In the last couple of decades, high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices based on semiconductor heterostructures have been required to obtain increasingly strict and well-defined performances, needing a detailed control, at the atomic level, of the structural composition of the buried interfaces. This goal has been achieved by an improvement of the epitaxial growth techniques and by the parallel use of increasingly sophisticated characterization techniques and of refined theoretical models based on ab initio approaches. This book deals with description of both characterization techniques and theoretical models needed to understand and predict the structural and electronic properties of semiconductor heterostructures and nanostructures. - Comprehensive collection of the most powerful characterization techniques for semiconductor heterostructures and nanostructures - Most of the chapters are authored by scientists that are among the top 10 worldwide in publication ranking of the specific field - Each chapter starts with a didactic introduction on the technique - The second part of each chapter deals with a selection of top examples highlighting the power of the specific technique to analyze the properties of semiconductors

This book presents the fabrication of optoelectronic nanodevices. The structures considered are nanowires, nanorods, hybrid semiconductor nanostructures, wide bandgap nanostructures for visible light emitters and graphene. The device applications of these structures are broadly explained. The book deals also with the characterization of semiconductor nanostructures. It appeals to researchers and graduate students.

- This book contains full account of the advances made in the dilute nitrides, providing an excellent starting point for workers entering the field. - It gives the reader easier access and better evaluation of future trends, Conveying important results and current ideas. - Includes a generous list of references at the end of each chapter, providing a useful reference to the III-V-N based semiconductors research community. The high speed lasers operating at wavelength of 1.3 μm and 1.55 μm are very important light sources in optical communications since the optical fiber used as a transport media of light has dispersion and attenuation minima, respectively, at these wavelengths. These long wavelengths are exclusively made of InP-based material InGaAsP/InP. However, there are several problems with this material system. Therefore, there has been considerable effort for many years to fabricate long wavelength laser structures on other substrates, especially GaAs. The manufacturing costs of GaAs-based components are lower and the processing techniques are well developed. In 1996 a novel quaternary material GaInAsN was proposed which could avoid several problems with the existing technology of long wavelength lasers. In this book, several leaders in the field of dilute nitrides will cover the growth and processing, experimental characterization, theoretical understanding, and device design and fabrication of this recently developed class of semiconductor alloys. They will review their current status of research and development. Dilute Nitrides (III-N-V) Semiconductors: Physics and Technology organises the most current available data, providing a ready source of information on a wide range of topics, making this book essential reading for all post graduate students, researchers and practitioners in the fields of Semiconductors and Optoelectronics - Contains full account of the advances made in the dilute nitrides, providing an excellent starting point for workers entering the field - Gives the reader easier access and better evaluation of future trends, conveying important results and current ideas - Includes a generous list of references at the end of each chapter, providing a useful reference to the III-V-N based semiconductors research community

The main focus of the book are the physical mechanisms behind the spontaneous formation of ordered nanostructures at semiconductor surfaces. These mechanisms are at the root of recent breakthroughs in advanced nanotechnology of quantum-wire and quantum-dot fabrication. Generic theoretical models are presented addressing formation of all basic types of nanostructures, including periodically faceted surfaces, arrays of step-bunches of equal heights and single- and multi-sheet arrays of both 2- and 3-D strained islands. Decisive experiments on both structural and optical characterization of nanostructures are discussed to verify theoretical models and link them to practical examples.

Written primarily from an experimental point of view, this book is devoted to the growth and characterization of epitaxial semiconductor nanostructures, with emphasis on the following approaches: strain-driven self-organization, droplet epitaxy, high index surfaces, and lithographic or template-based patterning. A rich spectrum in the morphological evolution of multiple dimensional nanostructures will be addressed, including quantum dots, quantum dot arrays, quantum dot molecules, quantum rings, and quantum wires. Epitaxial Semiconductor Nanostructures will be an indispensable resource for a broad readership, from the beginning graduate student interested in semiconductor nanostructures to the senior scientist in academia and industry.

The extended and revised edition of this textbook provides essential information for a comprehensive upper-level graduate course on the crystalline growth of semiconductor heterostructures. Heteroepitaxy is the basis of today’s advanced electronic and optoelectronic devices, and it is considered one of the most important fields in materials research and nanotechnology. The book discusses the structural and electronic properties of strained epitaxial layers, the thermodynamics and kinetics of layer growth, and it describes the major growth techniques: metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy, molecular-beam epitaxy, and liquid-phase epitaxy. It also examines in detail cubic and hexagonal semiconductors, strain relaxation by misfit dislocations, strain and confinement effects on electronic states, surface structures, and processes during nucleation and growth. Requiring only minimal knowledge of solid-state physics, it provides natural sciences, materials science and electrical engineering students and their lecturers elementary introductions to the theory and practice of epitaxial growth, supported by references and over 300 detailed illustrations. In this second edition, many topics have been extended and treated in more detail, e.g. in situ growth monitoring, application of surfactants, properties of dislocations and defects in organic crystals, and special growth techniques like vapor-liquid-solid growth of nanowires and selective-area epitaxy.