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Team Status Report for 3/14

Progress:

This week, our team continued transitioning from early device characterization into the oscillator integration and implementation phase of the project. Building on the first-pass fabrication and measurement results from the prior week, we spent time refining how those results should inform the oscillator design direction, expected operating behavior, and the supporting test infrastructure. In particular, the measured NMOS, resistor, and MOSCAP data from the first iteration helped give us a more realistic understanding of the practical device constraints that the oscillator design must satisfy.

At the same time, progress was made on the supporting hardware side through continued drafting of the test bench PCB and preparation for eventual oscillator bring-up. This helps position the team to move more quickly once the final oscillator design is locked. Overall, this week was less about generating major new measurement results and more about using what we learned from first-iteration characterization to support the next design step.

Schedule/Updates:

At the team level, we are currently about one to two weeks behind schedule due to delays in finalizing the oscillator design and implementation. While characterization results from the first iteration have provided useful guidance and helped narrow the design space, the project is still waiting on the oscillator design to be completed before several downstream tasks can fully proceed. In particular, finalization of the test bench PCB, oscillator integration planning, and follow-on demo infrastructure all depend on having the oscillator design available and understanding its expected operating range and behavior.

At this point, the main path to recovering schedule is to finalize the oscillator design as soon as possible and then move quickly on integration, PCB completion, and fabrication-related next steps. In the meantime, the team has been using the available time to prepare supporting infrastructure and reduce as much downstream delay as possible once the oscillator is ready.

Upcoming Deliverables:

Next week, the team’s highest priority is to finalize a viable oscillator design and begin translating that design into concrete implementation and testing steps. This includes incorporating the finalized oscillator into the test bench PCB, completing the PCB design so it can be ordered on time, and preparing for the next phase of bring-up and characterization.

In parallel, the team also needs to continue preparing for the interim design milestone, which is now only a few weeks away. If early oscillator performance data becomes available soon enough, we also want to begin using those results to inform demo PCB planning and broader system integration decisions. Overall, the main deliverable for next week is to lock the oscillator direction and convert the current characterization-informed planning into concrete hardware progress, such as in finalizing and ordering the test PCB.

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Jim’s Status Report for 3/14

Accomplished:

This week, I continued working on the test and measurement infrastructure side of the project by drafting the test bench PCB and preparing for eventual integration with the oscillator design. Even though the final oscillator schematic is still being finalized, this work was still useful because it let me make progress on the supporting hardware and think through the practical constraints that the final design will need to satisfy. In particular, drafting the PCB helped me better understand how the oscillator interface, probing structure, and bring-up flow should be organized once the design is available.

In addition, I also worked on the ethics assignment this week. Although this was separate from the hardware implementation itself, it was still useful in thinking about how our design and characterization workflow may be used by future students and lab users, and how we should communicate the intended use and limitations of the system.

Progress/Schedule:

I am currently on schedule for my portion of the project. I have already started drafting the test bench PCB, which puts me in a good position to move quickly once the final oscillator design is available from Charlie, which is expected by tomorrow or Monday (3/15–3/16). At this stage, the main remaining work on my end is to incorporate the finalized oscillator design into the PCB and then push the design toward completion.

In the meantime, I have been using the available time to prepare as much of the test infrastructure as possible in advance so that I can accelerate once the oscillator implementation is finalized. I have also started thinking ahead about the demo PCB, although that work still depends on the final oscillator design and its measured operating behavior.

Upcoming Deliverables:

Next week, my main priority is to incorporate the finalized oscillator design into the test bench PCB and complete that design. My goal is to finalize the test PCB by the end of next week so that it can be ordered on time. In parallel, I also want to continue preparing for the interim design milestone, which is coming up in about three weeks.

If oscillator performance measurements become available soon enough, I will also begin translating those results into early demo PCB planning so that I can start drafting that design as soon as possible. Overall, my focus for next week is to finish the test PCB and prepare the next stage of measurement and integration work.

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Ethan’s Status Report for 3/7

Accomplished:

This week, I have finished our own design of the NMOS process, and it’s waiting to be tested. I have also drafted a process flow for implementing all three components into a single chip and am currently working with Jay to see its viability or any further simplification. I have also got trained on HF, so all the process can be done by myself (still needs the buddy system) so that I’m not limited to Jay’s availability to do etching.

Progress/Schedule

We are still on schedule, once I have got the first chip that has all three basic components on, it should be a very simple process of repeating the same thing over and over again until we get something that is high performance.

Upcoming Deliverables

By next week, I should receive the design from Charlie and begin processing the first version of our actual device, in the meantime, I’ll fabricate a test sample that is just the basic component on their own.

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Team Status Report for 3/7

Progress:

This week, our team completed and submitted the final Design Review (DR) report while continuing to build out the characterization-driven foundation of the project. A major step forward was that we were able to move beyond only completing fabrication of the template NMOS devices and instead begin organizing, analyzing, and interpreting real first-iteration measurement data, including NMOS I–V behavior, resistor/TLM measurements, and MOSCAP C–V trends. This gave the team a much stronger quantitative understanding of current device behavior and helped convert several earlier design assumptions into more concrete, measured expectations. Overall, this week marked an important transition from initial fabrication success into a more grounded characterization-to-design feedback loop.

Schedule/Updates:

Overall, the project remains on schedule. With the Design Review report completed and first-pass characterization data now available, we are in a much better position to refine our device and oscillator assumptions using measured silicon behavior rather than relying primarily on estimates. Compared to last week, the team now has stronger footing in understanding threshold variation, drive current, leakage behavior, resistor scaling, and MOSCAP trends, all of which are important for the next design phase. This means we can now progress more confidently, in line with our planned schedule, toward finalizing a potential oscillator design and fabrication steps.

Upcoming Deliverables

Next week, the team’s priorities are to continue supporting characterization where needed based on the current fabrication results, translate the measured device behavior into concrete oscillator design constraints, and finalize an updated project schedule for moving forward. Most importantly, by the end of this week, we need to guarantee that we finalize a viable oscillator design and begin its initial fabrication steps so that the project continues progressing on a realistic implementation timeline. In addition, we will need to flesh out a more concrete fabrication and iteration timeline as we begin executing on our first oscillator design, as we did during our template NMOS run in February.

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Jim’s Status Report for 3/7

Accomplished:

This week, I helped complete and submit our final Design Review (DR) report while also continuing work on the characterization and test infrastructure side of the project. A major milestone this week was that we were able to move beyond only having fabricated template NMOS devices and instead begin organizing and analyzing real measurement results from the first iteration, including NMOS I–V behavior, resistor/TLM measurements, and MOSCAP C–V trends. Through analyzing and exploring the data for the DR , I was able to develop better expectations and intuition on how future iteration data exploration and analysis will look like.

In addition, on my end, this was especially useful because it gave me a much clearer picture of the practical electrical constraints that the final oscillator bring-up flow and PCB interface will need to support. 

Progress/Schedule:

We are on schedule overall and have successfully transitioned from the initial fabrication milestone into the first real characterization-to-design loop. Compared to last week, we now have stronger quantitative footing for the project since the measured first-pass device data has started to establish baseline expectations for threshold variation, drive current, leakage, resistor behavior, and MOSCAP behavior. This puts us in a better position to refine oscillator assumptions and make the next iteration more grounded in measured silicon rather than prior estimates alone. We can now progress, as indicated by schedule, on finalizing a potential oscillator design. 

Upcoming Deliverables:

Next week, my priorities are to continue supporting device characterization where needed given fabrication-resulting data, help narrow the practical oscillator bring-up requirements based on the measured data, and resume more direct progress on the PCB/test interface with these updated constraints in mind. By the end of next week, we should be in a position to more confidently lock the initial oscillator implementation direction and translate the current characterization results into concrete testbench and integration decisions for the next phase of the project.