This text is a first attempt to pull together the whole of semiconductor science and technology since 1970 in so far as semiconductor multilayers are concerned. Material, technology, physics and device issues are described with approximately equal emphasis, and form a single coherant point of view. The subject matter is the concern of over half of today's active semiconductor scientists and technologists, the remainder working on bulk semiconductors and devices. It is now routine to design and the prepare semiconductor multilayers at a time, with independent control over the dropping and composition in each layer. In turn these multilayers can be patterned with features that as a small as a few atomic layers in lateral extent. The resulting structures open up many new ares of exciting solid state and quantum physics. They have also led to whole new generations of electronic and optoelectronic devices whose superior performance relates back to the multilayer structures. The principles established in the field have several decades to go, advancing towards the ultimate of materials engineering, the design and preparation of solids atom by atom. The book should appeal equally to physicists, electronic engineers and materials scientists.
This book describes the advances in semiconductor science and technology over the last 25 years, with multilayer semiconductor structures as the constant theme running through the book. While mainstream silicon memory and microprocessor chips still work with uniform silicon as the starting point, the whole of communication both electronic and optical, rely on multilayers. During that time the performance of semiconductor devices, whether this be speed, sensitivity, efficiency or any other attribute, has greatly advanced. This book describes new and exciting quantum physics, advances with materials and technology, and the devices themselves, in a unified and coherent overview.
This book describes the advances in semiconductor science and technology over the last 25 years, with multilayer semiconductor structures as the constant theme running through the book. While mainstream silicon memory and microprocessor chips still work with uniform silicon as the starting point, the whole of communication both electronic and optical, rely on multilayers. During that time the performance of semiconductor devices, whether this be speed, sensitivity, efficiency or any other attribute, has greatly advanced. This book describes new and exciting quantum physics, advances with materials and technology, and the devices themselves, in a unified and coherent overview.