IEEE Circuits and Devices

What Are IEEE Circuits and Devices?

IEEE Circuits and Devices are the electronic components, circuit architectures, and photonic elements that formed the subject matter of the IEEE Circuits and Devices Magazine, a professional publication of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society issued from 1985 to 2006. The magazine covered the design, implementation, packaging, and manufacture of micro-electronic and photonic devices, circuits, and systems, presenting technical content in an accessible format aimed at practicing engineers rather than the specialized audience of peer-reviewed transactions. It served as a practitioner-facing publication within the IEEE publishing ecosystem, sitting between the research-focused IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems and the broad engineering audience of IEEE Spectrum.

The publication was part of the broader IEEE circuits and devices literature, which traces its roots to the founding of the IRE (Institute of Radio Engineers) in 1912 and the subsequent development of circuit theory and semiconductor device physics as major engineering disciplines in the twentieth century.

Content and Scope

IEEE Circuits and Devices covered the full range of topics within the circuits and devices community, including analog and digital circuit design, semiconductor device fabrication, photonic and optoelectronic components, VLSI (very-large-scale integration) systems, and packaging technologies. Articles frequently addressed the link between device physics and circuit performance, treating topics such as how transistor characteristics influence amplifier design or how interconnect parasitics affect high-speed digital circuits. The magazine also published tutorials and technology reviews, making it a useful resource for engineers entering a new sub-area or updating their knowledge of a rapidly developing field. The full archive of IEEE Circuits and Devices issues is accessible through IEEE Xplore.

Relationship to the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society

The IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS) has been the primary IEEE technical society for circuits and devices since the reorganization of IEEE's society structure in the mid-twentieth century. CASS publishes multiple journals and magazines, including the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I and II and, after the discontinuation of Circuits and Devices in 2006, the IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine, which took on some of the practitioner-oriented role its predecessor had served. The Society's scope encompasses analog signal processing, digital signal processing, nonlinear circuits, power electronics circuits, neural networks, and communications circuits, reflecting the breadth of what "circuits and devices" means as a technical domain.

After IEEE Circuits and Devices ceased publication in 2006, its readership and topics were partially absorbed into the IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine and into society-specific publications across IEEE's technical society structure. The circuits and devices body of knowledge remains central to IEEE's mission, and the organization continues to publish dozens of journals, transactions, and conference proceedings covering circuit design and electronic device technology. The historical archive of IEEE Circuits and Devices remains available through IEEE Xplore, and its articles continue to serve as reference material for researchers studying the development of integrated circuit and photonic device technologies during the period from 1985 to 2006. Additional context on CASS history is documented at the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society History page on the Engineering and Technology History Wiki.

Applications

IEEE Circuits and Devices content addressed engineering in a wide range of application areas, including:

  • Analog and mixed-signal integrated circuit design
  • Semiconductor device fabrication and process technology
  • Photonic and optoelectronic systems
  • VLSI design and high-speed digital circuits
  • Packaging and interconnect engineering