The Physics of Semiconductors
With Applications to Optoelectronic Devices

Graduate text with comprehensive treatment of semiconductor device physics and engineering, and descriptions of real optoelectronic devices.

Kevin F. Brennan (Author)

9780521596626, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 February 1999

780 pages, 248 b/w illus. 32 tables 145 exercises
24.6 x 18.9 x 3.9 cm, 1.3 kg

' … this book may well be a valuable and useful textbook on the physics of semiconductors and semiconductor devices, for not only physics students but more so for engineering students and engineers working in optoelectronics. It is written professionaly in a very competent and clear way. All problems are discussed correctly and presented in an interesting and comprehensive manner with reasonable use of mathematics for quantitative description. I hope that this book will be recognized as a good contribution to the literature of modern semiconductor physics books.' I. Strzalkowski, European Journal of Physics

Modern fabrication techniques have made it possible to produce semiconductor devices whose dimensions are so small that quantum mechanical effects dominate their behavior. This book describes the key elements of quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, and solid-state physics that are necessary in understanding these modern semiconductor devices. The author begins with a review of elementary quantum mechanics, and then describes more advanced topics, such as multiple quantum wells. He then disusses equilibrium and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. Following this introduction, he provides a thorough treatment of solid-state physics, covering electron motion in periodic potentials, electron-phonon interaction, and recombination processes. The final four chapters deal exclusively with real devices, such as semiconductor lasers, photodiodes, flat panel displays, and MOSFETs. The book contains many homework exercises and is suitable as a textbook for electrical engineering, materials science, or physics students taking courses in solid-state device physics. It will also be a valuable reference for practising engineers in optoelectronics and related areas.

1. Basic concepts in quantum mechanics
2. One dimensional potential problems
3. Three dimensional potential problems
4. Approximation methods in quantum mechanics
5. Equilibrium statistical mechanics
6. Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics
7. Multielectron systems and crystalline symmetries
8. Motion of electrons in a periodic potential
9. Phonons and the electron-phonon interaction
10. Generation and recombination processes in semiconductors
11. Junctions
12. Semiconductor photonic detectors
13. Optoelectronic emitters
14. Field effect devices.

Subject Areas: Semi-conductors & super-conductors [TJFD5]