Isotopic Engineering as a Conceptual Framework for Courses in Microelectronics and Quantum Informatics
Alexander A. Berezin · 2004
Isotopic Engineering (IE) refers to use of the diversity of stable isotopes of chemical elements for a range of technological applications, including such areas as microelectronics, optoelectronics and quantum informatics. In a more extended version, it also includes technological applications of radioactive isotopes. The author argues that the incorporation of IE in university courses on electronics, informatics and general engineering provides a convenient and unifying tool for introductory exposure of students to a broad range of novel scientific and engineering concepts and ideas. Among them are quantum well structures and superlattices, random number generators, quantum computing, as well as ideas of chaos theory and nanoscale information storage. While most of these topics are scientifically quite involved and educationally challenging, their presenta-tion in the context of isotopic examples allows for some reduction of the ‘threshold of difficulty ’ for a typical engineering student. For the in-depth understanding of most of these topics the educational background requires only a base knowledge at the level of introductory courses in physics, chemistry and mathematics.