engineering

Lionel Kimerling

Lionel Kimerling is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lionel Kimerling rather than just read about it. In short: Lionel Cooper Kimerling (born 2 December 1943) is an American materials scientist, known for his work in the field of semiconductor materials and their processing. As of 2016, he is the Thomas Lord Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Key takeaways

Lionel Kimerling belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lionel Kimerling to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lionel Kimerling from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lionel Cooper Kimerling (born 2 December 1943) is an American materials scientist, known for his work in the field of semiconductor materials and their processing. As of 2016, he is the Thomas Lord Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He headed the Materials Physics Research Department of AT&T Bell Laboratories from 1981 to 1990. He gained a first degree in Metallurgy in 1965 and a Ph.D in 1968, both from MIT. Research under his direction has included silicon microphotonics, and the development of the earliest 1MB DRAM as well as long-lasting telecommunications lasers. His group has also developed semiconductor diagnostic methods including deep-level transient spectroscopy, SEM-electron beam-induced current and RF-PCD. Silicon processing is a focus of his research, encompassing integrated circuit fabrication, microphotonic materials and devices, solar energy conversion and environmentally benign integrated circuit manufacturing. The aim of his group's microphotonics research is to integrate optical interconnection with integrated microelectronic circuit chips. He was elected in 1987 a Fellow of the American Physical Society "for fundamental contributions to the measurement and understanding of the electrical properties of defects in semiconductors and the role of charge state and electronic stimulation in their structure and reactivity" As Thomas Lord Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, Kimerling was involved in the launch of the first global roadmap for integrated photonics: Integrated Photonics Systems Roadmap - International (IPSR-I). The MIT Microphotonics Center in the United States and PhotonDelta in Europe founded the roadmap that is an amalgation of their two previously independent roadmaps IPSR and WTWF.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lionel Kimerling

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lionel Kimerling claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lionel Kimerling before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lionel Kimerling ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lionel Kimerling

In research: Lionel Kimerling appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lionel Kimerling in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lionel Kimerling is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1943 births, American materials scientists, Fellows of the American Physical Society, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lionel Kimerling outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lionel Kimerling in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lionel Kimerling means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lionel Kimerling out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lionel Kimerling in simple terms?

Why does Lionel Kimerling matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lionel Kimerling?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lionel Kimerling.