UCSB is a world-renown center for advanced research in microelectronics with a heavy concentration on compound semiconductors for high-speed, high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices, and the fundamental materials and processing problems associated with the realization of these devices. The faculty have strong interdiciplinary collaborations with Material Science, Physics, and Chemistry. They have received many international awards, most notably Professor Herbert Kroemer, who has been in the ECE Department since 1976 and who received the Nobel Prize for Physics 2000.

Device innovation and design concepts are complemented by a strong effort in fundamental device physics and microfabrication, and a solid platform of materials research -- both crystal growth and characterization.

The group's research activities include investigations of novel device structures and their applications for millimeter-wave and optical integrated circuits and components.  Some typical applications include millimeter-wave analog systems, solid state lighting, terahertz imaging, and optical communications and photonic networks.  For more specific information, see the descriptions of faculty research activities and associated research centers.

Most of the electronics and photonics research within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is done in the context of the UCSB Nanofabrication facility, a shared facility in the College of Engineering supporting research on semiconductor electronics and photonics, MEMS, solid-state lighting, Terahertz physics, quantum structures, and a breadth of other areas. The facility includes a 12,700 square foot clean room, both MBE and MOCVD material growth, and is among the nation's most comprehensive semiconductor research facilities.  Each year it supports the research of about 40 UCSB professors and approximately 250 Ph.D. students from the departments of Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and others.

Please see the links to associated research centers, labs, and groups for more detailed descriptions of faculty research interests and activities