Prof. Kimerling's research has had fundamental impact on the understanding of the chemical and electrical properties of defects in semiconductors and in the use of this knowledge in materials processing and component reliability. His research teams have enabled long-lived telecommunications lasers, produced the first 1MB DRAM, developed semiconductor diagnostic methods such as DLTS, SEM-EBIC, and RF-PCD, and pioneered silicon microphotonics. His MIT research on silicon processing has addressed integrated circuit fabrication, microphotonic materials and devices, solar energy conversion and environmentally benign integrated circuit manufacturing. Among the achievements of this research are the creation of a process simulator for wafer contamination gettering; development of a new ultrasensitive measurement for silicon surface perfection; the discovery of a surface passivation method for the reduction of cleaning steps in manufacturing; and the development of in-situ diagnostic tools for wet chemical process control.