EE 312 Fundamentals of Electro-Optics

This course is designed to give the student an introduction to the electrical and optical physics of semiconductor devices. The goals of this course are to provide the student with (1) a working knowledge of semiconductor physics; (2) an understanding of the physical principles behind the most common semiconductor devices: pn-junction, field effect transistor, and bipolar transistor; (3) an understanding of the relationship between the circuit behavior and technological limitation of the scaling devices; (4) an understanding of the move to optical circuitry and its benefits to emerging technology fields such as silicon photonics; (5) explore how nano structures are used to generate, guide, and detect light for applications in communication systems, sensor design, and biomedical devices manufactured using semiconductor foundry techniques. Throughout the semester, the course will utilize the state of the art design software Lumerical to aid in learning and understanding of key concepts. The primary methods of assessing student learning are homework assignments, quizzes, exams and design projects.