What Is Chemical?

Chemical, as an IEEE Technology Navigator topic, refers to the broad domain of chemical science and engineering as it intersects with electrical, electronic, and systems engineering. It encompasses the study of chemical processes, materials, and reactions that are relevant to the design, fabrication, and operation of electrical and electronic systems, as well as the application of electrical methods to chemical measurement and production. The field draws on physical chemistry, electrochemistry, materials science, and process engineering, and it connects to related IEEE topics including chemical engineering, chemical sensors, and electrochemical energy storage.

The relationship between chemistry and electrical engineering is longstanding. Electrochemical phenomena underlie the operation of batteries, fuel cells, and electrolytic processes that power or are powered by electrical systems, while chemical vapor deposition and etching processes are central to semiconductor device fabrication.

Chemical Engineering and Process Technology

Chemical engineering applies principles of thermodynamics, mass and heat transfer, reaction kinetics, and fluid mechanics to the design and operation of processes that transform raw materials into useful products. At its intersection with electrical engineering, the field addresses the large-scale electrochemical production of materials such as chlorine, aluminum, and hydrogen, as well as the refining and processing of fuels used in power generation. The Stanford Chemical Engineering department overview describes how modern chemical engineering combines classical process design with emerging areas including nanotechnology, advanced materials synthesis, and bioengineering, all of which connect to IEEE technology areas in sensors, photovoltaics, and semiconductor devices.

Chemical Sensing and Analysis

Chemical sensors are devices that convert a chemical quantity, such as the concentration of a specific molecule in a gas or liquid, into an electrical signal that can be measured and processed. They rely on chemically selective transduction mechanisms: electrochemical sensors measure current or voltage resulting from a redox reaction at an electrode surface, optical sensors detect changes in light absorption or fluorescence caused by a target analyte, and piezoelectric sensors detect mass changes from analyte adsorption on a coated resonator surface. Gas sensors for carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds are deployed in industrial safety monitoring, environmental measurement, and automotive emissions control. The NIST Chemical Science Division maintains reference measurement methods and standard reference materials that underpin the calibration of chemical sensors used in regulatory compliance and process monitoring.

Chemical Processes in Electronics Fabrication

The manufacture of integrated circuits, printed circuit boards, and electronic displays depends on a sequence of chemical processes carried out in precisely controlled environments. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) build thin films of dielectric, conductive, and semiconducting materials one atomic layer at a time by decomposing gaseous precursors at a heated substrate surface. Wet and dry etching selectively removes material to define circuit patterns, with plasma-based processes achieving sub-nanometer dimensional control. Photoresist chemistry, driven by advances in photopolymer formulation, enables extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography at feature sizes below 7 nm. The materials and processes underlying these steps are surveyed in the IEEE Xplore literature on chemical engineering and semiconductor processing within the context of power and mixed-signal device fabrication.

Applications

Chemical topics in IEEE technology have applications in a wide range of fields, including:

• Electrochemical energy storage in batteries and supercapacitors
• Fuel cell development for stationary and transportation power
• Environmental monitoring using chemical sensor arrays
• Semiconductor device fabrication through CVD and etching
• Water treatment and desalination process design
• Chemical detection for industrial safety and defense applications