Nanoelectronics / Optoelectronics

Duration

30h Th, 40h Proj.

Number of credits

Lecturer

Benoît Vanderheyden

Language(s) of instruction

English language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

This course is a follow-up of the course "ELEN004-1 - Physical electronics". It comprises two parts:

• optoelectronic part: fundamental mechanisms for the emission or the absorption of an electromagnetic radiation by a semiconductor; exploitation of these mechanisms in optoelectronical devices;

• nanoelectronic part: presentation of the technical and physical limitations faced by the integrated electronics industry; main elements of wave mechanics; discussion of the physical mechanisms that will potentially be used in future applications of integrated electronics.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

To be able to:

• explain how basic optoelectronic devices work;

• understand the relationships between the orders of magnitude of the involved physical mechanisms and the design constraints of such devices;

• explain the main technical and physical limitations of integrated electronic devices;

• explain, by means of examples seen in the lectures, the interest of heterostructures and of low-dimensionality devices;

• explain certain quantum mechanisms for transporting charge carriers (such as the tunnel effect) and appreciate their potentials for designing electronic devices.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

An introductory course on the physics of semiconductor devices (to the level of the first eight chapters of Streetman)

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Depending on the number of registered students, individual or group project, to be presented orally.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

Face-to-face

Recommended or required readings

• Compulsory sources:

• Optional sources :

Assessment methods and criteria

• Project (to be presented orally), 50%

• Oral exam, 50%

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

For more information, consult http://www.montefiore.ulg.ac.be/~vdh/elen069.html

Contacts

Benoît Vanderheyden, B.Vanderheyden @ ulg.ac.be