Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Courses

Below are the courses frequently offered in Electrical Engineering. For the most up-to-date course offerings and lecturer information, visit Yale University’s Online Course Information site. Click here for the listing of courses in Engineering & Applied Science (general courses for undergraduate students in any branch of Engineering).

EENG 001, Introduction to Nanoscience
Freshman seminar. An introductory survey of the emerging discipline of nanotechnology. Topics include realistic nanosystems, methods used to fabricate and create nanostructures, the physical properties and applications of nanostructures, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and biological applications, and system architecture. Enrollment limited to freshmen. Strong background in high school mathematics and science. Permission of instructor required.

EENG 200, Introduction to Electronics
Introduction to the basic principles of analog and digital electronics. Analysis, design, and synthesis of electronic circuits and systems. Topics include current and voltage laws that govern electronic circuit behavior, node and loop methods for solving circuit problems, dc and ac circuit elements, frequency response, nonlinear circuits, semiconductor devices, and small-signal amplifiers. A lab session approximately every other week. After or concurrently with MATH 115 or equivalent.

EENG 201, Introduction to Computer Engineering
Introduction to the theoretical principles underlying the design and programming of simple processors that can perform algorithmic computational tasks. Topics include data representation in digital form, combinational logic design and Boolean algebra, sequential logic design and finite state machines, and basic computer architecture principles. Hands-on laboratory involving the active design, construction, and programming of a simple processor.

EENG 202, Communications, Computation, and Control
Introduction to systems that sense, process, control, and communicate. Techniques that analyze system performance are applied to first- and second-order systems that operate on continuous-time waveforms and numerical data. Applications include robotics, digital image processing, and voice recognition systems. Matlab programming and laboratory experiments illustrate concepts. Prerequisite: MATH 115.

EENG 203, Circuits and Systems Design
Introduction to design in a laboratory setting. A wide variety of practical systems are designed and implemented to exemplify the basic principles of systems theory. systems include audio filters and equalizers, electrical and electromechanical feedback systems, radio transmitters and receivers, and circuits for sampling and reconstructing music. Prerequisites: EENG 200 and 202.

EENG 235 and 236, Special Projects
Faculty-supervised individual or small-group projects with emphasis on laboratory experience, engineering design, or tutorial study. Students are expected to consult the director of undergraduate studies and appropriate faculty members about ideas and suggestions for suitable topics during the term preceding enrollment, so as to arrive at the necessary prospectus. These courses may be taken at any time during the student’s career. Enrollment requires permission of both the instructor and the director of undergraduate studies, and submission to the latter of a one- to two-page prospectus signed by the instructor. The prospectus is due in the departmental office one day prior to the date that the student’s course schedule is due. Additional sections offered in Beijing, China. See under Peking University–Yale University Joint Undergraduate Program.

EENG 310, Signals and Systems
Concepts for the analysis of continuous and discrete-time signals including time series. Techniques for modeling continuous and discrete-time linear dynamical systems including linear recursions, difference equations, and shift sequences. Topics include continuous and discrete Fourier analysis, Laplace and Z transforms, convolution, sampling, data smoothing, and filtering. Prerequisite: MATH 115. Recommended preparation: EENG 202.

EENG 320a, Introduction to Semiconductor Devices
An introduction to the physics of semiconductors and semiconductor devices. Topics include crystal structure; energy bands in solids; charge carriers with their statistics and dynamics; junctions, p-n diodes, and leds; bipolar and field-effect transistors; and device fabrication. Prepares for EENG 325 and 401. Prerequisites: PHYS 180 and 181 or permission of instructor. Recommended preparation: EENG 200.

APHY 322, Electromagnetic Waves and Devices
For description, see under Applied Physics.

EENG 325, Electronic Circuits
Models for active devices; single-ended and differential amplifiers; current sources and active loads; operational amplifiers; feedback; design of analog circuits for particular functions and specifications, in actual applications wherever possible, using design-oriented methods. Includes a team-oriented design project for real-world applications, such as a high-power stereo amplifier design. Electronics Workbench is used as a tool in computer-aided design. Prerequisite: EENG 200.

EENG 348, Digital Systems
Development of engineering skills through the design and analysis of digital logic components and circuits. Introduction to gate-level circuit design, beginning with single gates and building up to complex systems. Hands-on experience with circuit design using computer-aided design tools and microcontroller programming. Recommended preparation: EENG 201.

EENG 350, Embedded Systems
Computer-assisted systems that accomplish a task without human supervision. Exploration of a task involving mobile robot navigation controlled by a microcontroller. Design of optical sensors. A competition of alternate approaches by individual designs. Prerequisite: EENG 227 and EENG 348, or permission of instructor.

EENG 352/BENG 352, Biomedical Engineering II
For description see under Biomedical Engineering.

EENG 397/ENAS 397, Mathematical Methods in Engineering
Exploration of several areas of mathematics useful in engineering. Topics are drawn from complex analysis and differential equations: complex variables, Fourier series, Fourier transforms, Laplace transforms, Z transforms, boundary value problems, and linear partial differential equations. Application to physical problems. Prerequisites: MATH 222, and ENAS 194 or MATH 246, or equivalents.

EENG 401/APHY 321, Semiconductor Silicon Devices and Technology
Introduction to integrated circuit technology, theory of solid-state devices, and principles of device design and fabrication. Laboratory involves the fabrication and analysis of semiconductor devices, including Ohmic contacts, Schottky diodes, p-n junctions, mos capacitors, mosfets, and integrated circuits. Prerequisite: EENG 320 or equivalent or permission of instructor.

EENG 402/MENG 402, Nano and Microsystem Technology
Cross-disciplinary laboratory experiments covering microfabrication, silicon micromachining, mems device fabrication and characterization, scanned probe microscopy, electron microscopy, microfluidics, and lab-on-a-chip systems. Students fabricate mems, bio-mems, and microfluidic devices in a cleanroom environment. Prerequisite: EENG 320 or equivalent.

EENG 406, Photovoltaic Energy
Survey of photovoltaic energy devices, systems, and applications, including review of optical and electrical properties of semiconductors. Topics include solar radiation, solar cell design, performance analysis, solar cell materials, device processing, photovoltaic systems, and economic analysis. Prerequisite: EENG 320 or permission of instructor.

EENG 408, Electronic Materials: Fundamentals and Applications
Survey and review of fundamental issues associated with modern microelectronic and optoelectronic materials. Topics include band theory, electronic transport, surface kinetics, diffusion, materials defects, elasticity in thin films, epitaxy, and Si integrated circuits. Prerequisite: EENG 320 or permission of instructor.

EENG 410, Physics and Devices of Optical Communication
A survey of the enabling components and devices that constitute modern optical communications systems. Focus on the physics and principles of each functional unit, its current technological status, important design issues relevant to the overall performance, and future directions. Prerequisites: EENG 320 and APHY 322, or permission of instructor.

EENG 418/APHY 418, Heterojunction Devices
A survey of the physics, technology, and fabrication of semiconductor heterojunction materials and devices. Topics include contemporary compound semiconductor material properties and epitaxial growth techniques, high-speed analog and digital devices, microwave and millimeter wave devices for radar and wireless communications, the physics and device properties of quantum wells and superlattices, hemts and modulation-doped structures, resonant tunneling physics and devices, and device modeling using computer simulation tools. Laboratory includes fabrication of GaAs fets and hbts, fabrication and measurement of quantum Hall effect standards, leds, and resonant tunneling devices. Prerequisite: APHY 439 or equivalent.

EENG 425, Introduction to VLSI System Design
Chip design; integrated devices, circuits, and digital subsystems needed for design and implementation of silicon logic chips. cmos fabrication overview, complementary logic circuits, design methodology, computer-aided design techniques, timing, and area estimation. Exploration of recent and future chip technologies. A course project is the design, through layout, of a digital cmos subsystem chip; selected projects are fabricated for students. Prerequisite: familiarity with computer programming and with circuits at the level of introductory physics.

EENG 428/ENAS 428, Sensors and Biosensors
Analysis of the design of integrated sensors, using modern fabrication technologies and recent circuit topologies. Creation of a framework for sensor design that attains performance as close as possible to the fundamental limits of transduction and processing. Particular attention to mapping algorithms and topologies into circuits that can match the physical level of the quantities to be sensed. Students develop sensory systems for biomedical application and for sensor networks.

EENG 436, Systems and Control
Design of feedback control systems with applications to engineering, biological, and economic systems. Topics include state-space representation, stability, controllability, and observability of discrete-time systems; system identification; optimal control of systems with multiple outputs. Prerequisites: ENAS 194, MATH 222 or 225, and EENG 310 or permission of instructor.

EENG 437/AMTH 437, Optimization Techniques
For description, see under Applied Mathematics.

EENG 442/AMTH 342, Linear Systems
Introduction to finite-dimensional, continuous, and discrete-time linear dynamical systems. Exploration of the basic properties and mathematical structure of the linear systems used for modeling dynamical processes in robotics, signal and image processing, economics, statistics, environmental and biomedical engineering, and control theory. Prerequisite: MATH 222 or permission of instructor.

EENG 444, Digital Communication Systems
Introduction to the fundamental theory underlying modern digital communication. Quantitative measures of information and data compression: the Huffman and Lempel-Ziv algorithms, scalar and vector quantization. Representations of signal waveforms: sampling, orthonormal expansions, waveforms as vectors in signal space. Transmission of signals through noisy channels; pulse amplitude and quadrature amplitude modulation, orthogonal signaling, signal design, noise processes, optimal detection, and error probability analysis. Applications to practical systems such as cd players, telephone modems, and wireless networks. Prerequisites: knowledge of signals and systems at the level of EENG 310; knowledge of basic probability at the level of STAT 241 (may be taken concurrently).

EENG 445/BENG 445, Biomedical Image Processing and Analysis
For description, see under Biomedical Engineering.

EENG 449, Computer Systems
The organization of computer systems as hardware and software systems. Instruction-set architecture, assembly programming, computer arithmetic, data-path architecture and control, pipelining, memory hierarchy. Concepts illustrated by exploration of a risc microprocessor. Laboratory assignments include programming on an embedded processor and its peripherals. Recommended preparation: EENG 201 and CPSC 223 or permission of instructor.

EENG 450, Applied Digital Signal Processing
An analysis, by computer, of processing measurements. Relevant probability and estimation theories applied to measurements corrupted by noise. Point estimates and system identification from random processes. MATLAB simulations verify the analysis. Prerequisite: EENG 310 or 350 or permission of instructor.

EENG 454/AMTH 364/STAT 364, Information Theory
For description, see under Statistics.

EENG 460/CPSC 436, Networked Embedded Systems and Sensor Networks
Introduction to the fundamental concepts of networked embedded systems and wireless sensor networks, presenting a cross-disciplinary approach to the design and implementation of smart wireless embedded systems. Topics include embedded systems programming concepts, low-power and power-aware design, radio technologies, communication protocols for ubiquitous computing systems, and mathematical foundations of sensor behavior. Laboratory work includes programming assignments on low-power wireless devices. Open to seniors in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science only. Prerequisite: CPSC 223 or equivalent programming experience in a high-level language.

EENG 462, Digital Systems Testing and Design for Testability
Introduction to the fundamental concepts, algorithms, and design techniques for testing digital systems. Topics include test issues and economics, fault modeling, logic and fault simulation, test generation algorithms for combinational and sequential circuits, testability analysis, and design for testability. Laboratory work consists of projects employing logic and fault simulation, automatic test pattern generation, and design for testability software tools. Prerequisite: EENG 348 or permission of instructor. Understanding of algorithms and data structures desirable but not essential.

EENG 463, Fault-Tolerant Computer Systems
Theory and practice of fault-tolerant systems. Sources of defects; fault-tolerance techniques in hardware and software that mitigate the impact of defects. Case studies demonstrate practical applications of the theory presented in lectures. Recommended preparation: EENG 348, 425, and CPSC 323, or equivalents.

EENG 471 and 472, Advanced Special Projects
Faculty-supervised individual or small-group projects with emphasis on research (laboratory or theory), engineering design, or tutorial study. Students are expected to consult the Director of Undergraduate Studies and appropriate faculty members about ideas and suggestions for suitable topics during the term preceding enrollment, so as to arrive at the necessary prospectus. These courses may be taken at any appropriate time during the student’s career and may be taken more than once. Enrollment requires permission of instructor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies, and submission to the latter of a one- to two-page prospectus signed by the instructor. The prospectus is due one day prior to the date that the student’s course schedule is due.

EENG 475/CPSC 475, Computational Vision and Biological Perception
For description, see under Computer Science.

EENG 481 and 482, Advanced ABET Projects
Faculty-supervised individual or small-group projects that satisfy ABET guidelines for a capstone project. Emphasis on engineering design and application of concepts learned in courses to a realistic engineering problem. The project should demonstrate an ability to apply and synthesize knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering in the service of articulated goals. The student is expected not only to design a system or a process but also to collect, analyze, and interpret appropriate data. In addition, the student should demonstrate an understanding of the professional and ethical responsibilities associated with the engineering activities. Students are expected to consult the Director of Undergraduate Studies and appropriate faculty members about ideas and suggestions for suitable topics during the term preceding enrollment. Enrollment requires permission of the instructor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies.