This textbook presents a detailed description of basic semiconductor physics, covering a wide range of important phenomena in semiconductors, from simple to advanced. It introduces and explains four different methods of energy band calculations in the full band region and covers fundamental topics such as the effective mass approximation and electron motion in a periodic potential, the Boltzmann transport equation, and deformation potentials used for the analysis of transport properties. The text also examines experimental and theoretical analyses of cyclotron resonance in detail and reviews essential optical and transport properties, while covering optical transitions, electron–phonon interaction, and electron mobility. It presents numerical calculations of scattering rate, relaxation time, and mobility for typical semiconductors with bulk, quantum well and HEMT structures including wideband gap materials such as GaN and SiC in addition to IV and III-V semiconductors.

Physics of Semiconductor Devices covers both basic classic topics such as energy band theory and the gradual-channel model of the MOSFET as well as advanced concepts and devices such as MOSFET short-channel effects, low-dimensional devices and single-electron transistors. Concepts are introduced to the reader in a simple way, often using comparisons to everyday-life experiences such as simple fluid mechanics. They are then explained in depth and mathematical developments are fully described.

Large computational resources are of ever increasing importance for the simulation of semiconductor processes, devices and integrated circuits. The Workshop on Computational Electronics was intended to be a forum for the dis­ cussion of the state-of-the-art of device simulation. Three major research areas were covered: conventional simulations, based on the drift-diffusion and the hydrodynamic models; Monte Carlo methods and other techniques for the solution of the Boltzmann transport equation; and computational approaches to quantum transport which are relevant to novel devices based on quantum interference and resonant tunneling phenomena. Our goal was to bring together researchers from various disciplines that contribute to the advancement of device simulation. These include Computer Sci­ ence, Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics. The suc­ cess of this multidisciplinary formula was proven by numerous interactions which took place at the Workshop and during the following three-day Short Course on Computational Electronics. The format of the course, including a number of tutorial lectures, and the large attendance of graduate students, stimulated many discussions and has proven to us once more the importance of cross-fertilization between the different disciplines.

The design and optimization of electronic systems often requires appraisal an of the electrical noise generated by active devices, and, at a technological level, the ability to properly design active elements in order to minimize, when possible, their noise. Examples of critical applications are, of course, receiver front-ends in RF and optoelectronic transmission systems, but also front-end stages in sensors and, in a completely different context, nonlinear circuits such as oscillators, mixers, and frequency multipliers. The rapid de­ velopment of silicon RF applications has recently fostered the interest toward low-noise silicon devices for the lower microwave band, such as low-noise MOS transistors; at the same time, the RF and microwave ranges are be­ coming increasingly important in fast optical communication systems. Thus, high-frequency noise modeling and simulation of both silicon and compound­ semiconductor based bipolar and field-effect transistors can be considered as an important and timely topic. This does not exclude, of course, low­ frequency noise, which is relevant also in the RF and microwave ranges when­ ever it is up-converted within a nonlinear system, either autonomous (as an oscillator) or non-autonomous (as a mixer or frequency multiplier). The aim of the present book is to provide a thorough introduction to the physics-based numerical modeling of semiconductor devices operating both in small-signal and in large-signal conditions. In the latter instance, only the non-autonomous case was considered, and thus the present treatment does not directly extend to oscillators.

The purpose of this book is to provide the reader with a self-contained treatment of fundamen­ tal solid state and semiconductor device physics. The material presented in the text is based upon the lecture notes of a one-year graduate course sequence taught by this author for many years in the ·Department of Electrical Engineering of the University of Florida. It is intended as an introductory textbook for graduate students in electrical engineering. However, many students from other disciplines and backgrounds such as chemical engineering, materials science, and physics have also taken this course sequence, and will be interested in the material presented herein. This book may also serve as a general reference for device engineers in the semiconductor industry. The present volume covers a wide variety of topics on basic solid state physics and physical principles of various semiconductor devices. The main subjects covered include crystal structures, lattice dynamics, semiconductor statistics, energy band theory, excess carrier phenomena and recombination mechanisms, carrier transport and scattering mechanisms, optical properties, photoelectric effects, metal-semiconductor devices, the p–n junction diode, bipolar junction transistor, MOS devices, photonic devices, quantum effect devices, and high­ speed III-V semiconductor devices. The text presents a unified and balanced treatment of the physics of semiconductor materials and devices. It is intended to provide physicists and mat­ erials scientists with more device backgrounds, and device engineers with a broader knowledge of fundamental solid state physics.

Televisions, telephones, watches, calculators, robots, airplanes and space vehicles all depend on silicon chips. Life as we know it would hardly be possible without semiconductor devices. An understanding of how these devices work requires a detailed knowledge of the physics of semiconductors, including charge transport and the emission and absorption of electromagnetic waves. This book may serve both as a university textbook and as a reference for research and microelectronics engineering. Each section of the book begins with a description of an experiment. The theory is then developed as far as necessary to understand the experimental results. Everyone with high-school mathematics should be able to follow the calculations. The band structure calculations for the diamond and zinc blende types of lattice are supplemented with a personal computer program. Semiconductor physics developed most rapidly in the two decades following the invention of the transistor, and naturally most of the references date from this time. But recent developments such as the Gunn effect, the acoustoelectric effect, superlattices, quantum well structures, and the quantum Hall effect are also discussed. The exercises provided (answers to which are available) will greatly assist the student in consolidating the material presented. From the reviews:"This book is a must for any theoretical and experimental physicist working in the area of semiconductor physics." #Physicalia#1

Semiconductor nanostructures are a field of enormous and still-growing research interest. On one hand, they are already realized in mass products, e.g., in high-electron-mobility field-effect transistors and quantum-well lasers. On the other hand, they allow, in specially tailored systems, the investigation of fundamental properties, such as many-particle interactions of electrons in reduced dimensions. This book attempts to fill the gap between general semiconductor textbooks and research articles. It provides (i) an introduction into the basic concepts of inelastic light scattering on semiconductor nanostructures and into their fabrication and basic properties, and, (ii) a description of the most striking recent advances in this field. Each chapter is as self-contained as possible. The monograph should interest researchers, experimentalists as well as theorists, and research students working in the field. It should also be interesting for graduate students with knowledge in solid-state physics and quantum mechanics who are interested in optical spectroscopies of semiconductors.

This volume provides a comprehensive overview of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels for direct electric power production.