Resources

Resources

The nature of this DP makes it an ideal candidate for integration in the International Doctoral School of the University of Seville (EIDUS) approved by the Governing Council (Consejo de Gobierno) on 17 June 2011 (Agreement 7.3.1) once it is operational. Until this takes place, the centre taking responsibility for the task will be the Faculty of Physics at the University of Seville, located on the Reina Mercedes campus together with the other science faculties and opposite the Antonio de Ulloa Centre for Research and Learning Resources (Centro de Recursos para el Aprendizaje y la Investigación (CRAI) Antonio de Ulloa).

https://bib.us.es/servicios/espacios_equipos/ulloa/index-ides-idweb.html

The Faculty is located in a six-storey building with the following facilities: a Main Lecture Hall with a capacity for 200 students and 10 further classrooms with capacities ranging from 30 to 99 students. The building also has three departmental seminar rooms. All these spaces are equipped with the latest teaching technologies: computers, projectors, Internet connection and visual display systems. The faculty has a high-speed broadband connection and Wi-Fi network throughout the premises.

There are also two IT rooms on the sixth floor of the building. One of these has 31 computers and the other has 12 computers. All of them are equipped with various operating systems and calculation software packages and applications. The classrooms are open in the mornings and afternoons, with free student access when classes are not being held. Located in the basement is the Workshop (https://fisica.us.es/taller), which is used for provision of advice and design and manufacture of scientific equipment to support teaching and research activities.

The Faculty Library (https://fisica.us.es/biblioteca) located on the first floor has a reading room with 104 reading desks and materials available for loan. The collection currently consists of around 6,000 volumes, a video library and an important collection of scientific publications. Students also have computers to access the catalogue and free internet and database access via 20 high-speed internet access points and

Wi-Fi. The basement has a newspaper library and study room with capacity for 32 students. Doctoral students have access to the network of libraries at the University of Seville and the computerised catalogue (FAMA) https://www.us.es/campus/biblioteca/index.html, which allows searches of the collections of all the libraries, the old collection and the digital collection (doctoral theses and dissertations). It also provides access to the main technological databases and electronic resources (e-publications, e-books and minutes of conferences available in leading international databases).

The Department of Infrastructure is responsible for all operations relating to university infrastructure: works policy and execution, equipment, maintenance, provisioning and development of new technologies to improve management, teaching, research and communications at all university centres and between members of the university community, along with the elimination of architectural barriers in university centres and buildings. This department is divided into three secretariats:

The Secretariat of Infrastructure, which is responsible for equipment services (https://servicio.us.es/equipamiento/), maintenance (https://servicio.us.es/smanten/), works and projects and projects office.

The Secretariat of Audiovisual Resources and New Technologies (https://www.sav.us.es/entrada/principal.asp).

The Secretariat of Information and Communication Technologies (https://www.us.es/campus/servicios/sic).

The priority and strategic aim of the Infrastructure Department is to use all these resources to assure the conservation and optimum functioning of all the centres at the University of Seville, helping to ensure that they are able to fully carry out their activity and achieve their objectives through the provision of an excellent service adapted to new needs. The University of Seville has an ongoing policy of facilitating access to University buildings and facilities and electronic resources of an institutional nature in accordance with the guidelines established in RD 505/2007 of 20 April, which approved the basic conditions of accessibility and non-discrimination of persons with disabilities for access and use of developed public spaces and buildings.

The departments participating under this DP have different research laboratories where doctoral students can carry out the activities assigned to them by their supervisor under the thesis in accordance with the research line chosen.

The equipment in these laboratories has been obtained through funding provided by the University, the participating research centres and financing obtained by research groups under competitive tenders and contracts with companies.

Line 1. Micro-Nanoelectronics: Devices, Circuits, Systems and Applications

In the facilities of the Microelectronics Institute of Seville (IMSE): https://www.imse-cnm.csic.es/ the teaching staff of the microelectronics line have the necessary infrastructure and equipment to carry out their activity. This infrastructure and equipment is described below:

• Tools for Integrated Circuit Design: due to its membership in the EUROPRACTICE and CMP consortiums, the team has preferential access to a wide variety of integrated circuit manufacturing technologies for different types of applications and resolutions starting from the tens of nanometres, including MEMs, heterogeneous and three-dimensional technologies, etc. Under the same agreement they also have CADENCE licences for design and simulation of these circuits prior to their manufacture. Some projects also use SYNOPSIS tools under licences granted by industrial partners. The group has the computer equipment necessary to host these environments. The group’s network of computers allows simultaneous work by around 50 designers.
  Device Characterisation Lab: Mainly devoted to parametric measurements of semiconductors and passive components. It is possible to acquire internal signals from already packaged semiconductors or wafers measuring up to 3.5" and carry out tests in temperatures ranging from -70º C to 180º C. The laboratory has the following instruments:

  C Meter CV Plotter HP4280A
  Karl Suss PSM 6 probe station
  HP4145A and a HP4155A semiconductor parameter analyser
  ACS EOS 200TC climatic chamber
  HP4285A LCR meter
  ESPEC STPH-102M ultra-high temperature camera
  Agilent B1500A semiconductor parameter analyser
   

• Optoelectronics Lab: Equipped with all the instruments necessary for characterisation of visible light sensors and integrated circuits consisting of discrete sensors or visible light matrices. There is also a dark room for characterisation of these sensors. Jobin-Yvon and Oriel/Newport characterisation systems, PULSCAN pulsed laser, photo and video lenses, etc.
• Radiofrequency Lab: Equipped for spectrum and frequency network measurements, including an anechoic chamber for characterisation of devices and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) measurements. The laboratory also allows measurements on wafers of up 150 mm and printed circuits. It is equipped with noise figure analysers and generators, network/spectrum analysers, anechoic chamber, function and vector generators, probe stations, etc.
  Complex Systems Workshop: Designed to house assemblies which, due to their size or specific nature, require a larger space or a more isolated environment. It is also equipped with a cabinet for handling dangerous chemical products and a safety cabinet for storing these products.
• ATE Agilent 93000 Lab: This houses the Agilent 93000 SOC C200e automatic testing system, which allows prototyping and production tests of already packaged and wafer-level mixed signal circuits on a single platform. The Thermonics T-2650 BV system may also be incorporated, which allows tests in temperatures ranging from -55ºC to 200ºC.
• A/D Measurement Lab: The largest of the IMSE laboratories, this has up to 12 fully adaptable mobile workstations for mixed signal integrated circuit tests. There are also 12 trolleys for transport of specific measurement devices which may be incorporated on workstations depending on measurement needs.
• Assembly Workshops: The PCB Assembly Workshop and the Special Assembly Workshop have all the necessary equipment for soldering and desoldering of through-hole or high-density packaging components, along with BGAs and fine-pitch surface-mount components.
• Packaging Workshop: Used to carry out bonding of chips and packages, it is fully equipped to meet the challenges of the most advanced submicron connection technologies with pitch sizes as low as 50 um. It is also equipped with two chip and wafer storage cabinets with optimum temperature and humidity conditions. It also features: Dage 4000 bond tester; K&S 4123 wire bonder; K&S 4700 wire bonder; Dr. Storage X2E-157 dry cabinets.
• Training classrooms: Two classrooms fully equipped with Sun Ray stations, PCs and iMacs allowing work sessions with integrated circuit design tools and other types of training seminars.

 

Line 2. Nuclear Physics: Theory, Experiments and Applications

The laboratories of this line are ordered according to their location:

• Faculty of Physics
• Ionising Radiation measurement laboratory, equipped with three high-resolution gamma spectrometry systems (Ge detectors), an alpha-spectrometry chain consisting of eight independent chambers equipped with silicon detectors, a multiple Geiger counter and equipment for dosimetric control.
• Radiochemical Laboratory fully equipped for adaptation of environmental samples (water, aerosols, vegetation, diet, soil, sediments, etc.) to the measurement conditions necessary to determine their radioactive content. It also offers high-flow aerosol collection systems and rainwater collection systems.
• Linux cluster with centralised DEBIAN distribution system equipped with NFS file sharing system. All the programs used by this research line are installed in the cluster. The cluster consists of the following equipment:

Brand and model *	CPUs	RAM	Main use
DELL PE R710	16	48	Calculation
DELL PE R710	16	32	Calculation
DELL PE 2950	8	8	Backup copies
DELL PE SC1425	4	4	Calculation
DELL SC1425	4	4	Calculation
DELL 2850	2	2	Account server
DELL 2950	8	8	Calculation
DELL 2950	8	8	Calculation
R200			Web server
SYS-1026T-URF	4	4	Queue management

* PE = Power Edge

• Higher Technical School of Architecture (Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura)
• Laboratory for measurement of trace levels of alpha-emitting radionuclides in environmental samples. Alpha spectrometry system equipped with eight independent chambers with silicon detectors.
• Associated radiochemical laboratory for extraction and isolation of alpha-emitting radionuclides from environmental samples.
• National Accelerator Centre (Centro Nacional de Aceleradores -CNA) https://acdc.sav.us.es/cna/
• 3 MV tandem accelerator equipped with a total of seven lines for application of IBA techniques (PIXE, PIGE, RBS, NRA, ERDA, etc.), controlled irradiation of materials and experiments with nuclear reactions (diverse applications in the fields of materials science, basic nuclear physics, environmental studies, archaeometry and heritage studies, etc.). This facility has an associated laboratory for preparation, adaptation and handling of samples prior to measurement.
• 1 MV Tandetron Accelerator for accelerator mass spectrometry. This unit allows detection and measurement of trace levels of very long-lived radionuclides (C-14, Be-10, Al-26, I-129, U-236, Pu-239 and 240, etc.). There are two laboratories associated with this facility: one exclusively devoted to C-14 as part of the dating service it offers, and another radiochemical laboratory fully equipped for preparation of samples to be measured using this technique.
• Co-60 irradiation system devoted to photonic irradiation of materials and electronic circuits (in high demand in the aerospace industry) and irradiation of a range of biological materials.
• X-ray fluorescence laboratory, including portable fluorescence units (with diverse applications in the field of heritage conservation, archaeometry, etc.).
• Two detector and electronics laboratories: Consisting of two reaction chambers designed for operation from high vacuum with high-voltage connections, refrigeration system and a gas chamber for testing of low-pressure gaseous detectors; various silicon pixel detectors with all the necessary analogue, logic and digital electronics for measurements of nuclear reactions and a data acquisition system (MIDAS).

In addition, the CNA has a hall for seminars and conferences which is fully equipped with audiovisual tools and has capacity for 100 people.

• Scientific Computer Centre of Andalusia (Centro de Informática Científica de Andalucía - CICA)

Purchase of a mini-calculation centre (cluster) has been authorised to carry out mass calculations of simulations using the Monte Carlo Method of transport and effects of radiation in material. This will consist of various nodes configured using the Linux operating system (Ubuntu server 10.04) The system consists of the following equipment: 72 processors (cores) each with 2.66 Ghz and 8 GB/core RAM; a 6 TB network storage system (NAS: Network Attached Storage) and a network traffic switch system.

 

Line 3. Applied Electromagnetism and Physics of Granular Media

The laboratories associated with this research line are located at the Faculty of Physics:

• Laboratory for manufacture of printed circuits and antennas which includes the LPKF Protomat S103 milling machine, the LPKF Protolaser S laser prototyping machine, a photolithographic laboratory with UV mask aligners/exposure systems, centrifugal fan, oven and extraction hood, metallisation system and a manual wire bonding machine.
• RF and microwave circuit measurement laboratory. This includes three vectorial network analysers (PNA 8363 B with four ports (10 MHz-40GHz), HP8510B with 2 ports (45 MHz-26.5 GHz) and a portable analyser of up to 6 GHz), with the corresponding calibration kits (manual and electronic), test fixture, Cascade Microtech wafer probe and PLTS control software.
• Antenna Characterisation Laboratory: Two antenna characterisation systems, one in an anechoic chamber with hardware and software for far-field and near-field spherical measurements and another semi-anechoic chamber with hardware and software for flat near-field measurements.
• Professional electromagnetic simulation software. Including the following software licences for electromagnetic and HF circuit simulation: ADS Momentum, HFSS, Ansoft Designer, CST Microwave Studio and other commonly used packages.
• Electrohydrodynamics laboratory: High-voltage electronic instrumentation, generators of up to 6 GHz, impedance analyser (Agilent 4294), LCR meter, microscopes, centrifuges, precision scales, ultrasonic cleaning bath, viscometer, tensiometer, thermal bath, ultrasound systems, heater, and extraction hood.
• Granular media laboratory: High-voltage power supply and amplifier, powder melt tension apparatus, pulse magnetiser, two high temperature ovens (1,100ºC), two devices designed by the laboratory to characterise powders (using fluidisation and centrifugation) and a third commercial device, high-speed camera, gas analysers and portable spectrometers.
• Gas and plasma laboratory which includes two spectrophotometers, one visible/UV unit and another infrared unit.
• Tooling workshop which includes milling machine, lathe and vertical drilling machine.
• Own bibliographical and computer resources and access to resources provided by subscriptions of the University of Seville. It also has a 16-core cluster.

 

Line 4. Fundamental Physics: Statistical Physics, Quantum Information and Non-Lineal Dynamics

Three clusters at the University of Seville associated with the research groups FQM-280 (one) and FQM-177 (two).

One cluster at the University of Granada associated with the FQM-207 research group supervised by the lecturer Niurka Rodríguez Quintero.

10 workstations and a 168-core cluster administered by the Liquid Statistical Physics group (FQM-205) of the University of Seville, shared with the Pablo de Olavide University of Seville, the University of Almeria and the University of Cádiz, financed by associated groups and the Excellence Projects programme of the Andalusian Regional Government.

External resources and travel allowances, financial aid for attendance at congresses, research stays, etc. are contemplated.

The DP involves all students completing one research stay of at least one month, although under previous DPs the majority of students completed between three and six months of research stays during the course of their doctorate, thereby enabling them to qualify for the international mention.

Apart from these stays, resources will be provided so that students can complete their training by participating actively at international conferences, where they can present the results of their research and interact with their colleagues at an international level.

We estimate the following costs for each of these activities:

• Research stays in other centres:
• Europe: €1,500 per student and month.
• USA/Asia-Pacific: €2,250 per student and month.
• Attendance at conferences:
• Conference in Europe = €1,200 (including registration) per person and conference.
• Conference in USA/Asia-Pacific = €2,000 (including registration) per person and conference.

Regarding financing of these costs, it is necessary to distinguish between Research Stays and Conferences. In relation to research stays, it must be borne in mind that 60% of doctoral students are receiving support via official grants (FPU, FPI, Excellence, etc.) that already takes into account financing of research stays up to a maximum of three months per year. For the remaining 40% of students, the intention is to use different sources of financing:

1. Firstly, the funds of research projects and/or contracts with companies that are logically linked with the research activity of the doctoral student.
2. Secondly, specific financial aid existing for these activities, including the University of Seville Research Plan.

• Complementary Actions of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad)- Inter-university mobility agreements, whether through bilateral agreements with different universities or agreements financed by mechanisms such as Excellence Networks, ALFA programmes, COST, etc.- Direct support from scientific-technical societies. For example, the students of the Microelectronics Programme have obtained direct financing in the past from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) via its Circuits and Systems (CASS) and Solid-State Circuits societies.
  With regard to participation at conferences, these costs are not normally included within the scope of grants, and accordingly they need to be financed for all students under the programme. The sources of financing in this case are those already mentioned above. Based on the experience of previous doctoral programmes, we consider that the majority of the financing will be obtained via the funds of research projects and contracts with companies which are linked to the research of doctoral students.
  Apart from research stays and conferences, the DP contemplates organisation of seminars and specialist workshops. The research groups participating under the programme have been organising around 20 events per year over recent years, including specialist seminars, workshops, summer schools, international conferences etc. It is expected that these events will continue to be organised and held at no cost to the Doctoral Programme and with the following sources of financing:
  • Registration fees; for example, in the case of conferences.
  • Financial support from international institutions such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) mentioned above.
  • University extension grants.
  • Funding from the University of Seville.
  • Corporate sponsorship.
  • Etc.