BEng Electronic Engineering with Industrial Experience

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Current Trends in Optical Devices

Course unit fact file
Unit code EEEN30272
Credit rating 10
Unit level Level 3
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

Brief Description of the Unit:

(1) Consumer electronics market in the 21st century: main technology and economic drivers. Flat panel displays (Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Backlight and pure Light Emitting Diode (LED) TV, Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) displays in mobile phone handsets, Electrostatic Displays), 3D and holography in cinema and home entertainment, Blue Ray Laser Technology, CMOS based sensors in digital cameras, Solid state lighting and LEDs, Projectors, Photovoltaics.   
 
(2) Current state and future directions in optical communication devices. Next generation of high rate data transfer in digital networks.  Description of device building blocks: optical fibres, lasers, detectors, optical amplifiers, repeaters, modulators, multiplexing, unbreakable encryption.
 
(3) Inorganic materials for optical applications. Silicon, III-V semiconductors, III-Nitride compounds, II-VI semiconductors. Synthesis. strain, alloys, absorption, spontaneous and stimulated emission. Device structure for photovoltaics, LEDs, lasers and detectors.
 
(4) Organic materials for optical applications. Small molecules, polymers, organic hybrid materials. Material morphology. Absorption and emission. Device structure for photovoltaics and  Organic LEDs.

 

Pre/co-requisites

Unit title Unit code Requirement type Description
Electronic Materials EEEN10021 Pre-Requisite Compulsory
Microelectronic Components EEEN20232 Pre-Requisite Compulsory

Aims

The programme unit aims to:

(1) Provide electrical and electronics engineers with the necessary background in current and emerging technology standards in optical devices for use in the entertainment, consumer and telecommunication industries.

(2)  Introduce and put in context the importance of optical devices and their working principles in the current and future consumer electronics market solutions

(3) Introduce device operation principles for existing and future optical based communication hardware

(4) Explain the basis of how the properties of inorganic and organic electronic materials are engineered, processed and ultimately exploited in the realization of everyday life optical devices.

(5) To expose students to a laboratory environment where state-of –the-art procedures in device fabrication and characterization takes place with the aim to provide some hands-on experience.

 

Learning outcomes

On the successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Developed

Assessed

ILO 1
  • Summarize the role of optical devices in everyday life. Explain how the material properties are related to the device functionality. Explain optical devices play a fundamental role in modern communication.

In Lectures

Exam/Quiz

ILO 2
  • Assess key concepts in the optoelectronic properties of material and devices.

In Lectures

Exam/Quiz

ILO 3
  • Formulate a simple optical device by directly linking it to material properties and device functionality, translating fundamental physical and chemical properties into functional optical devices.

In Lectures

Exam/Quiz

ILO 4
  • Discuss the ethical considerations that surround the use of optoelectronic devices in society. Discuss the relevance to the global economy of the different technologies.

In Lectures

Exam/Quiz

ILO 5
  • Create, characterize, analyse and model basic optoelectronic devices using basic instrumentation for the above.

In Lab

Coursework

 

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, labs, Blackboard Quiz

Assessment methods

Method Weight
Other 30%
Written exam 70%
Two laboratory reports.
Laboratory duration 3 hours.
Coursework 1 forms 20% of the unit assessment
 
BB multiple choice questions Quiz.
Coursework 2 forms 10% of the unit assessment

Feedback methods

.

Recommended reading

 

Title: Physics of semiconductors and their heterostructures

Author/creator: Jasprit Singh

Subjects: Semiconductors

Attribution: Jasprit Singh. 

Description: Includes index.

Related Titles: Series: McGraw-Hill series in electrical and computer engineering. 

Publisher: New York ; London : McGraw-Hill 

Creation Date: c1993 

Identifier: ISBN0070576076 :;ISBN9780070576070 

Format/Physical description: xxiv,851p. 

Language: English

Keywords in context: McGraw-Hill series in electrical and computer engineering  

Source: Library catalogue

 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 20
Practical classes & workshops 6
Tutorials 4
Independent study hours
Independent study 70

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Mohamed Missous Unit coordinator
Leszek Majewski Unit coordinator

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