Outreach

Everything is ready for the 1st INAOE Semiconductor Week

Santa María Tontantzintla, Puebla, April 3, 2025. The 1st Semiconductor Week of the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics, and Electronics (INAOE), a center coordinated by the Secretariat of Science, Humanities, Technology, and Innovation (Secihti), has been a resounding success.

The response from interested young people has been so successful that the call had to close a few days earlier than scheduled, according to an interview with Dr. Luis Hernández Martínez, Electronics Coordinator, Dr. María Teresa Sanz Pascual, researcher in the area, and Dr. Alfredo Morales Sánchez, researcher and faculty representative of the aforementioned Coordination.

Semiconductor Week at INAOE is an event aimed at students in their final semesters of undergraduate and engineering studies and recent graduates in Electronics, Physics, Mathematics, or related fields from higher education institutions across the country who are interested in the design, manufacturing, and testing of integrated circuits (ICs), and who want to learn about the laboratories and the scientific work of INAOE.

INAOE's Electronics Coordination has 50 years of experience educating at the master degree level and 30 years of experience training researchers in the field of semiconductors and IC design. This first edition of the Semiconductor Week will take place from April 21st to 25th.

Dr. Luis Hernández reported that the call for this event was so successful that it had to close early: "We already have many people registered."

He added that the first Semiconductor Week is aimed at students who are about to complete their university engineering degree and who wish to learn about INAOE's semiconductor field, "taking into account the advantages we offer, such as our laboratories."

Dr. Alfredo Morales also said that one of the motivations for organizing this activity is that "one of the Mexican government's priorities is the issue of semiconductors. It's on the national agenda, and considering that the master's degree in Electronics has more than 50 years and the PhD degree more than three decades, we can offer a lot of our experience to students."

For her part, Dr. María Teresa Sanz indicated that in addition to allowing attendees to learn about INAOE's research work in the field and visit the laboratories, another goal is to "let them have the experience of being here for a whole week knowing our daily life."

Regarding the program, Dr. Alfredo Morales announced that the first three days will be dedicated to providing students with an understanding of what semiconductors are, their applications, industry perspectives, and what is being done in digital and analog design.

"Starting on the second day, they will be able to visit our laboratories to practice both analog and digital design, as well as circuit and device manufacturing and measurement processes," he added.

In addition to the laboratory visits and hands-on experience, the program includes the lectures "Introduction to Semiconductors," with Dr. Alfonso Torres Jacome; "Semiconductor Industry Perspectives," with Dr. Reydezel Torres Torres; and "Semiconductor Devices," with Dr. Pedro Rosales Quintero.

Additionally, Dr. Claudia Reyes Betanzo will speak on "Device Manufacturing Technologies," and Dr. María Teresa Sanz Pascual will address the evolution, design, and applications of CMOS analog integrated circuits. Finally, Dr. Mónico Linares Aranda will give a talk on CMOS digital design.

For more information on the 1st INAOE Semiconductor Week, visit https://www-elec.inaoep.mx/~semiconductores/index.html