Invited: Solidstate Engineering at Northwestern University

III-V semiconductors are playing an increasingly important role in the semiconductor industry as silicon technology slowly researches maturity.  A diverse, and expanding, array of III-V semiconductor materials is currently being studied for next generation applications including optoelectronics and power devices.  Under the guidance of Professor Manijeh Razeghi, Northwestern University has put itself on the map with a dedicated solidstate engineering faculty and state of the art facilities—all targeted towards training the next generation of solidstate engineers to work with these fundamental semiconductor materials.  This is in marked contrast to many universities which focus primarily on the application of power devices, but not the design and construction of these devices.

Northwestern University has a dedicated cleanroom facility with multiple MOCVD and MBE system, and a state of the art toxic gas handling system dedicated to the growth of III-V semiconductor materials.  Northwestern also has multiple facilities dedicated to the processing of these semiconductor materials into packaged devices, as well as the expertize and knowledge to test and characterize a wide array of III-V semiconductor devices.  These facilities are currently used by undergraduate and graduate students, as well as post-doctoral scholars and research faculty, and support an integrated solid-state engineering curriculum.

The solid state engineering curriculum consists of a core focused on developing a fundamental understanding of theory, design and physics; semiconductor material growth and characterization; and device processing and testing.  Three Textbooks have been developed to support this core curriculum: Fundamentals of Solid State Engineering, 3^rd ed.; Technology of Quantum Devices; and the MOCVD Challenge, 2^nd Ed.  This curriculum then branches off into two major thrusts: “electronic transport” and “optoelectronics”.  The electronic transport thrust contains classes covering low and high-power electronic devices.

This talk will review the current solidstate educational curriculum at Northwestern and our future plans to expand the coverage of wide-bandgap power devices in order to better educate the next generation of scientists and engineers to work in this important and growing area.