This volume presents the results of a multi-year research programme funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council), which explains how organic solar cells work. In this new promising photovoltaic technology, carbon-based materials are deposited by low-cost methods onto flexible substrates, thus allowing devices which open completely new applications like transparent coatings for building, solar cells integrated into clothing or packages, and many more. The investigation of organic solar cells is an interdisciplinary topic, covering physics, chemistry and engineering. The different chapters address topics ranging from the synthesis of new organic materials, to the characterization of the elementary processes such as exciton transport and separation, and the principles of highly efficient device design.

Significant progress has been made in advanced packaging in recent years. Several new packaging techniques have been developed and new packaging materials have been introduced. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the recent developments in this industry, particularly in the areas of microelectronics, optoelectronics, digital health, and bio-medical applications. The book discusses established techniques, as well as emerging technologies, in order to provide readers with the most up-to-date developments in advanced packaging.

This book is dedicated to the new two-dimensional one-atomic-layer-thick materials such as graphene, metallic chalcogenides, silicene and other 2D materials. The book describes their main physical properties and applications in nanoelctronics, photonics, sensing and computing. A large part of the book deals with graphene and its amazing physical properties. Another important part of the book deals with semiconductor monolayers such as MoS2 with impressive applications in photonics, and electronics. Silicene and germanene are the atom-thick counterparts of silicon and germanium with impressive applications in electronics and photonics which are still unexplored. Consideration of two-dimensional electron gas devices conclude the treatment. The physics of 2DEG is explained in detail and the applications in THz and IR region are discussed. Both authors are working currently on these 2D materials developing theory and applications.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the thermal issues in photovoltaics. It also offers an extensive overview of the physics involved and insights into possible thermal optimizations of the different photovoltaic device technologies.In general, temperature negatively affects the efficiency of photovoltaic devices. The first chapter describes the temperature-induced losses in photovoltaic devices and reviews the strategies to overcome them. The second chapter introduces the concept of temperature coefficient, the underlying physics and some guidelines for reducing their negative impacts. Subsequent chapters offer a comprehensive and general thermal model of photovoltaic devices, and review how current and emerging technologies, mainly solar cells but also thermophotovoltaic devices, can benefit from thermal optimizations.Throughout the book, the authors argue that the energy yield of photovoltaic devices can be optimized by taking their thermal behavior and operating conditions into consideration in their design.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the main electrical technologies for process heating, which tend to be treated separately in specialized books. Individual chapters focus on heat transfer, electromagnetic fields in electro-technologies, arc furnaces, resistance furnaces, direct resistance heating, induction heating, and high-frequency and microwave heating. The author highlights those topics of greatest relevance to a wide-ranging teaching program, and at the same time offer a detailed review of the main applications of the various technologies. The content represents a synthesis of the extensive knowledge and experience that the author has accumulated while researching and teaching at the University of Padua's Engineering Faculty. This text on industrial electroheating technologies is a valuable resource not only for students of industrial, electrical, chemical, and material science engineering, but also for engineers, technicians and others involved in the application of electroheating and energy-efficient industrial processes.

This work investigates the energy-level alignment of hybrid inorganic/organic systems (HIOS) comprising ZnO as the major inorganic semiconductor. In addition to offering essential insights, the thesis demonstrates HIOS energy-level alignment tuning within an unprecedented energy range. (Sub)monolayers of organic molecular donors and acceptors are introduced as an interlayer to modify HIOS interface-energy levels. By studying numerous HIOS with varying properties, the author derives generally valid systematic insights into the fundamental processes at work. In addition to molecular pinning levels, he identifies adsorption-induced band bending and gap-state density of states as playing a crucial role in the interlayer-modified energy-level alignment, thus laying the foundation for rationally controlling HIOS interface electronic properties. The thesis also presents quantitative descriptions of many aspects of the processes, opening the door for innovative HIOS interfaces and for future applications of ZnO in electronic devices.

This thesis provides a detailed introduction to quantum oscillation measurement and analysis and offers a connection between Fermi surface properties and superconductivity in high-temperature superconductors. It also discusses the field of iron-based superconductors and tests the models for the appearance of nodes in the superconducting gap of a 111-type pnictide using quantum oscillation measurements combined with band structure calculation. The same measurements were carried out to determine the quasiparticle mass in BaFe2(As1-xPx)2, which is strongly enhanced at the expected quantum critical point. While the lower superconducting critical field shows evidence of quantum criticality, the upper superconducting critical field is not influenced by the quantum critical point. These findings contradict conventional theories, demonstrating the need for a theoretical treatment of quantum critical superconductors, which has not been addressed to date. The quest to discover similar evidence in the cuprates calls for the application of extreme conditions. As such, quantum oscillation measurements were performed under high pressure in a high magnetic field, revealing a negative correlation between quasiparticle mass and superconducting critical temperature.

Excellent bridge between general solid-state physics textbook and research articles packed with providing detailed explanations of the electronic, vibrational, transport, and optical properties of semiconductors "The most striking feature of the book is its modern outlook ... provides a wonderful foundation. The most wonderful feature is its efficient style of exposition ... an excellent book." Physics Today "Presents the theoretical derivations carefully and in detail and gives thorough discussions of the experimental results it presents. This makes it an excellent textbook both for learners and for more experienced researchers wishing to check facts. I have enjoyed reading it and strongly recommend it as a text for anyone working with semiconductors ... I know of no better text ... I am sure most semiconductor physicists will find this book useful and I recommend it to them." Contemporary Physics Offers much new material: an extensive appendix about the important and by now well-established, deep center known as the DX center, additional problems and the solutions to over fifty of the problems at the end of the various chapters.

Metal-dielectric interfaces are ubiquitous in modern electronics. As advanced gigascale electronic devices continue to shrink, the stability of these interfaces is becoming an increasingly important issue that has a profound impact on the operational reliability of these devices. In this book, the authors present the basic science underlying the thermal and electrical stability of metal-dielectric interfaces and its relationship to the operation of advanced interconnect systems in gigascale electronics. Interface phenomena, including chemical reactions between metals and dielectrics, metallic-atom diffusion, and ion drift, are discussed based on fundamental physical and chemical principles. Schematic diagrams are provided throughout the book to illustrate interface phenomena and the principles that govern them. Metal-Dielectric Interfaces in Gigascale Electronics provides a unifying approach to the diverse and sometimes contradictory test results that are reported in the literature on metal-dielectric interfaces. The goal is to provide readers with a clear account of the relationship between interface science and its applications in interconnect structures. The material presented here will also be of interest to those engaged in field-effect transistor and memristor device research, as well as university researchers and industrial scientists working in the areas of electronic materials processing, semiconductor manufacturing, memory chips, and IC design.

This thesis presents an in-depth theoretical analysis of charge and spin transport properties in complex forms of disordered graphene. It relies on innovative real space computational methods of the time-dependent spreading of electronic wave packets. First a universal scaling law of the elastic mean free path versus the average grain size is predicted for polycrystalline morphologies, and charge mobilities of up to 300.000 cm2/V.s are determined for 1 micron grain size, while amorphous graphene membranes are shown to behave as Anderson insulators. An unprecedented spin relaxation mechanism, unique to graphene and driven by spin/pseudospin entanglement is then reported in the presence of weak spin-orbit interaction (gold ad-atom impurities) together with the prediction of a crossover from a quantum spin Hall Effect to spin Hall effect (for thallium ad-atoms), depending on the degree of surface ad-atom segregation and the resulting island diameter.

X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) is a powerful technique with which to probe the properties of matter, equally applicable to the solid, liquid and gas phases. Semiconductors are arguably our most technologically-relevant group of materials given they form the basis of the electronic and photonic devices that now so widely permeate almost every aspect of our society. The most effective utilisation of these materials today and tomorrow necessitates a detailed knowledge of their structural and vibrational properties. Through a series of comprehensive reviews, this book demonstrates the versatility of XAS for semiconductor materials analysis and presents important research activities in this ever growing field. A short introduction of the technique, aimed primarily at XAS newcomers, is followed by twenty independent chapters dedicated to distinct groups of materials. Topics span dopants in crystalline semiconductors and disorder in amorphous semiconductors to alloys and nanometric material as well as in-situ measurements of the effects of temperature and pressure. Summarizing research in their respective fields, the authors highlight important experimental findings and demonstrate the capabilities and applications of the XAS technique. This book provides a comprehensive review and valuable reference guide for both XAS newcomers and experts involved in semiconductor materials research.

This book introduces a variety of basic sciences and applications of the nanocomposites and heterostructures of functional oxides. The presence of a high density of interfaces and the differences in their natures are described by the authors. Both nanocomposites and heterostructures are detailed in depth by researchers from each of the research areas in order to compare their similarities and differences. A new interfacial material of heterostructure of strongly correlated electron systems is introduced.

This thesis examines the unique properties of gallium arsenide (GaAs)-based quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifiers for optical communication networks, introducing readers to their fundamentals, basic parameters and manifold applications. The static and dynamic properties of these amplifiers are discussed extensively in comparison to conventional, non quantum-dot based amplifiers, and their unique advantages are elaborated on, such as the fast carrier dynamics and the decoupling of gain and phase dynamics. In addition to diverse amplification scenarios involving single and multiple high symbol rate amplitude and phase-coded data signals, wide-range wavelength conversion as a key functionality for optical signal processing is investigated and discussed in detail. Furthermore, two novel device concepts are developed and demonstrated that have the potential to significantly simplify network architectures, reducing the investment and maintenance costs as well as the energy consumption of future networks.

This book presents a comprehensive survey about conducting polymers and their hybrids with different materials. It highlights the topics pertinent to research and development in academia and in the industry. The book thus discusses the preparation and characterization of these materials, as well as materials properties and their processing. The current challenges in the field are addressed, and an outline on new and even futuristic approaches is given. "Conducting Polymer Hybrids" is concerned with a fascinating class of materials with the promise for wide-ranging applications, including energy generation and storage, supercapacitors, electronics, display technologies, sensing, environmental and biomedical applications. The book covers a large variety of systems: one-, two-, and three-dimenstional composites and hybrids, mixed at micro- and nanolevel.

This book provides an overview of electrodeposition of nanomaterials from principles to modern concepts for advanced materials in science and technology. Electrochemical deposition or electrodeposition is explained for fabrication and mass production of functional and nanostructured device materials. The present book spans from principles to modern insights and concepts. It gives a comprehensive overview of the electrochemistry of materials, which is useful as basic information to understand concepts used for nanostructuring of electrodeposited materials, reviews the electrodeposition constituents, thermodynamics and kinetics of electrodeposition, electrochemical and instrumental assessment techniques and other physical factors affecting the electrodeposition mechanisms. A wide variety of nanostructured materials and related concepts and applications are explained with respect to nanocrystals, nanocrystalline films, template-based nanostructures, nanocomposite films, nanostructures on semiconductors, multilayers, mesoporous films, scanning microscopical probe assisted fabrication and galvanic replacement. This book is useful for researchers in materials science, engineering technologists and graduate students. It can also be used as a textbook for undergraduates and graduate students studying related disciplines.

This book describes intuitive analog design approaches using digital inverters, providing filter architectures and circuit techniques enabling high performance analog circuit design. The authors provide process, supply voltage and temperature (PVT) variation-tolerant design techniques for inverter based circuits. They also discuss various analog design techniques for lower technology nodes and lower power supply, which can be used for designing high performance systems-on-chip.

This book presents the proceedings of the International Conference on Recent Trends in Materials and Devices, which was conceived as a major contribution to large-scale efforts to foster Indian research and development in the field in close collaboration with the community of non-resident Indian researchers from all over the world. The research articles collected in this volume - selected from among the submissions for their intrinsic quality and originality, as well as for their potential value for further collaborations - document and report on a wide range of recent and significant results for various applications and scientific developments in the areas of Materials and Devices. The technical sessions covered include photovoltaics and energy storage, semiconductor materials and devices, sensors, smart and polymeric materials, optoelectronics, nanotechnology and nanomaterials, MEMS and NEMS, as well as emerging technologies.

The 3rd International Congress on Energy Efficiency and Energy Related Materials (ENEFM2015) was held from 19-23 October 2015. This congress focused on the latest developments of sustainable energy technologies, materials for sustainable energy applications and environmental and economic perspectives of energy. These proceedings included 40 peer-reviewed technical papers, submitted by leading academic and research institutions from over 23 countries and represented some of the most cutting-edge researches available. The sections included in the 40 papers are listed as follows: Solar Energy, Fuel cells, Hydrogen productions, Hydrogen storage, Energy storage, Energy saving, Biofuels and Bioenergy, Wind Energy, Nuclear Energy, Fossil Energy, Hydropower, Carbon capture and storage, Materials for renewable energy storage and conversion, Photovoltaics and solar cells, Fuel generation from renewables (catalysis), Carbon dioxide sequestration and conversion, Materials for energy saving, Thermoelectrics, Energy saving in buildings, Bio-Assessment and Toxicology, Air pollution from mobile and stationary sources, Transport of Air Pollutants, Environment-Friendly Construction and Development, Energy Management Systems.

This book presents some fundamental aspects of plasma technology that are important for beginners interested to start research in the area of plasma technology. These include the properties of plasma, methods of plasma generation and basic plasma diagnostic techniques. It also discusses several low cost plasma devices, including pulsed plasma sources such as plasma focus, pulsed capillary discharge, vacuum spark and exploding wire; as well as low temperature plasmas such as glow discharge and dielectric barrier discharge which the authors believe may have potential applications in industry. The treatments are experimental rather than theoretical, although some theoretical background is provided where appropriate. The principles of operation of these devices are also reviewed and discussed.

This book provides comprehensive coverage of Lithium (Li) metal anodes for rechargeable batteries. Li is an ideal anode material for rechargeable batteries due to its extremely high theoretical specific capacity (3860 mAh g-1), low density (0.59 g cm-3), and the lowest negative electrochemical potential ( 3.040 V vs. standard hydrogenelectrodes). Unfortunately, uncontrollable dendritic Li growth and limited Coulombic efficiency during Li deposition/stripping inherent in these batteries have prevented their practical applications over the past 40 years. With the emergence of post Liion batteries, safe and efficient operation of Li metal anodes has become an enabling technology which may determine the fate of several promising candidates for the next generation energy storage systems, including rechargeable Li-air batteries, Li-S batteries, and Li metal batteries which utilize intercalation compounds as cathodes. In this work, various factors that affect the morphology and Coulombic efficiency of Li anodes are analyzed. The authors also present the technologies utilized to characterize the morphology of Li deposition and the results obtained by modeling of Li dendrite growth. Finally, recent developments, especially the new approaches that enable safe and efficient operation of Li metal anodes at high current densities are reviewed. The urgent need and perspectives in this field are also discussed. The fundamental understanding and approaches presented in this work will be critical for the applicationof Li metal anodes. The general principles and approaches can also be used in other metal electrodes and general electrochemical deposition of metal films.

This book covers the science of interfaces between an aqueous phase and a solid, another liquid or a gaseous phase, starting from the basic physical chemistry all the way to state-of-the-art research developments. Both experimental and theoretical methods are treated thanks to the contributions of a distinguished list of authors who are all active researchers in their respective fields. The properties of these interfaces are crucial for a wide variety of processes, products and biological systems and functions, such as the formulation of personal care and food products, paints and coatings, microfluidic and lab-on-a-chip applications, cell membranes, and lung surfactants. Accordingly, research and expertise on the subject are spread over a broad range of academic disciplines and industrial laboratories. This book brings together knowledge from these different places with the aim of fostering education, collaborations and research progress.

This book presents a detailed technical overview of short- and long-term materials and design challenges to zinc/bromine flow battery advancement, the need for energy storage in the electrical grid and how these may be met with the Zn/Br system. Practical interdisciplinary pathways forward are identified via cross-comparison and comprehensive review of significant findings from more than 300 published works, with clear in-depth explanations spanning initial RFB development to state-of-the-art research in related systems. Promising strategies described include the use of modern electrochemical techniques to study and optimize physical processes occurring within the system during operation, improving zinc electroplating quality during the charge phase through the strategic use of organic additives, as well as identifying suitable catalysts to optimize the bromine/bromide redox couple. The primary focus is on research and development of novel materials in the areas of electrolyte formulation and multifunctional "smart" electrode surfaces to achieve a higher degree of control over processes at the electrode-electrolyte interface. The strategies suggested in this book are also highly adaptable for use in other similar flow battery systems, while the unique cross-comparative approach makes it a useful reference and source of new ideas for both new and established researchers in the field of energy storage and battery technology.

Gaining public attention due, in part,  to their potential application as energy storage devices in cars, Lithium-ion batteries have encountered widespread demand, however, the understanding of lithium-ion technology has often lagged behind production. This book defines the most commonly encountered challenges from the perspective of a high-end lithium-ion manufacturer with two decades of experience with lithium-ion batteries and over six decades of experience with batteries of other chemistries. Authors with years of experience in the applied science and engineering of lithium-ion batteries gather to share their view on where lithium-ion technology stands now, what are the main challenges, and their possible solutions. The book contains real-life examples of how a subtle change in cell components can have a considerable effect on cell’s performance. Examples are supported with approachable basic science commentaries. Providing a unique combination of practical know-how with an in-depth perspective, this book will appeal to graduate students, young faculty members, or others interested in the current research and development trends in lithium-ion technology.

CMOS Test and Evaluation: A Physical Perspective is a single source for an integrated view of test and data analysis methodology for CMOS products, covering circuit sensitivities to MOSFET characteristics, impact of silicon technology process variability, applications of embedded test structures and sensors, product yield, and reliability over the lifetime of the product. This book also covers statistical data analysis and visualization techniques, test equipment and CMOS product specifications, and examines product behavior over its full voltage, temperature and frequency range.

This book is a must-have reference to dry etching technology for semiconductors, which will enable engineers to develop new etching processes for further miniaturization and integration of semiconductor integrated circuits. The author describes the device manufacturing flow, and explains in which part of the flow dry etching is actually used. The content is designed as a practical guide for engineers working at chip makers, equipment suppliers and materials suppliers, and university students studying plasma, focusing on the topics they need most, such as detailed etching processes for each material (Si, SiO2, Metal etc) used in semiconductor devices, etching equipment used in manufacturing fabs, explanation of why a particular plasma source and gas chemistry are used for the etching of each material, and how to develop etching processes. The latest, key technologies are also described, such as 3D IC Etching, Dual Damascene Etching, Low-k Etching, Hi-k/Metal Gate Etching, FinFET Etching, Double Patterning etc.