Radiant EDU

The rapid adaption of ferroelectric random access memories (FeRAMs) in mainstream integrated circuits creates the need for engineers to educate themselves on the technology.  FeRAMs are being implemented in ASIC libraries, microcontrollers, serial memories, and parallel memories.  The ferroelectric capacitors used in FeRAMs are fast, non-volatile, and do not need high voltages for programming, greatly reducing the need power consumption time delays usually associated with non-volatility.  Their low power consumption during write operations makes them excellent memory solutions for low power systems such as remote sensors or RFID tags.  How do these circuits work?  What is memory hysteresis?  What are the physics behind ferroelectricity?  These questions and more are answered by the Radiant EDU educational tester.  It is a unique tool for and engineer to teach himself or herself the physics and operating principles of non-linear capacitors.  Additionally, Radiant has designed a sensor board that attaches to the EDU for implementing sensor experiments with discrete sensor dice available from Radiant. 

 

The Radiant EDU is also an excellent choice for college laboratories.  Its open architecture and software provide a basis for teaching not only ferroelectrics but the principles of testers and test procedures.   

 

There Radiant EDU combines two unique educational tools for science and engineering education.

 

1.	The EDU with packaged ferroelectric capacitors
2.	The EDU Sensor Board with sensor die to study Force (piezoelectricity) and temperature (pyroelectricity) sensing arise directly from the remanent polarization of ferroelectric capacitor.

 

The EDU is a fully functional test instrument for the non-linear electroceramics like those used for industrial sensors and actuators. The EDU measures the hysteresis loops of packaged ferroelectric capacitors Radiant created specifically for the tester. Radiant provides a complete set of tutorials to guide the student in understanding non-linear materials and a set of recommended experiments for the students to work with the ferroelectric capacitors. External ports on the instrument allow students to build their own sensor and/or memory projects using ferroelectric components from Radiant and to control their projects using the EDU's operating software.

The EDU Project board is an experimenter's board with plated holes on 0.1 inch spacings.  The board includes two RJ-11 connectors that are compatible with the oscilloscope and I²C connectors on the EDU tester.  By connecting a 6-line telephone cable between the EDU and the Project Board, the necessary stimulus, measurement, and power signals are automatically connected to the Project Board, eliminating the complexity of building compatible services on the experiment board.  As well, two LF411 operational amplifiers are already soldered to the board with custom solder points.  The Project Board greatly simplifies the difficulty of building custom memory or sensor projects using discrete ferroelectric capacitors from Radiant and activating them with the EDU.