Development Of An Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Laboratory For A Course On Design And Manufacture Of Surface Mount Printed Circuit Board Assemblies

This paper describes a new interdisciplinary undergraduate laboratory experience that was developed for an existing electronic manufacturing course for senior electrical and mechanical engineering students. The project was partially funded by an NSF ILI grant to assist the Department of Electrical Engineering at IUPUI in upgrading the course by adding instructional laboratory materials, computer facilities, and student projects to the course. The course materials utilize UNIX software (Mentor Graphics) on Sparc and HP workstations and are detailed with the laboratory setup, including hardware and software. Student training in the use of Mentor’s Board Station provides a unique experience which applies classroom manufacturing topics immediately to board design. Course and laboratory materials involving both hardware and software focus on epoxy-fiberglass boards utilizing mainly surface mount components. Student satisfaction with the reorganized course is presented. The new laboratory brings together theoretical study, laboratory design, and real product manufacturing of surface mount printed circuit assemblies as a whole. The paper also discusses the course as a model for cooperation between an education institution and manufacturing companies to provide state-of-the art technical training for senior students, and it emphasizes interdisciplinary group work for students from different disciplines.