/10/22
    Report 4 - 10/17/22
    Report 5 - 10/24/22
    Report 6 - 10/31/22
    Report 7 - 11/07/22
    Report 8 - 11/14/22
    Report 9 - 11/28/22

    Bi-Weekly Reports

    Report 1 - 02/18/23
    Report 2 - 03/04/23
    Report 3 - 03/24/23
    Report 4 - 04/07/23
    Report 5 - 04/21/23



    Design Documents

    Design Doc 1 - User Needs
    Design Doc 2 - Requirements
    Design Doc 3 - Project Plan
    Design Doc 4 - Design Contextualization and Exploration
    Design Doc 5 - Proposed Design
    Design Doc 6 - Testing
    Final Design Document
    Fall Presentation Slides
    Final Report
    Final Presentation
    Final Poster




    Meeting Minutes

    Meeting: 09/21/22
    Meeting: 10/05/22
    Meeting: 10/19/22
    Meeting: 01/26/23
    Meeting: 02/02/23
    Meeting: 02/09/23
    Meeting: 02/16/23
    Meeting: 03/02/23