Herbert Kroemer (; born August 25, 1928) is a German-American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

who, along with

Zhores Alferov Zhores Ivanovich Alferov (russian: link=no, Жоре́с Ива́нович Алфёров, ; be, Жарэс Іва́навіч Алфёраў; 15 March 19301 March 2019) was a Soviet and Russian physicist and academic who contributed signific ...

, received the

Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...

in 2000 for "developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics". Kroemer is professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

, having received his Ph.D. in

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...

in 1952 from the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

, Germany, with a dissertation on hot electron effects in the then-new

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...

. His research into transistors was a stepping stone to the later development of

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...

technologies.

Career

Kroemer worked in a number of research laboratories in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and taught

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

from 1968 to 1976. He joined the UCSB faculty in 1976, focusing its semiconductor research program on the emerging compound semiconductor technology rather than on mainstream

silicon Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic ...

technology. Along with Charles Kittel he co-authored the textbook ''Thermal Physics'', first published in 1980, and still used today. He is also the author of the textbook ''Quantum Mechanics for Engineering, Materials Science and Applied Physics''. Kroemer was elected as a member into the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

in 1997 for conception of the semiconductor heterostructure transistor and laser, and for leadership in semiconductor materials technology. He was also elected a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

in 2003. Kroemer always preferred to work on problems that are ahead of mainstream

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scien ...

, inventing the

drift transistor The drift-field transistor, also called the drift transistor or graded base transistor, is a type of high-speed bipolar junction transistor having a doping-engineered electric field in the base to reduce the charge carrier base transit time. Inven ...

in the 1950s and being the first to point out that advantages could be gained in various semiconductor devices by incorporating heterojunctions. Most notably, though, in 1963 he proposed the concept of the double- heterostructure

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The ...

, which is now a central concept in the field of semiconductor lasers. Kroemer became an early pioneer in

molecular beam epitaxy Molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) is an epitaxy method for thin-film deposition of single crystals. MBE is widely used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, including transistors, and it is considered one of the fundamental tools for the dev ...

, concentrating on applying the technology to untried new materials.

Personal life

Born to a working-class family in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

, Kroemer excelled in his physics schooling such that he was dismissed from having to do much of the coursework. He is an atheist.

Awards and honors

J J Ebers Award The J. J. Ebers Award was established in 1971 to foster progress in electron devices. It commemorates Jewell James Ebers, whose contributions, particularly to transistors, shaped the understanding and technology of electron devices. It is presen ...

(1973) *

Humboldt Research Award The Humboldt Prize, the Humboldt-Forschungspreis in German, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of G ...

(1994) *

(2000) *Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...

(2001) *

IEEE Medal of Honor The IEEE Medal of Honor is the highest recognition of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It has been awarded since 1917, when its first recipient was Major Edwin H. Armstrong. It is given for an exceptional contributi ...

(2002)

References

External links

*
Not Just Blue Sky
* including the Nobel Lecture 8 December 2000 ''Quasi-Electric Fields and Band Offsets: Teaching Electrons New Tricks''
Personal Homepage UCSB

Freeview video Interview with Herbert Kroemer by the Vega Science Trust
Transferred electron effective mass modulator (Herbert Kroemer)

Method for growing tilted superlattices (Herbert Kroemer)
''Herb’s Bipolar Transistors'' IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 48, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2001
PDF
Influence of Mobility and Lifetime Variations on Drift-Field Effects in Silicon-Junction Devices
PDF
Heterostructure Bipolar Transistors and Integrated Circuits
PDF {{DEFAULTSORT:Kroemer, Herbert 1928 births Living people Engineering educators University of Göttingen alumni German atheists German Nobel laureates American Nobel laureates 20th-century German physicists IEEE Medal of Honor recipients Nobel laureates in Physics Semiconductor physicists University of California, Santa Barbara faculty University of Colorado faculty Scientists from Weimar Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Fellow Members of the IEEE Fellows of the American Physical Society University of Jena alumni Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany German emigrants to the United States

Career

Personal life

Awards and honors

See also

References

External links