The Handbook Series on Semiconductor Parameters will consist of 5 volumes and will include data on the most popular semiconductor materials. These volumes aim to be a basic reference for scientists, engineers, students and technicians working in semiconductor materials and devices. The books have been kept compact but comprehensive and contain the values of frequently needed parameters selected and commented by leading experts on these materials. The first volume will include data on Si, Ge, diamond, GaAs, GaP, GaSb, InAs, InP, and InSb.

The Handbook Series on Semiconductor Parameters will consist of 5 volumes and will include data on the most popular semiconductor materials. These volumes aim to be a basic reference for scientists, engineers, students and technicians working in semiconductor materials and devices. The books have been kept compact but comprehensive and contain the values of frequently needed parameters selected and commented by leading experts on these materials. The first volume will include data on Si, Ge, diamond, GaAs, GaP, GaSb, InAs, InP, and InSb.

The Handbook Series on Semiconductor Parameters will consist of 5 volumes and will include data on the most popular semiconductor materials. These volumes aim to be a basic reference for scientists, engineers, students and technicians working in semiconductor materials and devices. The books have been kept compact but comprehensive and contain the values of frequently needed parameters selected and commented by leading experts on these materials. The first volume will include data on Si, Ge, diamond, GaAs, GaP, GaSb, InAs, InP, and InSb.

Impact ionization, avalanche and breakdown phenomena form the basis of many very interesting and important semiconductor devices, such as avalanche photodiodes, avalanche transistors, suppressors, sharpening diodes (diodes with delayed breakdown), as well as IMPATT and TRAPATT diodes. In order to provide maximal speed and power, many semiconductor devices must operate under or very close to breakdown conditions. Consequently, an acquaintance with breakdown phenomena is essential for scientists or engineers dealing with semiconductor devices.The aim of this book is to summarize the main experimental results on avalanche and breakdown phenomena in semiconductors and semiconductor devices and to analyze their features from a unified point of view. Attention is focused on the phenomenology of avalanche multiplication and the various kinds of breakdown phenomena and their qualitative analysis.

Impact ionization, avalanche and breakdown phenomena form the basis of many very interesting and important semiconductor devices, such as avalanche photodiodes, avalanche transistors, suppressors, sharpening diodes (diodes with delayed breakdown), as well as IMPATT and TRAPATT diodes. In order to provide maximal speed and power, many semiconductor devices must operate under or very close to breakdown conditions. Consequently, an acquaintance with breakdown phenomena is essential for scientists or engineers dealing with semiconductor devices.The aim of this book is to summarize the main experimental results on avalanche and breakdown phenomena in semiconductors and semiconductor devices and to analyze their features from a unified point of view. Attention is focused on the phenomenology of avalanche multiplication and the various kinds of breakdown phenomena and their qualitative analysis.

A bird's-eye view of the developmental trends and problems of recent photovoltaics is presented. The worldwide effort to develop high-efficiency low-cost PV modules, making use of most efficient solar cells and clever low-cost solar concentrators is described.

The technological progress is closely related to the developments of various materials and tools made of those materials. Even the different ages have been defined in relation to the materials used. Some of the major attributes of the present-day age (i.e., the electronic materials’ age) are such common tools as computers and fiber-optic telecommunication systems, in which semiconductor materials provide vital components for various mic- electronic and optoelectronic devices in applications such as computing, memory storage, and communication. The field of semiconductors encompasses a variety of disciplines. This book is not intended to provide a comprehensive description of a wide range of semiconductor properties or of a continually increasing number of the semiconductor device applications. Rather, the main purpose of this book is to provide an introductory perspective on the basic principles of semiconductor materials and their applications that are described in a relatively concise format in a single volume. Thus, this book should especially be suitable as an introductory text for a single course on semiconductor materials that may be taken by both undergraduate and graduate engineering students. This book should also be useful, as a concise reference on semiconductor materials, for researchers working in a wide variety of fields in physical and engineering sciences.

The alloy system A1GaAs/GaAs is potentially of great importance for many high-speed electronics and optoelectronic devices, because the lattice parameter difference GaAs and A1GaAs is very small, which promises an insignificant concentration of undesirable interface states. Thanks to this prominent feature, a number of interesting properties and phenomena, such as high-mobility low-dimensional carrier gases, resonant tunnelling and fractional quantum Hall effect, have been found in the A1GaAs/GaAs heterostructure system. New devices, such as modulation-doped FETs, heterojunction bipolar transistors, resonant tunnelling transistors, quantum-well lasers, and other photonic and quantum-effect devices, have also been developed recently using this material system. These areas are recognized as not being the most interesting and active fields in semiconductor physics and device engineering.