Conclusion

As the EEVIL programme was originally created to be used as a learning tool, we will conclude this report by looking at how well it serves this purpose and if and how its functionalities can be increased.

Educational tool

As an educational tool the EEVIL programme ticks most boxes for the following reasons:

  1. Easy to use, as the interface is pretty intuitive and sufficient experience with the program will result in easy navigation around the system.
  2. As a personal study tool, it is very useful as it can be used to understand concepts which were possibly unclear during a lecture. This was proven to be the case in a survey which was given to First year EEE students. When asked how they would use it, the majority replied positively to "in my free time to help understand concepts".
  3. Visual components such as the 3-D diode image make the program more interactive and therefore more fun to use. The graphs help to understand how the component fully works.

Its main shortcoming as a learning tool is that it does not have enough devices for simulation, and since the semiconductor course does not merely focus on the p-n diode, more devices should be added to be of greater use to students.

Economic Outlook of EEVIL

As above mentioned, a plethora of programs with similar functionalities already exist online. Better yet, most of these can be fully accessed for free. Despite the argument that EEVIL possesses superior user interface as compared to these freeware, it is unlikely to dominate the market due to numerous reasons expounded earlier. First and foremost, the market demand for such programs is scant. Notwithstanding that, the functions required by educational institutes are well served by the current extensive directory of freeware. Even with heavy investment boosting standards of the program to that suitable for research or industrial usage, inertia of industrial customers to change their current platform might still exist, especially since the fees involved will also be considerable. Overall, financial investment in EEVIL for the purpose of generating income will be impractical and unlikely to succeed. However, investment with the aim of enhancing students' learning experience from EEVIL should be sought after. This, we predict, will probably come in the form of research grants or college funds. By simply adding more devices or other improvements discussed earlier, there will be tremendous educational benefits to be reaped.

In its entirety, EEVIL is a very helpful and useful programme. As an educational tool, it is quite sufficient in explaining some aspects of the semiconductor devices. However, it can be greatly improved upon by adding features which have been discussed earlier in this report, thereby making it a more comprehensive system which can be used as teaching and course-revision material.