EE 409 : Material Science

Course Number

EE 409

Course

Materials Science

University Catalog Description

Semesters offered: F

3 credit lecture

Prerequisites: EE 316, EE 334.

Basic material properties of dielectrics, magnetic materials, conductors, and semiconductors. Practical applications of materials to circuit design.

Faculty Coordinator

Todd J. Kaiser

Prerequisites by Topic

EE316 (Electronics II).

Textbook

Principles of Electrical Engineering Materials and Devices 3e, by S. O. Kasap, Irwin / McGraw-Hill, New York, 2006.

Course Objectives

This course provides a broad introduction to materials which are relevant to electrical engineering practice, and the effect of material properties on the performance of a design. Each student will be given an appreciation for the interactions between materials properties and the devices, subsystems and products which result from their use. To achieve this goal, the course necessarily includes a short introduction to a wide variety of topics related to the materials science field, such as heat transport, circuit theory, sensors, control systems and feedback, active semiconductor device operation, manufacturing issues and cost analysis. Much of this material has been covered in previous courses. This class is an attempt to integrate all of these topics and provide an introduction to the design process from a materials viewpoint.

Course Outcomes

Upon completion, the course should impart to the student:

- An understanding of the physical processes in a material which determine the specifications of a particular electronic device.

- The ability to break a complex electronic materials problem down into smaller pieces, each of which can be more easily solved, with the interactions between each sub-problem clearly identified and quantified.

- An understanding of the limits material properties impose upon electronic device specifications (why doesn’t a diode have zero leakage current, or why does a transistor have to break down, or why can’t a transistor keep getting smaller and an IC more complex?).

- Given a design specification, a student should be able to select a set of candidate materials which can provide a solution for the design problem. From these materials, the student should then be able to find commercially available devices which use these materials.

- Given a set of specifications claimed for a device, a student should be able to confirm the validity of those specifications based on the properties of the materials used in the device and the device geometry.

- An understanding of the statistical nature of electron populations in semiconductors and the quantized statistics associated with current flow.

Topics Covered

1. Elementary Materials Science Concepts- Types of bonding in solids, Glasses and amorphous materials, Two-phase alloys and solder.

2. Electrical and Thermal Conduction in Solids- Drude free electron model, Temperature dependence of resistivity, Mixture rules, Skin effect, Hall effect, Thin film conductivity, Thermal conductivity.

3. Bandy Theory of Solids- Band models for metals, semiconductors and insulators, Electron effective mass, Density of states, Fermi energy, The Boltzmann and Fermi-Dirac statistical distributions, Seebeck effect and thermocouples.

4. Semiconductors- Intrinsic semiconductors, Extrinsic semiconductors, Conductivity, Temperature dependencies, Ohmic contacts, Optical properties (absorption, luminescence), Direct vs. Indirect bandgaps, Schottky diode.

5. Semiconductor Devices- Ideal pn junction, Depletion layer capacitance, Avalanche and Zener effects, BJT model dependence on semiconductor properties, JFET model, MOSFET model.

6. Dielectric Materials and Insulation- Permittivity, Polarization mechanisms in solids, Frequency dependence of permittivity, Temperature dependence of permittivity, Dielectric strength and breakdown, Capacitors, Piezoelectricity and quartz, Pyroelectricity and TGS, Ferroelectricity and Lithium Niobate.

Class/Laboratory Schedule

The class is a lecture. The class meets thrice per week for one hour.

Professional Component

The student will develop skills needed to create a professional quality term paper. The student will acquire an appreciation for the interplay between conflicting specification requirements when designing an electrical apparatus, with an emphasis on materials selections.

ECE Program Outcomes

EE 409 supports the following Computer Engineering Outcomes:

ABET Credit Hours

Engineering Science: 2 credits

Engineering Design: 1 credit