The key to digitization? The IMB-CNM organizes 3 activities at the 16th Festa de la Ciència
The 16th Festa de la Ciència was held on June 10th and 11th at the Rambla Prim in Barcelona. IMB-CNM staff came with three different activities to demonstrate that micro- and nanoelectronics are fundamental to understand the technological progress of the last century and to understand today's society.
Barcelona City Council organized the Festa de la Ciència from June 10-11 with more than 100 activities from research centers, foundations and non-profit organizations that filled the Rambla de Prim from morning to night and brought together more than 16,000 people over the two days. The Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM) coordinated three outreach activities that were held on Sunday and attended by people of all ages.
This is the fourth time that the center participates in this event, aimed at general and family audiences in the city of Barcelona. An unmissable event to transmit scientific knowledge to society and contribute to scientific culture in microelectronics.
The first of the morning was the workshop "Descobreix la revolucionària invenció del transistor!" (Discover the revolutionary invention of the transistor!), designed for audiences over 12 years old, in which you could see the function of a transistor in an electronic circuit and its function as an analog amplifier and a digital switch. Joan Marc Rafí, Miguel Zabala and David Sánchez were in charge of carrying out the workshop, in an activity prepared with the collaboration of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT).
The three predoctoral researchers Mercedes Saludes, Laura Lefaix and Ferran Bonet conducted the "Recarrega't!" workshop for the first time. The activity conveyed the importance of chips in everyday life and, through common experiments and with simple elements, the team taught how to use chips to measure the pH of vegetables or see how fruits can conduct electricity.
At the end of the day, the center closed the Copèrnic Stage with a two-voice debate between Luis Fonseca, current director of the IMB-CNM, and David Quirion, director of the Micro and Nanomanufacturing Clean Room. Both took a tour through the history of the transistor and illustrated how the microelectronic revolution permeates society and has led to the progress of the last half century. A debate that included final questions from the audience, curious about the design and manufacturing processes of an integrated circuit and the sustainability of these works.
