Richard Arthur Kiehl received the Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue University in 1970 and the Ph. D. degree from the same school in 1974. His doctoral dissertation was on the electron dynamics in transferred-electron microwave devices.
He joined Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, as a Member of Technical Staff in 1974. While at Sandia, he worked on semiconductor devices for radar applications. He conceived and initiated research on optically-controlled microwave devices based on the effect of light on the carrier dynamics in avalanche devices and was first to demonstrate modulation, phase-locking, and switching of active microwave semiconductor devices by optical techniques. These techniques provided the capability for controlling microwave signals at high speeds with signal isolation levels well beyond those of electronic techniques and helped to stimulate research on a variety of other optically controlled microwave device concepts.
In 1980, he joined AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, as a Member of Technical Staff and began research on compound semiconductor devices for high-speed communications applications. He was a leading contributor to heterostructure device and circuit research, particularly field-effect transistor and resonant tunneling devices. He lead the phase of the Bell Labs project on heterostructure field-effect transistors that resulted in the first demonstration of a functional integrated circuit in this technology. He initiated and carried out the first experiments on heterostructure-based CMOS circuitry. He was also co-inventor of the resonant-tunneling bipolar transistor and originated ideas for utilizing multiple resonance in such devices for realizing new types of circuitry. His early studies in these areas had a significant impact on the research activities on compound semiconductor devices carried out at many laboratories.
In 1985, he joined IBM as a Research Staff Member at the T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York. At IBM he focused his work on heterostructure-based CMOS circuitry in III-V and Si/SiGe materials for high-speed computer applications. He carried out a wide range of studies aimed at exploring the potential of heterostructure- based complementary FET circuits, including bandgap engineering for p-channel devices, vertical integration of complementary devices, and fabrication methods for Group III-V CMOS circuitry. This effort resulted in the demonstration of complementary AlGaAs/GaAs circuits with record speed at low supply voltages and was influential in the establishment of R&D programs on complementary heterostructure circuitry at industrial laboratories in the United States and Japan.
In 1993, he joined Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., Atsugi, Japan, as Assistant Director of the Quantum Electron Devices Laboratory, where he had both staff and line responsibilities for directing research aimed at exploiting physical phenomena in ultra-small structures for new electronic circuitry. While at Fujitsu, he conceived and theoretically investigated a new operating principle for nanoelectronic circuitry based on the electrical phase of synchronized single-electron tunneling events. In addition, he conceived and experimentally demonstrated a new fabrication technology for the self-assembly of nanoelectronic circuits based on patterned self-assembly of by controlled precipitation. During his three years in Japan, he also developed a general expertise concerning the leading edge electronics research programs at Japanese industrial, university, and national laboratories.
In 1996, he joined the faculty of Stanford University, Stanford, California, where he is currently Acting Professor of Electrical Engineering. His research interests include device, circuit, and fabrication concepts for heterostructure-based and nanostructure-based electronics, with particular focus on self-assembly techniques and single-electron tunneling circuitry. He is also associated with Stanford's US-Japan Technology Management Center and is concerned with a range of issues involving R&D activities in the United States, Japan, and other countries.
He has played an active role in support of the international professional and research communities. He served as Chairman, Albuquerque Section, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and has served on the technical program committee for various conferences including the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, the Workshop on Compound Semiconductor Microwave Materials and Devices, and the Optical Society Topical Meeting on Picosecond Electronics and Optoelectronics. He has served as session chairman at the Electrochemical Society Meeting, the International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials (Japan), and the JRDC International Symposium on Nanostructures & Quantum Effects (Japan). He organized the DARPA Workshop on Optoelectronic Microwave Devices (Chairman, 1978), the Advanced Heterostructure Transistors Conference (Chairman, 1988), and the Workshop on III-V Device Instabilities (Co-Chairman, 1989).
He was invited to contribute the review article on modulation-doped heterostructures in Low Temperature Electronics (IEEE Press, 1986). Five of his technical papers were selected for reprint in Modulation-Doped Field- Effect Transistors (IEEE Press, 1991). He served as Associate Editor for the journal IEEE Electron Device Letters (1991) and is co-editor of the book entitled High-Speed Heterostructure Devices (Semiconductors and Semimetals Treatise, Academic Press, 1994).
Professor Kiehl is a Fellow of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Prof. Richard A. Kiehl
Department of Electrical Engineering
Stanford University
Center for Integrated Systems, Rm 323
Stanford, CA 94305-4075
tel: (650) 725-5435, fax: (650) 723-4659
kiehl@ee.stanford.edu