EC ENGR 121B
Principles of Semiconductor Device Design
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour; outside study, eight hours. Enforced requisite: course 2. Introduction to principles of operation of bipolar and MOS transistors, equivalent circuits, high-frequency behavior, voltage limitations. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - Emaminejad is a good professor. His lectures are clear and the slides are very helpful. The tests were pretty difficult but looked similar to lecture. It's just too bad that semiconductors is a field invented by satan to torment EE students. Nothing about the field is intuitive. There are a bunch of random formulas/graphs and weird chemistry/physics. This class is very similar to ECE 2, so know that it is more of the same. I thought that this course would give me more of an insight and understanding, but I am still confused. Many things from ECE 2 were cleared up but a lot of the new material added to my confusion. I studied it the best I could and did pretty well in the course, but I feel like there is much more for me to learn if I wanted to work in fabrication. This is a core course and I would recommend taking it with Emaminejad. Other core courses I would recommend are 141 and 101B. There are some much worse core courses and professors that are more worth your two skips.
Winter 2022 - Emaminejad is a good professor. His lectures are clear and the slides are very helpful. The tests were pretty difficult but looked similar to lecture. It's just too bad that semiconductors is a field invented by satan to torment EE students. Nothing about the field is intuitive. There are a bunch of random formulas/graphs and weird chemistry/physics. This class is very similar to ECE 2, so know that it is more of the same. I thought that this course would give me more of an insight and understanding, but I am still confused. Many things from ECE 2 were cleared up but a lot of the new material added to my confusion. I studied it the best I could and did pretty well in the course, but I feel like there is much more for me to learn if I wanted to work in fabrication. This is a core course and I would recommend taking it with Emaminejad. Other core courses I would recommend are 141 and 101B. There are some much worse core courses and professors that are more worth your two skips.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - This class was very difficult. The professor himself said this wasnlike the honors 121b but without the honors credit lol. No one showed up to lecture but I did as did 15-20 people out of 75. The material is very hard. EE 2 is not enough prep tbh. Averages are low and the midterm was 20 pages and the final was a whopping 39 pages long. Did not finish both exams. In fact i left 1/4 of the midterm and final blank. You need to read the book and do a lot of outside practice because lectures have 0 examples. It’s only theory. The professor is a nice guy and very smart. Just way smarter than the average student. Homework load was heavy. 9 homework’s total for the quarter. And the equations needed to solve aren’t in the slides or the book so you gotta do a lot of assuming and derivations your self. Grading is ok as it is curve dependent in the end.
Fall 2018 - This class was very difficult. The professor himself said this wasnlike the honors 121b but without the honors credit lol. No one showed up to lecture but I did as did 15-20 people out of 75. The material is very hard. EE 2 is not enough prep tbh. Averages are low and the midterm was 20 pages and the final was a whopping 39 pages long. Did not finish both exams. In fact i left 1/4 of the midterm and final blank. You need to read the book and do a lot of outside practice because lectures have 0 examples. It’s only theory. The professor is a nice guy and very smart. Just way smarter than the average student. Homework load was heavy. 9 homework’s total for the quarter. And the equations needed to solve aren’t in the slides or the book so you gotta do a lot of assuming and derivations your self. Grading is ok as it is curve dependent in the end.
Most Helpful Review
Actually kinda got me interested in solid state stuff once we hit MOS capacitors and MOSFETS. Lectures with a tablet - powerpoint with annotations. He definitely tries to make sure everyone understands the material, and he emphasizes the crucial points. He will answer all questions in class. One of the best EE professors.
Actually kinda got me interested in solid state stuff once we hit MOS capacitors and MOSFETS. Lectures with a tablet - powerpoint with annotations. He definitely tries to make sure everyone understands the material, and he emphasizes the crucial points. He will answer all questions in class. One of the best EE professors.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - horrible, horrible professor. By far the worst I've ever had at ucla. He single-handedly made me hate this class. If you decide to go to lecture, you'll hear more off-topic jokes rather than relevant lecture material. No kidding, every other sentence he utters has a punchline... does he think his life is a sitcom? Do not recommend at all. Homeworks were very unclear, released on an inconsistent schedule. He says the exams will be theoretical... pure lie. Make sure you have EVERYTHING on your cheat sheet because its going to be all plug and chug. I can confidently say I didn't learn a single thing from the Jason Woo during this class, and everything was learned from outside resources.
Winter 2025 - horrible, horrible professor. By far the worst I've ever had at ucla. He single-handedly made me hate this class. If you decide to go to lecture, you'll hear more off-topic jokes rather than relevant lecture material. No kidding, every other sentence he utters has a punchline... does he think his life is a sitcom? Do not recommend at all. Homeworks were very unclear, released on an inconsistent schedule. He says the exams will be theoretical... pure lie. Make sure you have EVERYTHING on your cheat sheet because its going to be all plug and chug. I can confidently say I didn't learn a single thing from the Jason Woo during this class, and everything was learned from outside resources.
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