Welcome to the South Australian Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility
Are you studying engineering or the sciences and interested in designing and fabricating microscopic devices used in the world’s newest technologies? Prepare to be mind-blown!
ANFF-SA’s FREE four-day Microengineering School -Tuesday 21st July through to Friday 24th July 2026 - 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 Insight sessions | 8 x practical sessions
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.
Stay tuned - program to be released soon.
Lecture topics include:
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Thin Film Coatings
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Photolithography
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Etching
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3D Printing
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Micromachining
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Laser milling
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Fundamentals of wafer bonding
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Packaging
Practicals include:
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Photolithography
In this practical, you will follow the spin-coat, expose, and develop processes for microstructure fabrication.
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Etching
In this practical you will become familiar with laboratory processes for etching of thin metal layers.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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CAD Modelling and FEA Analysis
This practical will cover lithographic mask fundamentals. You will also design parts using 3D CAD software.
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Microelectrodes
Introduction to wafer dicing and bonding. You will also electrically test some heaters made by thin film deposition and lithography.
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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.
Registrations will be open for 2026 from 9am, 12th May 2026.
There are opportunities to join us in person (limited seats and first come first served!) or online.
For more information on ANFF-SA's Microengineering School please email Julia Smithson.
We hope you can join us for this incredible program and we are grateful to our generous sponsors who help make this event possible:
