Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering - Electronics, Photonics and Quantum Systems

Texas ECE offers a PhD degree in 8 different academic tracks, but students can also take advantage of the immense variety of resources for interdisciplinary work at The University of Texas at Austin. PhD students will participate in state-of-the-art research along with faculty researchers. Holding a Masters of Science degree is not required to enter or even complete the PhD program. However, a student entering the PhD program without an MSE from ECE or a related field also may choose to pursue and receive the MSE along the way to the PhD with typically no or little additional effort beyond that already required for the PhD, although over a longer time period than a student within the MSE program. Students within the PhD program are expected to enroll in at least 3 hours of research problems or, later, dissertation courses each semester, which cannot be counted toward the MSE. As such, they will typically require 5-6 long semesters to complete the MS program.
This track focuses on the development and improvement of electronic, photonic, optoelectronic, spintronic and micro-electromechanical (MEMS) materials, devices and systems for a variety of applications. Electronic device examples include transistors for nano-CMOS, back-end-of-the-line silicon, power transistors and post-CMOS logic, memory, analog, and mixed-signal applications based on quantum mechanical tunneling and electron spin. Photonic devices include photodetectors, LEDs and lasers, including topological photonics, metamaterials, metasurfaces, and other novel nanophotonic structures, optical interconnects for short and long-range communication, displays and solar cells. There is research on acoustic, chemical and biological sensors, as well as quantum transport devices such as Josephson junctions. Material systems include unstrained and strained column IV and III-V semiconductors grown by molecular beam epitaxy or various types of chemical vapor deposition, organics and polymers, thin-film and novel 0D, 1D and 2D materials such as quantum dots, nanowires, graphene and other 2D layered materials such as transition metal dichalcogenides, as well as insulators such as high-dielectric-constant materials. Research in systems includes those for quantum information processing, optical systems for signal processing and very-high-speed communications, and electronic systems such as compute-in-memory and neuromorphic computing.

Statement of Purpose and Resume
Letters of Recommendation
After you have completed and submitted your application to Graduate School and paid your application fee, upload a copy of your transcript(s). After you have submitted your application, you will receive an email that contains a link to the Status Check web site where you will be able to upload your transcript. Your uploaded transcript(s) are considered to be unofficial, but will be used to process your application for admission. DO NOT mail official transcripts or paper copies of your transcripts to the University of Texas. Sending paper copies of documents you have uploaded will significantly delay the processing of your application.
GRE scores are not considered in our application process. International applicants are required to submit an exam score for English proficiency. The TOEFL and IELTS exams are both accepted.

TOEFL: 79 on the Internet-based test (iBT)
IELTS: An overall band of 6.5 on the Academic Examination