The First Chip in BḪ Made at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering

On 18 May 2023, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Banja Luka presented the first integrated chip of semiconductor technology, which represents the most sophisticated technological process.

It is the first chip of its kind in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was not made for commercial purpose. On the other hand, if the chip were to appear on the market, its value could be as much as EUR 30,000.

Thus, our Faculty of Electrical Engineering has become one of the higher education institutions where one of the most important engineering disciplines of today and the future is studied according to the best world programmes, with the direct application of industrial standards in teaching, thus preparing the next generation of engineers to be the flywheel of economic revival through innovation.

It took students and professors at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering five years to develop the first integrated chip. Student Vanja Žerić is one of the innovators of this idea, and he states that the knowledge gained was a prerequisite to start the production.

"We are talking about two chips, one of which is a stabilizer or a voltage regulator that has the ability to stabilize the voltage from 1.8 to 3.3 volts. The second was an oscillator that is essential for a chip like this.'', the student at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering Vanja Žerić said.

Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering Aleksandar Pajkanović, PhD, who teaches several courses in the field of chip development at the Department of Electronics, pointed out that the CMOS technological process is the most sophisticated technology that exists in the world, and that it is commercially available, and that they have mastered it and demonstrated it through the implementation of the chip.

"It is particularly important to point out that this technology is significant as a military and industrial strategic resource as well as in higher education, and the most important thing is that we are now among world universities that study this field. It is usual for the implementation of chips to be done in doctoral studies, but with great efforts we managed to do it with third-year students. This chip is not intended for commercialization, as we developed it to demonstrate the capability and mastery of such advanced technology." Pajkanović stressed.

Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering Prof. Zoran Đurić, PhD, emphasizes the importance of this event.

"In the previous two years, our students achieved significant results in various competitions, and some of the colleagues who participated in the chip making participated in those competitions." Đurić said at the promotion held in the premises of the faculty.

The plan is to launch a completely new product on the global market at the beginning of next year, which the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University is working on in cooperation with other companies. Until then, students of this faculty will continue to win new awards.