Laboratory 4.0 – Digitization in applied materials research
At a glance
- Project leader : Dr. Wolfgang Tress
- Deputy of project leader : Oliver Zbinden
- Project budget : CHF 179'088
- Project status : ongoing
- Funding partner : Public sector (excl. federal government) (Kanton Zürich / Digitalisierungsinitiative DIZH)
- Contact person : Wolfgang Tress
Description
Whereas digitization has penetrated the business world and
thanks to the smartphone our every-day life, students and
researchers starting in a lab receive a paper notebook with their
lab coat. On the one hand, this might look outdated, on the other
hand, one might ask the question whether digital assistance is
beneficial in the process of inventing and creating, actions that
are supposed to remain for the human brain. In this field of
conflict, the DIZH project aims to analyze the benefits and
challenges of a digital transformation of labs (“Lab 4.0”),
including aspects of ML and AI. The DIZH project is
designed to accompany the major research activities in our lab,
where we are performing cutting-edge studies on novel
semiconductors for new generations of light-emitting diodes, solar
cells, and memristive devices. (The latter might become
important for future neuromorphic computing, a further link to AI.)
We are a growing group and highly connected in the global research
world. We exchange samples and data globally and collaborate with
industrial partners (Fluxim). Our research combines experiment and
simulation, more specifically optoelectronic characterization of
solar cells
and similar devices with numerical device simulations. These points
make our lab an ideal candidate for a case study on the Lab 4.0
with two major goals:
1st, addressing a specific scientific problem in our lab, i.e.
assessing how ML-based approaches can complement our physical
device models by facilitating the determination of material and
device parameters;
2nd, evaluating the broad benefits of Lab 4.0 accelerating
developments in materials science facilitated by feedback loops
between machines fabricating, characterizing, modeling, analyzing,
and re-designing materials and devices.