Laboratory

Micro Nano Lab (MinoLab)

About the Laboratory

Minolab’s mission and goal is to create, maintain and develop an environment for applied and innovative research, testing, analysis, design and prototyping in the field of printed circuit boards, micro- and nanoelectronics with a focus in applications related to electromagnetic compatibility, RFID, MEMS and biomedical applications.

The main objective of the laboratory is to solve problems and tasks arising from electronics, microelectronics and nanoelectronics applications, developing high-tech and affordable methods and tools for design, modeling and testing.

Activities

Current Activities
  • Early fault detection, correction and failure analysis in micro and nano elements, modules and systems, chip-level prototypes.
  • Measurement and characterization of integrated circuits and systems, circuit boards and devices.
  • Circuit level design (electrical and integrated), prototyping.
  • Development and testing of circuit and system level devices, including embedded systems.
  • Conducting trainings in the fields of electronic engineering, micro- and nanoelectronics.
  • Perform research and development activities to optimize and develop new products, devices and systems.

Services and Equipment

Services
  • X-ray examination
  • Visual inspection
  • NDT (Non-Destructive Testing) thermography;
  • Prototyping of printed circuit boards
  • In-depth defect detection
  • Measurement of layer thicknesses
  • Structural characterization of thin layers
  • High precision micro-cutting
  • Decapsulation of integrated circuits
  • Removal of layers
  • Metallographic grinding
Equipment
  • X-ray inspection system
  • SAM Microscope
  • XRF spectrometer
  • Bondtester for shear stress
  • Emission microscope
  • Ion milling and polishing machine
  • Plasma Decapsulator
  • Curve Tracer
  • Optical microscopes

Scientific Publications

Related Scientific Publications
No related scientific publications found.

Management

Assoc. Prof. Dimitar Nikolov

Technical University – Sofia
Head of the laboratory

Scientific Areas:

Modelling of Semiconductor Devices, Design of Integrated Circuits and Printed Circuit Boards, Advanced Materials, Bioelectronics, Renewable Energy Sources, Electromobility

History:

Dimitar Nikolov graduated with a Master's degree in Electronics from the Technical University – Sofia in 2009.

In 2015, he defended his PhD thesis at the Technical University – Sofia in the field of micropower devices.

Since 2020, he has been an associate professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering at the Technical University – Sofia.

He has extensive international experience, with specializations in France and Germany, and has served as a visiting researcher at KU Leuven, Bruges Campus. Currently, he is pursuing a Master of Business Administration – Strategic Management (AMBA) program at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”.

In 2023, he was elected Chairman of the Board of the Cluster of Microelectronics and Industrial Electronics Systems. He is a full member and head of the working group of the AI Cluster Bulgaria for specialized integrated circuits for artificial intelligence.

Since 2022, Assoc. Nikolov has been the head of the Yacht Club at the Technical University – Sofia.

His research and project activities are in the fields of micro- and nanoelectronics, design and technologies for manufacturing integrated circuits and systems, sensor and MEMS applications, bioelectronic devices, new materials, etc. He is the author of more than 40 scientific papers and has led and participated in more than 15 completed projects in the field of micro- and nanoelectronics and their applications in industry.