Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study,design,and application of equipment,devices,and systems which use electricity,electronics,and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the latter half of the 19th century after commercialization of the electric telegraph,the telephone,and electrical power generation,distribution,and use.
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece of semiconductor material,usually silicon. Large numbers of miniaturized transistors and other electronic components are integrated together on the chip. This results in circuits that are orders of magnitude smaller,faster,and less expensive than those constructed of discrete components,allowing a large transistor count. The IC's mass production capability,reliability,and building-block approach to integrated circuit design has ensured the rapid adoption of standardized ICs in place of designs using discrete transistors. ICs are now used in virtually all electronic equipment and have revolutionized the world of electronics. Computers,mobile phones and other home appliances are now inextricable parts of the structure of modern societies,made possible by the small size and low cost of ICs such as modern computer processors and microcontrollers.
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semiconductor material,usually with at least three terminals for connection to an electronic circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals controls the current through another pair of terminals. Because the controlled (output) power can be higher than the controlling (input) power,a transistor can amplify a signal. Some transistors are packaged individually,but many more in miniature form are found embedded in integrated circuits.
Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a zinc blende crystal structure.
Monolithic microwave integrated circuit,or MMIC,is a type of integrated circuit (IC) device that operates at microwave frequencies. These devices typically perform functions such as microwave mixing,power amplification,low-noise amplification,and high-frequency switching. Inputs and outputs on MMIC devices are frequently matched to a characteristic impedance of 50 ohms. This makes them easier to use,as cascading of MMICs does not then require an external matching network. Additionally,most microwave test equipment is designed to operate in a 50-ohm environment.
Roke Manor Research Limited is a British company based at Roke Manor near Romsey,Hampshire,which conducts research and development in the fields of communications,networks,electronic sensors,artificial intelligence,machine learning,data science,Military decision support consultancy and operational analysis,information assurance,and human science. In addition to supporting its parent Chemring,Roke undertakes contract research and development,and product development work for both public and private sector customers. Products developed from research at Roke Manor include the Hawk-Eye ball tracker,which is now used widely in sports such as tennis,football,and cricket.
The heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is a type of bipolar junction transistor (BJT) which uses differing semiconductor materials for the emitter and base regions,creating a heterojunction. The HBT improves on the BJT in that it can handle signals of very high frequencies,up to several hundred GHz. It is commonly used in modern ultrafast circuits,mostly radio frequency (RF) systems,and in applications requiring a high power efficiency,such as RF power amplifiers in cellular phones. The idea of employing a heterojunction is as old as the conventional BJT,dating back to a patent from 1951. Detailed theory of heterojunction bipolar transistor was developed by Herbert Kroemer in 1957.
Milton Feng co-created the first transistor laser,working with Nick Holonyak in 2004. The paper discussing their work was voted in 2006 as one of the five most important papers published by the American Institute of Physics since its founding 75 years ago. In addition to the invention of transistor laser,he is also well known for inventions of other "major breakthrough" devices,including the world's fastest transistor and light-emitting transistor (LET). As of May,2009 he is a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and holds the Nick Holonyak Jr. Endowed Chair Professorship.
Thomas H. Lee is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. Lee's research focus has been on gigahertz-speed wireline and wireless integrated circuits built in conventional silicon technologies,particularly CMOS;microwave;and RF circuits.
Carlos A. Paz de Araújo is a Brazilian American scientist and inventor with nearly 600 patents registered in his name. Most of them are associated with nanotechnology,particularly a ferroelectric memory chip (FeRAM)
William Alden Edson was a scientist and engineer specializing in vacuum tube oscillators,radar,antennas and microwave technologies. His work spans universities,research institutions and commercial ventures. He taught at Illinois Institute of Technology,Georgia Institute of Technology and Stanford University.
MACOM Technology Solutions is a developer and producer of radio,microwave,and millimeter wave semiconductor devices and components. The company is headquartered in Lowell,Massachusetts,and in 2005 was Lowell's largest private employer. MACOM is certified to the ISO 9001 international quality standard and ISO 14001 environmental standard. The company has design centers and sales offices in North America,Europe,Asia and Australia.
Naoki Yokoyama is a Japanese electrical engineer,active in the fields of nanotechnology and electronic and photonic devices,best known for his success in fabricating hot-electron transistors and invention of resonant-tunneling transistors.
Yalçın Ayaslı is a Turkish-American business executive.
Mohamed M. Atalla was an Egyptian-American engineer,physicist,cryptographer,inventor and entrepreneur. He was a semiconductor pioneer who made important contributions to modern electronics. He is best known for inventing the MOSFET in 1959,which along with Atalla's earlier surface passivation and thermal oxidation processes,revolutionized the electronics industry. He is also known as the founder of the data security company Atalla Corporation,founded in 1972. He received the Stuart Ballantine Medal and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his important contributions to semiconductor technology as well as data security.
James Robert Biard was an American electrical engineer and inventor who held 73 U.S. patents. Some of his more significant patents include the first infrared light-emitting diode (LED),the optical isolator,Schottky clamped logic circuits,silicon Metal Oxide Semiconductor Read Only Memory,a low bulk leakage current avalanche photodetector,and fiber-optic data links. In 1980,Biard became a member of the staff of Texas A&M University as an Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering. In 1991,he was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to semiconductor light-emitting diodes and lasers,Schotky-clamped logic,and read-only memories.
Payam Heydari is an Iranian-American Professor who is noted for his contribution to the field of radio-frequency and millimeter-wave integrated circuits.
Roger John Malik is a physicist,engineer and inventor.
Lester Fuess Eastman was an American physicist,engineer and educator.
Joan M. Redwing is an American materials scientist known for research on electronic and optoelectronic materials,including the processing of semiconductor thin films and nanomaterials by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Redwing is a distinguished professor of materials science and engineering and electrical engineering at Pennsylvania State University and director of the university's 2D Crystal Consortium research facility. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,the American Physical Society,and the Materials Research Society.
