Courses & research

During your Master’s in Electrical Engineering, you will earn 120 EC within two years. In addition to the two compulsory courses for all master’s students in Electrical Engineering, you will take four mandatory specialisation courses to develop expertise in semiconductor devices and technology. You will also take elective courses to deepen your knowledge or broaden your expertise by exploring related disciplines. In your second year, you will do an internship and conduct research for your master’s thesis.

European Credit Transfer System

Study workload at Dutch universities, and in the European Union as a whole, is represented in EC, also known as ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). In the Netherlands, each credit represents 28 hours of work.

STRUCTURE

Year 1	Number of EC
Philosophical and societal courses For all Master’s in Electrical Engineering students.	5 EC	Perspectives on Engineering Design Philosophy of Engineering: Ethics
Mandatory specialisation courses For all students in Semiconductor Devices & Technology.	20 EC	Fabrication of Micro- and Nanodevices Advanced Semiconductor Device Physics In addition, you have to choose one research course and one design course: Research courses Materials Science Nanoelectronics Integrated Circuit Technology Semiconductor Project Design courses Measurement Systems for Mechatronics System-on-Chip Design Solar Energy Micro Lector Mechanical Systems Design
Electives and homologation courses You can choose courses that match your interests and career ambitions. Also, you can take elective courses from other specialisations of the Master’s in Electrical Engineering or related master’s programmes. You will do this in consultation with your mentor.	35 EC	Suggested elective courses: Advanced Analog IC Electronics Design Principles for Precision Mechanisms Advanced Micro Electro Mechanical Systems Design
Year 2	Number of EC
Internship	20 EC	In the second year, you will do an internship preparing you for the professional field.
Master’s thesis	40 EC	In the final three quarters, you will join a research group to complete your master’s thesis.
Total EC	120 EC

or meet online with a student and gain first-hand experience!

INTERNSHIP

In the second year of your Master’s in Electrical Engineering, you will do an internship. That way, you can apply the knowledge and skills you have acquired during your studies at a photonics and optoelectronics company, semiconductor manufacturing company, or research centre in the Netherlands or abroad. The EEMCS faculty at the University of Twente has connections with a large number of high-tech companies, research institutes, and other organisations where you can do your internship.

Previous students have done internships at:

Semiconductor design and manufacturing companies, such as NXP
Semiconductor foundry companies, such as GlobalFoundries
Leading suppliers of wafer processing equipment, such as ASM

MASTER'S THESIS

You will complete your Master’s by writing your master’s thesis. You can conduct research within the research group Integrated Devices and Systems (IDS) or do an external master’s thesis at a company. In a previous assignment, a student investigated techniques to lower the contact resistance in photovoltaic cells for improved overall efficiency and better energy generation. Another project involved creating high-quality metallic and semiconducting films thinner than 10 nm.

As part of your master’s thesis, you can undertake a research project such as:

Is it possible to make a transistor that operates without failure for a hundred years?
Is it possible to create more robust chips capable of self-healing?
How can we increase the efficiency of a solar cell?

Career perspectives