Volume 1 of Point Defects in Solids has as its major emphasis defects in ionic solids. Volume 2 now extends this emphasis to semiconductors. The first four chapters treat in some detail the creation, kinetic behavior, inter actions, and physical properties of both simple and composite defects in a variety of semiconducting systems. Also included, as in Vol. 1, are chapters on special topics, namely phonon-defect interactions and defects in organic crystals. Defect behavior in semiconductors has been a subject of considerable interest since the discovery some twenty-five years ago that fast neutron irradiation profoundly affected the electrical characteristics of germanium and silicon. Present-day interest has been stimulated by such semiconductor applications as solar cell power plants for space stations and satellites and semiconductor particle and y-ray detectors, since in both radiation damage can cause serious deterioration. Of even greater practical concern is the need to understand particle damage in order to capitalize upon the develop ing technique of ion implantation as a means of device fabrication. Although the periodic international conferences on radiation effects in semiconductors have served the valuable function of summarizing the extensive work being done in this field, these proceedings are much too detailed and lack the background discussion needed to make them useful to the novice.

Volume 1 of Point Defects in Solids has as its major emphasis defects in ionic solids. Volume 2 now extends this emphasis to semiconductors. The first four chapters treat in some detail the creation, kinetic behavior, inter actions, and physical properties of both simple and composite defects in a variety of semiconducting systems. Also included, as in Vol. 1, are chapters on special topics, namely phonon-defect interactions and defects in organic crystals. Defect behavior in semiconductors has been a subject of considerable interest since the discovery some twenty-five years ago that fast neutron irradiation profoundly affected the electrical characteristics of germanium and silicon. Present-day interest has been stimulated by such semiconductor applications as solar cell power plants for space stations and satellites and semiconductor particle and y-ray detectors, since in both radiation damage can cause serious deterioration. Of even greater practical concern is the need to understand particle damage in order to capitalize upon the develop ing technique of ion implantation as a means of device fabrication. Although the periodic international conferences on radiation effects in semiconductors have served the valuable function of summarizing the extensive work being done in this field, these proceedings are much too detailed and lack the background discussion needed to make them useful to the novice.

Crystal defects can no longer be thought of as a scientific curiosity, but must be considered an important aspect of solid-state science. This is largely because many of the more interesting properties of crystalline solids are disproportionately dominated by effects due to a tiny concentration of imperfections in an otherwise perfect lattice. The physics of such lattice defects is not only of significance in a great variety of applications, but is also interesting in its own right. Thus, an extensive science of point defects and dislocations has been constructed during the past two and a half decades. Stimulated by the technological and scientific interest in plasticity, there have appeared in recent years rather a large number of books dealing with dislocations; in the case of point defects, however, only very few broad and extensive treatments have been published. Thus, there are few compre hensive, tutorial sources for the scientist or engineer whose research ac tivities are affected by point defect phenomena, or who might wish to enter the field. It is partially to fill this need that the present treatise aims.

The study of defects and disorder in solids remains a central topic in solid state science. Developments in the field continue to be promoted by new experimental and theoretical techniques, while further impetus for the study of disorder in solids is provided by the growing range of applications of solid state materials in which disorder at the atomic level plays a crucial rOle. In this book we attempt to present a survey of fundamental and applied aspects of the field. We consider the basic aspects of defective crystalline and amorphous solids. We discuss recent studies of structural, electronic, transport, thermodynamic and spectroscopic properties of such materials. Experimental and theoretical methodologies are reviewed, and detailed consideration is given to materials such as fast ion conductors and amorphous semiconductors that are of importance in an applied context. Any survey of this large field is necessarily selective. We have chosen to emphasise insulating (especially oxidic) and semi-conducting materials. But many of the approaches and techniques we describe apply generally across the entire field of solid state science. This volume is based on a NATO ASI held at the Residencia Santa Teresa de Jesus, Madrid in September 1991. The Editor is grateful to the NATO Scientific Affairs Division for their sponsorship of this School. Thanks are also due to all who participated in and lectured at the school, but especially to the organising committee of A. V. Chadwick, G. N. Greaves, M. Grigorkiewicz, J. H. Harding and S. Kalbitzer. C. R. A.

The Advanced Study Institute of which this volume is the proceedings was held at the University of Exeter during 24 August to 6 September 1975. There were seventy participants of whom eighteen were lecturers and members of the advisory committee. All NATO countries except Holland, Iceland and Portugal were re presented. In addition a small number of participants came from non-NATO countries Japan, Ireland and Switzerland. An aim of the organising committee was to bring together scientists of wide interests and expertise in the defect structure of insulators and semiconductors. Thus major emphases in the pro gramme concerned the use of spectroscopy and microscopy in revealing the structure of point defects and their aggregates, line defects as well as planar and volume defects. The lectures revealed that in general little is known of the fate of the interstitial in most irradiated solids. Nor are the dynamic properties of defects under stood in sufficient detail that one can state how point defects cluster and eventually become macroscopic defects. Although this book faithfully reproduces the material covered by the invited speakers, it does not really follow the flow of the lectures. This is because it seemed advisable for each lecturer to provide a single self-contained and authoritative manuscript, rather than a series of short articles corresponding to the lectures.