The lab has been made possible by the support from the Department of Science and Technology, under the PURSE scheme

Prof PJ Narayanan, Director, IIIT Hyderabad inaugurated the FabLab at IIIT Hyderabad campus. The lab has been made possible by the support from the Department of Science and Technology, under the Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence (PURSE) scheme.

IIIT Hyderabad has been granted the project for the development of biosensors and bio-actuators focussed on healthcare applications. Some of the microfabrication tools available in the facility include UV lithography, sputtering, spin coater and vacuum chamber, along with material characterisation tools such as Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and optical profilometer.

The facility also consists of semiconductor IC characterisation tools such as a probe station, Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), Vector Signal Generator (VSG), signal analyser and oscilloscope, with the capability of supporting measurements in the millimetre wave (mmWave) band.

Dr Aftab Hussain, Coordinator for the PURSE grant for IIITH said, “We are excited to have this state-of-the-art facility at IIITH. This will be a major boost for material science and VLSI research in IIITH and will provide a platform for external users in the region to have access to specialised tools. Given that the Government of India has recognised indigenous semiconductor chip fabrication as an important step towards reducing dependence on imports, one of the objectives of this facility is to train skilled manpower in the domain of semiconductor fabrication and characterisation. With the inauguration of this lab, we are now looking forward to conducting courses and workshops to that end.”