ANFF-SA Microengineering School 2026 - onsite attendance

ANFF-SA’s FREE four-day Microengineering School provides students, researchers, academics and industry with a fascinating introduction to the design and fabrication of microfluidic/electronic, MEMS, optical and sensing chips.

8 x lectures | 8 x practical sessions | 8 x Insight sessions

The FREE FOUR DAY PROGRAM is ideal for people studying sciences and/or engineering and are interested in designing and fabricating microscopic devices used in new world technologies.

Delivered onsite at the Adelaide University's Future Industries Institute, in Mawson Lakes, ANFF-SA's Microengineering School includes presentations and practicals delivered by industry leaders and technical experts who introduce design, fabrication and testing processes including photolithography, design for photolithography, etching, PDMS devices, microelectrodes, characterisation techniques, simulation and electrical integration and 3D printing.

Onsite participants can enjoy hands-on practicals using cutting-edge equipment housed in world-class cleanroom facilities, while lectures and insight sessions provide opportunities to engage with industry leaders for useful career insights.

Together with ANFF-SA's team of highly skilled technicians, ANFF-SA Microengineering School is proud to present a stellar line up industry experts and special guests. Details to be released soon.

Lecture topics include:

• Thin Film Coatings
• Photolithography
• Etching
• 3D Printing
• Micromachining
• Laser milling
• Fundamentals of wafer bonding
• Packaging

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Practicals include:

• Photolithography
  In this practical, you will follow the spin-coat, expose, and develop processes for microstructure fabrication.
  
• Etching
  In this practical you will become familiar with laboratory processes for etching of thin metal layers.
  
• 3D Printing
  Introduction to 3D printing from an engineering perspective. You will learn about development and production methods, the various techniques and engineering materials available to achieve the desired properties suited to your application. Observe and identify defects in a real device using a range of optical inspection techniques for characterising fabricated devices.
  
• PDMS Devices
  Hands-on experience casting PDMS on microchannel master structures. Chips will be bonded using plasma and you will test them in our microfluidics laboratory.
  
• Fibre Optics
  Dive into fibre optics! This workshop covers fibre optics types like single mode, multi-mode, and more, with hands-on activities including fibre stripping, cleaving and splicing. Participants will learn to measure coupling losses and explore applications like fibre Bragg grating sensors for temperature and strain sensing.
  
• CAD Modelling and FEA Analysis
  This practical will cover lithographic mask fundamentals. You will also design parts using 3D CAD software.
  
• Microelectrodes
  Introduction to wafer dicing and bonding. You will also electrically test some heaters made by thin film deposition and lithography.
  
• Photolithography VR and SEM Simulation
  In this practical you learn how to use a scanning electronic microscope (SEM) to create virtual images for examining a multitude of materials and for quality control/failure analysis. You will practice the basic sequence of steps needed to create a duplicate of a mask pattern on a silicon wafer through a 3D virtual reality simulation.

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ANFF-SA is a $22 million investment in cutting-edge advanced manufacturing equipment and technical expertise available to all Australian’s, as part of Australia’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).

ANFF-SA offers industry rapid prototyping of new technologies right here in South Australia, and has become a catalyst for international collaboration with global companies, start-ups, and universities.

Open to industry, researchers and academics, ANFF-SA is committed to delivering technical excellence in the design, fabrication and testing of micro-sized devices, and also available for teaching these techniques to optimise opportunities for micro and nanofabrication manufacturing in Australia.

The facility’s strengths include lab-on-a-chip technology, micro/nanofluidics, advanced sensing, functional coatings, and separation science and it is one of eight nodes of ANFF across Australia, which combined, are filled with over $269 million of investment in tooling, infrastructure and people.

For more information please email Julia Smithson at [email protected] or visit https://www.anff-sa.com/winter-school

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