M K Achuthan , is former Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Chennai. He received his B.E. degree in Electronics from the College of Engineering, Guindy and Ph.D. on Junction Transistor Theory from IIT Kharagpur. His early work showed that the Common-Emitter Circuit is basic to transistor action and not the Common-Base Circuit as was originally thought. From a detailed study and research on transistors he has demonstrated that many phenomena in transistors which were earlier attributed to surface recombination in the base, were actually due to transverse diffusion of minority carriers in the base, and would exist even in the absence of surface recombination.

During his teaching career of 39 years, nearly 30 years were spent at IIT Madras where he initiated teaching and research activities in the fields of Solid State Devices and Circuits and VLSI Design. A large number of his students are working in the fields of Devices and Circuits in industries and universities across the word.

The author Prof. M.K. Achuthan can be reached at mkapkm@vsnl.com.

K N Bhat , is currently a visiting Professor in the Centre for Excellence in Nanoelectronics at the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore. Prior to this, he was Professor of Electrical Engineering at the IIT Madras, Chennai where he taught and carried out research work for over thirty years on bipolar and MOS devices theory, modeling and technology, high voltage junction termination techniques, silicon and gallium arsenide solar cells, and SOI MOSFET and MEMS device design and technology. He received his Ph.D degree from IIT Madras and was a post doctoral Research Associate at the RPI Troy, NY during 1979-1981 and a Visiting Professor at the University of Washington at Seattle for a year during 1999. He has guided several M.S. and Ph.D. research scholars and published over 175 papers on semiconductor device theory and technology in international journals and conferences. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering.

The author Prof. K.N. Bhat can be reached at knbhat@gmail.com.