Physics of Semiconductors and Nanostructures¶

Course Overview¶

• Institution: Cornell University
• Course code: ECE 4070
• Track: Semiconductor Devices
• Tier: A
• Role: Mainline
• Level: Advanced
• Last reviewed: 2026-07-28

Cornell University's Physics of Semiconductors and Nanostructures builds a semiconductor-physics text spine from 32 handouts, eleven solved homework sets, and mostly solved exams, with strong feedback despite no video.

Why choose this course

Mainline course. A reliable option that can serve as a main course or strong alternative. Review note: A+

Before you start

• Recommended foundation: Physics Foundations
• Recommended foundation: Circuit Analysis
• Recommended foundation: Engineering Mathematics

Verifiable learning outcomes

• Explain the core models in Semiconductor Devices, including their assumptions and limits
• Solve representative derivations and problems, checking units, limiting cases, or numerical results

Workload and pacing

11 weeks at 9 hours/week. This maintainer planning estimate is derived from course role and the density of public practice and labs; it is not a provider workload promise. Pilot two weeks while logging instruction, practice, lab, and review time, then adjust the remaining plan when actual effort differs by more than 25%.

Safety level

Simulation only. The default practice scope is software, computation, or simulation only; a lab label in the resource inventory does not authorize connecting physical equipment, and any hardware extension requires provider-scope verification and a new risk assessment.

Course Resources¶

Software, hardware, and cost

Software

• Maintainer-suggested open-source/free verification path: DEVSIM, Python 3, Jupyter, NumPy, and ngspice
• The resource inventory does not list public code coverage; the tools above are only a maintainer-suggested independent check, not a provider requirement

Hardware

• The resource inventory does not list public physical-lab coverage; the maintainer path defaults to computation/simulation. It assumes only a computer that can run numerical device models and retain mesh/bias data; no wafer or probe station is assumed. If the provider lists different equipment or compute requirements, follow its course page

Cost note

The suggested software stack is available open source or free; this is maintainer planning, not a provider requirement. If the provider specifies commercial licenses, cloud compute, storage, or institutional resources, costs vary by plan, region, and institution, so no fixed price is asserted here.

Public resource coverage

Resources and access

“Listed by official page” means the link was discovered on a successfully fetched official source on the verification date; it does not guarantee that every region or account can open the target directly. Access does not grant redistribution rights. Re-check the provider page, target link, and third-party notices before downloading, adapting, or publishing material.

Practice and Verification¶

Practice loop

Physics of Semiconductors and Nanostructures · Cornell University ECE 4070: Semiconductor Device I–V/C–V Model Calibration

This is a maintainer-suggested self-study project for Physics of Semiconductors and Nanostructures · Cornell University ECE 4070, not an official course assignment. Build analytic and numerical diode, MOS, or junction-device models for Semiconductor Devices, fit parameters to public or synthetic I–V or C–V data, and audit temperature and high-field limits.

Origin: Maintainer-suggested project

Deliverables

• A specification of device structure, equations, units, parameter ranges, and validity assumptions
• Source files for data generation or import, parameter fitting, prediction, and residual analysis
• Raw I–V or C–V data, train and validation split, fitted parameters, and confidence intervals
• A report comparing analytic, numerical, and data evidence and explaining subthreshold, high-injection, or near-breakdown failure

Verification

• Keep normalized RMSE below 5% on a held-out set or declare a defensible noise-based threshold
• Cover reverse and forward bias, low and high temperature, and at least one out-of-domain boundary
• Cross-check at least three physical parameters using linearized extraction or a second fitter
• Deliberately extrapolate to high field or tiny current and mark nonphysical solutions and the first failure point

Reproducibility

• Commit equation, model, fitting, test, and plotting sources
• Pin solver, initial values, bounds, units, dependencies, and random seeds
• Preserve public or synthetic raw data, provenance notes, checksums, and the generated report

Safety boundary: Simulation only — Use public or synthetic data and device simulation only; do not perform high-voltage breakdown, vacuum, chemical, cleanroom, or nanofabrication experiments.

Risks, gaps, and boundaries

Thirty-two handouts, eleven solved homework sets, and mostly solved exams form a strong text loop, but the 2012 course has no video.

Completion evidence

• Weekly learning log with time, questions, corrected errors, decisions, next steps, and links to that week's reproducible artifacts
• Theory dossier with explicit assumptions, notation, derivation, units, and boundary conditions, checked by at least one independent method
• Simulation package with model or netlist, inputs, solver and version, parameter-sweep script, benchmark comparison, expected results, and one rerun command