Jim Browning, Ph.D.
Chair, Associate Professor
Electrical & Computer Engineering
jimbrowning@boisestate.edu
Phone: 208-426-2347 | Fax: | Office: RUCH 240A
Electrical & Computer Engineering
jimbrowning@boisestate.edu
Phone: 208-426-2347 | Fax: | Office: RUCH 240A

Bio
After graduate school, Dr. Browning joined the Center for Electromagnetics Research at Northeastern University in Boston in 1988. While there he worked on microwave devices, space plasmas, and gated vacuum field emission devices. He also taught in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. In 1992 he joined Micron Technology in Boise, ID where he worked on the development of Field Emission Displays (FEDs). His work included test and characterization, device physics, packaging, failure analysis, reliability, device design, device manufacturing, and cost analysis. In 1999 he joined PixTech, Inc. where he continued his work on FEDs with emphasis on manufacturing development. In 2001 he became a consultant on FEDs and on other display technologies with work in display characterization and testing, device analysis, and cost analysis. He joined the ECE department at Boise State in 2006. His research interests include vacuum electron devices, electron secondary emission, plasma medicine, micro-plasmas, and plasma thrusters.
Education
- B.S. and M.S. degrees in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1983 and 1985, respectively.
- Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988
Publications
- Journal Papers
- S Fernandez-Gutierrez, J Browning, MC Lin, DN Smithe, J Watrous, “Dynamic phase-control of a rising sun magnetron using modulated and continuous current,” J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 119, 044501 (2016).
- S. Azad, A. Farid, and J. Browning, “Effect of electomagnetic stimulation on hydraulic conductivity,” Environmental Geotechnics 2(4): 211–223, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/ envgeo.13.00027 (2015).
- S. Fernandez-Gutierrez, J. Browning, M.C. Lin, D. Smithe, and J. Watrous, “Phase-Control of a rising sun magnetron using a modulated, addressable current source,” JVST:B, Vol. 33, 031203-1 (2015).
- Sulmer A Fernandez-Gutierrez, Jim Browning, David Smithe, Ming-Chieh Lin, Jack Watrous, “Simulation of a rising sun magnetron employing a faceted cathode with a continuous current source,” JVST:B, Vol. 32, pp. 061205 (2014).
- J Browning, S Fernandez-Gutierrez, MC Lin, DN Smithe, J Watrous, "Phase control and fast start-up of a magnetron using modulation of an addressable faceted cathode," Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 104, No. 23, p. 233507, June (2014).
- Arvin Farid, Mahsa Azad, Jim Browning, Elisa Barney Smith, “Electromagnetically Induced Transport for Soil/Groundwater Remediation,” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol. 141, pp. 04014115 (2014).
- T. Rowe, M. Pearlman, and J. Browning, "Simulation of Electron Hop Funnels Using Version 9.2 of Lorentz-2E," IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 84-90, Jan. (2014)
- M. Pearlman, T. Rowe, and J. Browning, “Simulation of Electron Hop Funnel Hysteresis,” IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol. 41, No. 8, pp. 2291-2298, Aug. (2013)
- T. Rowe, M. Pearlman, and J. Browning, “Hysteresis in experimental I-V curves of electron hop funnels,” Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology: B, Vol. 31, No. 4, July (2013)
- Azad, M., Sangrey, H. D. O. , Farid, A., Browning, J., and Barney Smith, E. “Electromagnetic Stimulation of Two-Phase Transport in Water for Geoenvironmental Applications,” ASTM Geotechnical testing Journal, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 97-106, (2013)
- Jesse Taff, Mallory Yates, Carl Lee, Sonya Shawver, Jim Browning, and Don Plumlee, “Fabrication of an Inductively Coupled Plasma Antenna in LTCC,” International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7402.2011.02743.x
- Jim Browning, Carl Lee, Don Plumlee, Sonya Shawver, Sin Ming Loo, Mallory Yates, Matt McCrink, and Jesse Taff, “A miniature inductively coupled plasma source for ion thrusters,” IEEE Trans. on Plasma Science, Vol. 39, No. 11, pp. 3187-3195, Nov. (2011)
- J. Browning and J. Watrous, “A faceted magnetron concept using field emission cathodes,” J. Vacuum Science and Technology B, Vol. 29, March/April (2011).
- C. Lester, J. Browning, and L. Matthews, “Electron hop funnel measurements and comparison with the Lorentz-2E simulation”, IEEE Trans. on Plasma Sci., Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 555-561, Jan. (2011).
- S. Meassick, Z. Xia, C. Chan, and J. Browning, “Investigation of the Operating Modes of Gated Vacuum Field Emitter Arrays to Reduce Failure Rates,” J. Vac. Sci. Tech. B, 12, pp. 710 (1994).
- S. Qin, C. Chan, J. Browning, and S. Meassick, “Charge Transfer cross section of He+ in collisional helium plasma using PIII techniques,” J. of App. Phys., 74, pp. 1548 (1993).
- N.E. McGruer, J. Browning, S. Meassick, M. Gilmore, W.J. Bintz, and C. Chan, “Ion-Spacer-Charge Initiation of Gated Field Emitter Failure,” J. Vac. Sci. Tech. B. pp. 11 (1993).
- J. Browning, N. McGruer, S. Meassick, C. Chan, W. Bintz, and M. Gilmore, “Gated Field Emitter Failures: Experiment and Theory,” IEEE Trans. On Plasma Science, 20, pp. 499-506 (1992).
- J. Browning, C. Chan, J. Ye, G.E. Dombrowski, and T.E. Ruden, “Electron Plasma and Wave Measurements in a Crossed-field Amplifier and Comparison with a Numerical Simulation,” IEEE Trans. On Electron Devices, 39, pp. 2401-2407 (1992).
- J. Browning, N.E. McGruer, W. Bintz, and M. Gilmore, “Experimental Observations of Gated Field Emitter Failures,” Electron Dev. Letters, 13, pp. 167 (1992).
- J. Browning, C. Chan, J.Ye, G.E. Dombrowski, and T.E. Ruden, “ In Situ Measurements and Numerical Simulation of Wave-electron Interactions in a Crossed-field Amplifier,” Appl. Phys. Lett., 59, pp. 3384 (1991)
- S. Qin, C. Chan, N. McGruer, J. Browning, and K. Warner, “The Behavior of a High Voltage Pulse in a Microwave Multipolar Bucket Plasma,” IEEE Trans. on Plasma Science, 19, pp. 1272 (1991)
- J. Browning, C. Chan, J. Ye, and T. Ruden, “A Low Frequency Crossed-field Amplifier for Experimental Investigations of Electron-Radio Frequency Wave Interactions,” IEEE Trans. On Plasma Science, 19, pp.598 (1991).
- J.J. Browning, N. Hershkowitz, T. Intrator, R. Majeski, and S. Meassick, “Radio-Frequency Wave Interchange Stability Experiments Below the Ion Cyclotron Frequency,” Phys. Fluids B, 1, pp. 1692 (1989).
- S. Meassick, T. Intrator, N. Hershkowitz, J. Browning, and R. Majeski, “Measurements of the Ponderomotive Force Including Sideband Mode Coupling Effects and Damping Rates,” Phys. of Fluids B, 1, pp. 1049 (1989).
- T. Intrator, S. Meassick, J. Browning, R. Majeski, J. Ferron, and N. Hershkowitz, “Measurements of Electromagnetic Waves in Phaedrus: Benchmark of ANTENA Wave field Calculations,” Nuc. Fusion, 29, pp. 377 (1989).
- T. Intrator, S. Meassick, J. Browning, R. Majeski, and N. Hershkowitz, “The Bispectrum and Three-Wave Coupling Between Fast Magnetosonic Waves and Interchange Modes,” Phys. Fluids B, 1, pp. 271 (1989).
- Y. Yaska, R. Majeski, J. Browning, N. Hershkowitz, and D. Roberts, “ICRF Heating with Mode Control Provided by a Rotating Field Antenna,” Nuc. Fusion, 28, pp. 1765 (1988).
- J. Browning, R. Majeski, T. Intrator, N. Hershkowitz, and S. Meassick, “Interchange Stabilization of a Mirror Plasma Using radio-Frequency Waves Below the Ion Cyclotron Frequency,” Phys. Fluids, 31, pp. 714 (1988).
- R. Majeski, J. Browning, S. Meassick, N. Hershkowitz, T. Intrator, and J.R. Ferron, “Effect of Variable Eigenmode Excitation on rf Stabilization of a Mirror Plasma,” Phys. Rev. Lett., 59, pp. 206 (1987).
- Conference Proceedings
- J. Rocha, A. Farid, H. Sangrey, and J. Browning, “Effects of Electromagnetic Stimulation on Soil’s Hydraulic Conductivity,” accepted for the 2011 Pan-Am Geotechnical Conference, Oct. 2011.
- S. Shawver, J. Browning, D. Plumlee, S.M. Loo, C. Lee, J. Taff, M. Yates, J. Woldtvedt, L. Knowles, and D. Reis, “Miniaturized Electric Propulsion in Low Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic”, 2011 IEEE Conference on Plasma Science, Chicago, IL June, 2011.
- M. Pearlman, T. Rowe, and J. Browning, “Hop Structure Optimization,” 2011 IEEE Conference on Plasma Science, Chicago, IL June, 2011.
- J. Taff, M. Yates, C. Lee, S. Shawver, J. Browning, and D. Plumlee,“Fabrication of an Inductively Coupled Plasma Antenna in LTCC,”IMPAS/ACerS 7th International Conference on Ceramic Interconnect and Ceramic Microsystems Technologies, San Diego, CA, April, 2011.
- Arvin Farid, Harlan Sangrey, and Jim Browning, “An Experimental Setup for Electromagnetic Stimulation of Geoenvironmental Applications,” Proceedings of the Geo-Frontiers Conference, Dallas,TX, March, 2011.
- A. Farid, H. Sangrey, and J. Browning, “An Experimental Setup for Electromagnetic Stimulation of Air Sparging,” American Society of Civil Engineers, Proceedings of the GeoFlorida 2010 Conference, West Palm Beach, FL, Feb., 2010.
- J. Browning, L. Matthews, J. Watrous, M. Eaton, and N. Kumar, “A Magnetron Using Field Emission Cathodes,” 23rd International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference, Palo Alto, CA, Technical Digest, 11-12, July, 2010.
- J. Browning, C. Lester, and L. Matthews, “A Crossed-Field Amplifier Using A Distributed Field Emission Cathode,” 2010 IEEE Conference on Plasma Science, Norfolk, VA, June 2010.
- C. Lester, J. Browning, and L. Matthews, “Simulation and Measurement of Vacuum Electron Hop Funnel IV Characteristics and Energy Distribution,” 2010 IEEE Conference on Plasma Science, Norfolk, VA, June 2010.
- J. Browning, J. Watrous, J. Luginsland, M. Eaton, and N. Kumar, “A Magnetron Using A Field Emission Cathode and a Faceted Geometry,” 2010 IEEE Conference on Plasma Science, Norfolk, VA, June 2010.
- J. Browning, C. Lester, and J. Luginsland, “A Crossed-Field Amplifier using a distributed field emission cathode,” 22nd International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference, Hamamatsu, Japan, Technical Digest, 205 206, July, 2009.
- J. Browning, C. Lester, and J. Luginsland, “Development of a ‘Smart’ Crossed-Field Amplifier,” IEEE Conference on Plasma Science, San Diego, CA, May, 2009.
- C. Lester, J. Browning, and J. Luginsland, “Electron Hop Funnel Measurement and Simulation for Various Geometries and Materials,” IEEE Conference on Plasma Science, San Diego, CA, May, 2009.
- J. Luginsland, J. Browning, M. Eaton, and B. Fowler, “Electromagnetic Particle-in-Cell Modeling of a THz BWO,” IEEE Conference on Plasma Science, San Diego, CA, May, 2009.
Selected Patents - Method and Apparatus for Testing Emissive Cathodes, US#5,751,262, issued May, 1998, Jim Browning, Charles Watkins, and David Cathey
- Flat Panel Display Drive Circuit with Switched Drive Current, US#5387844, issued Feb., 1995, Jim Browning
- Identifying and Disabling Shorted Electrodes in Field Emission Display, US36034880, issued March, 2000, Jim Browning, John Lee, Tyler Lowrey.
- Method and Apparatus for Improved Gray Scale Control in Field Emission Displays, US#5952987, issued Sept., 1999, Jim Browning, Dean Wilkinson.
- Fabrication of Field Emission Array with Vacuum Cathodic Arc Deposition, US#6027619, issued Feb., 2000, David Cathey, Jim Browning, Zhong-Yi Xia.
- Method for Cleaning Phosphor Screens for Use with Field Emission Displays, US#6409564, issued June, 2002, Jim Browning, Zhong-Yi Xia, David Cathey, Surjit Chadha.
Research
- Study of Microwave Vacuum Electron Devices (MVEDs) including Crossed-Field Amplifiers and Magnetrons. MVEDs are used in a wide variety of civilian, industrial, and military applications where high power density or high frequency are need or where high reliability is needed. Our research looks at using Gated Field Emission Arrays as the electron source for magnetrons and Crossed-Field Amplifiers in order to improve performance and operational capabilities. Research is both experimental and through simulation
- Plasma Medicine. Atmospheric pressure ionized gases (plasma) have the potential for numerous uses in the field of medicine including treating chronic wounds and decontaminating surfaces. Our research looks at a novel plasma source for generating Nitric Oxide for chronic wound healing both by experiment and simulation.