The Radiant EDU
A Revolution in Science and Engineering Education

Radiant Technologies, Inc. has created a unique educational tool for science and engineering education. The Radiant EDU is a fully functional ferroelectric test instrument. The tester has a 20kHz arbitrary waveform generator and 20kHz electrometer that run under the control of an elegant graphical data-acquisition program. The EDU architecture allows any laptop with a USB port to become a ferroelectric test instrument in less than a minute, making it a perfect teaching tool in student labs.

To maximize the utility of the EDU, Radiant created first-of-their-kind packaged ferroelectric components specifically to match the performance specifications of the tester. With these components, the student can study the fundamental properties of linear and non-linear capacitors including hysteresis, pulse response, leakage, fatigue, memory, ageing, and environmental sensing. The EDU can also capture the behavior of other electronic components such as resistors, diodes, and MOS capacitors, providing students with a true physical understanding of their function in circuits. To complete the “classroom-in-a-computer” concept of the EDU, Radiant has written extensive on-line documentation for the tester including a short course on the theory of electric components and a library of recommended experiments that will continue to expand with time.

The Radiant EDU is useful for education or lab experience in a variety of scientific disciplines, not just materials science. Examples include:

Electrical Engineering: Use the tester to study instrumentation design, test procedures, and tester/sample interaction.

Electrical Engineering: Study the current vs voltage relationship of linear and non-linear electrical components.

Physics: Evaluate the thermodynamics of piezoelectric materials and the thermodynamics of memory.

Physics: Create air-gap capacitors with Feynman geometries and compare the predictions of electromagnetic theory to actual measurements.

Semiconductor Design: Execute ferroelectric random access memory operation and data storage.
(Requires FeRAM project board attachment.)

Semiconductor Theory: Simulate models of electrode/insulator interfaces.
(Requires capacitor model project board attachment.)

Reliability Engineering: Study temperature and voltage acceleration factors and measure activation energy using the packaged ferroelectric capacitors

The Radiant EDU
A Platform for “Hands-On” Engineering Education

A recent editorial in the Electronic Engineering Times magazine [CMP Media, Manhasset NY] lamented the lack of “hands-on” experience with electronics by budding engineers, associating the problem with the drop in engineering enrollment. We at Radiant Technologies, Inc. have come to the same conclusion over the last sixteen years as we watched highly intelligent graduate students in materials engineering struggle to understand the research-level test equipment we sell to universities and research laboratories. To counter this trend, we created a unique educational tool for these specialized students that are also applicable to general engineering education. While the Radiant EDU [www.ferrodevices.com] is a fully functional ferroelectric test instrument that generates hysteresis loops on pre-packaged ferroelectric capacitors, it is designed to be a generic platform upon which engineering and science educators can build “hands-on” learning experiences for their students in a myriad of fields. Ferroelectric capacitor testers involve the disciplines of solid state physics, thermodynamics, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, sensors, instrumentation, analog measurement, digital to analog interfaces, microprocessors, computer communications, and computer programming. With the EDU’s open architecture and documentation, educators can create laboratory exercises around their specific discipline and link them to real world operation. No matter what project the student is executing, the non-linear nature of ferroelectric capacitors will provide an instant numerical feedback to indicate the success or failure of their efforts whether it involves programming the on-board microprocessor or testing a thermodynamic model.

Below are examples of potential education units in different disciplines that may be executed with the Radiant EDU:

Chemical Engineering: Sol-gel and metal-organic deposition techniques that combine heavy metals with organic molecules are used to create high quality fine-grained ferroelectric ceramics. Start the unit by exploring the chemistry used to fabricate sol-gels and MO liquids. Discuss the process flow for making ferroelectric capacitors and introduce semiconductor-processing techniques. Measure the physical attributes of the actual devices with the EDU. Close with a review of the ceramics industry and markets for those students who might be interested in pursuing that field. For more advanced students, you can delve deeply into the chemical and solid state reaction dynamics that occur during the drying and sintering steps of the fabrication process. The engineering, processing, and physics information necessary to make and understand thin ferroelectric film capacitors is available on-line or through journal papers, a situation that can be blended into the unit to teach students how to effectively utilize these resources.

Thermodynamics: Thin ferroelectric film capacitors are piezoelectric with extremely high mass-density. The capacitors change their volume with the application of a voltage. They will make nearly perfect thermodynamic engines on the PV graph as the substrate they reside on acts as a heat reservoir to maintain a constant temperature in the capacitor volume as it changes size. Build a case study to model the Pressure/Volume/Temperature state of a ferroelectric capacitor as it is electrically stimulated. Place a sample capacitor in the appropriate instrument to measure the change in temperature or pressure or volume while it is cycled by the EDU. Have the students determine how closely their models predict the actual performance of the capacitor. Identify potential sources of loss in the system. Finally, relate energy storage in the capacitor to the thermodynamic cycle and to the electrical charge stored in the device.

Instrumentation: The EDU has an arbitrary waveform output and three inputs: the output voltage measured across the sample after the output impedance, a zero-impedance virtual ground current input, and a high impedance voltage input, all of which are captured synchronously with the AWFG output. The EDU software allows the user to create and execute an arbitrary output waveform and plot charge vs voltage, voltage vs voltage, and charge/voltage vs time from the measured results. Construct a syllabus whereby the students measure both ferroelectric capacitors and linear components around the edges of the performance envelope of the EDU. Proper selection of the component values will allow them to capture the effects of output impedance, input impedance, sample loading, test frequency, amplifier distortion, and noise on the resulting measurements. Have them compare the difference between the true properties of the devices being measured versus the properties reported by the test instrument.

Analog/Digital Interfaces with Microprocessors: The EDU has an on-board 8051 style microprocessor that controls two digital-to-analog converters, four analog-to-digital converters, solid state switches, and LEDs. Create a syllabus whereby the students write an assembly language program to have the EDU output a digitally generated waveform from the DAC and capture that waveform with the ADCs. The captured data can be verified using an external oscilloscope. The dynamic state of the data and control bus of the EDU can be verified during operation using an external logic analyzer. The programs can then be expanded to execute simple tests on linear components or ferroelectric capacitors.

USB communications: The EDU uses the Cypress FX2 USB engine with 8051 microprocessor core. The FX2 is well supported by Cypress with drivers, documentation, an assembly language development system, and example programs. Review the USB 1.0 and 2.0 standards with the class. Create a laboratory where the students write assembly language code for the FX2 to properly load and respond to the USB controller on the host computer. Test the codes for proper fault detection and recovery. Build data transfer protocols using full-speed and high-speed modes for bulk, interrupt, and isochronous transfers.

Radiant Technologies will provide the information necessary to assist in the development and distribution of class curricula by engineering educators.

EDU Sales Brochure | EDU Academic Brochure

Tester specifications:

+/- 10V
100Hz to 1Hz
USB interface
Vision EDU
 Packaged Part Sample holder

Please note: Power pack accessory must be purchased separately by customer.

Packaged Part specifications:

20/80 PZT
Platinum electrodes
Capacitors will fatigue and imprint specifically for the study of ferroelectric theory.
Packaged part