Nanoscale Science and Technology summarizes six years of active research sponsored by NATO with the participation of the leading experts. The book provides an interdisciplinary view of several aspects of physics at the atomic scale. It contains an overview of the latest findings on the transport of electrons in nanowires and nanoconstrictions, the role of forces in probe microscopy, the control of structures and properties in the nanometer range, aspects of magnetization in nanometric structures, and local probes for nondestructive measurement as provided by light and metal clusters near atomic scales.

The precedent book with the title "Structural Analysis of Point Defects in Solids: An introduction to multiple magnetic resonance spectroscopy" ap peared about 10 years ago. Since then a very active development has oc curred both with respect to the experimental methods and the theoretical interpretation of the experimental results. It would therefore not have been sufficient to simply publish a second edition of the precedent book with cor rections and a few additions. Furthermore the application of the multiple magnetic resonance methods has more and more shifted towards materials science and represents one of the important methods of materials analysis. Multiple magnetic resonances are used less now for "fundamental" studies in solid state physics. Therefore a more "pedestrian" access to the meth ods is called for to help the materials scientist to use them or to appreciate results obtained by using these methods. We have kept the two introduc tory chapters on conventional electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) of the precedent book which are the base for the multiple resonance methods. The chapter on optical detection of EPR (ODEPR) was supplemented by sections on the structural information one can get from "forbidden" transitions as well as on spatial correlations between defects in the so-called "cross relaxation spectroscopy." High-field ODEPR/ENDOR was also added. The chapter on stationary electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) was supplemented by the method of stochastic END OR developed a few years ago in Paderborn which is now also commercially available."

The properties of new nanoscale materials, their fabrication and applications, as well as the operational principles of nanodevices and systems, are solely determined by quantum-mechanical laws and principles. This textbook introduces engineers to quantum mechanics and the world of nanostructures, enabling them to apply the theories to numerous nanostructure problems. The textbook covers the fundamentals of quantum mechanics, including uncertainty relations, the Schrodinger equation, perturbation theory, and tunneling. These are then applied to a quantum dot, the smallest artificial atom, and compared to hydrogen, the smallest atom in nature. Nanoscale objects with higher dimensionality, such as quantum wires and quantum wells, are introduced, as well as nanoscale materials and nanodevices. Numerous examples throughout the text help students to understand the material.

Computer-aided-design (CAD) of semiconductor microtransducers is relatively new in contrast to their counterparts in the integrated circuit world. Integrated silicon microtransducers are realized using microfabrication techniques similar to those for standard integrated circuits (ICs). Unlike IC devices, however, microtransducers must interact with their environment, so their numerical simulation is considerably more complex. While the design of ICs aims at suppressing "parasitic effects, microtransducers thrive on optimizing the one or the other such effect. The challenging quest for physical models and simulation tools enabling microtransducer CAD is the topic of this book. It is intended as a text for graduate students in Electrical Engineering and Physics and as a reference for CAD engineers in the microsystems industry. This text evolved from a series of courses offered to graduate students from Electrical Engineering and Physics. Much of the material in the book can be presented in about 40 hours of lecture time. The book starts with an illustrative example which highlights the goals and benefits of microtransducer CAD. This follows with a summary of model equations describing electrical transport in semiconductor devices and microtransducers in the absence of external fields. Models treating the effects of the external radiant, magnetic, thermal, and mechanical fields on electrical transport are then systematically introduced. To enable a smooth transition into modeling of mechanical systems, an abridged version of solid structural and fluid mechanics is presented, whereby the focus is on pertinent model equations and boundary conditions. This follows with model equations and boundary conditions relevant to various types of mechanical microactuators including electrostatic, thermal, magnetic, piezoelectric, and electroacoustic. The book concludes with a glimpse into SPICE simulation of the mixed-signal microsystem, i.e., microtransducer plus circuitry. Where possible, the model equations are supplemented with tables and/or graphs of process-dependent material data to enable the CAD engineer to carry out simulations even when reliable material models are not available. IVZ LANG: Introduction: Modeling and Simulation of Microtransducers; Illustrative Example; Progress in Microtransducer Modeling; References.- Basic Electronic Transport: Poisson s Equation; Continuity Equations; Carrier Transport in Crystalline Materials and Isothermal Behavior; Electrical Conductivity and Isothermal Behavior in Polycrystalline Materials; Electrical Conductivity and Isothermal Behavior in Metals; Boundary and Interface Conditions; The External Fields What Do They Influence?; References.- Radiation Effects on Carrier Transport: Reflection and Transmission of Optical Signals; Modeling Optical Absorption in Intrinsic Semiconductors; Absorption in Heavily-Doped Semiconductors; Optical Generation Rate and Quantum Efficiency; Low Energy Interactions with Insulators and Metals; High Energy Interactions and Monte Carlo Simulations; Model Equations for Radiant Sensor Simulation; Illustrative Simulation Example Color Sensor; References.- Magnetic-Field Effects on Carrier Transport: Galvanomagnetic Transport Equation; Galvanomagnetic Transport Coefficients; Equations and Boundary Conditions for Magnetic Sensor Simulation; Illustrative Simulation Example Micromachined Magnetic Vector Probe; References.- Thermal Non-Uniformity Effects on Carrier Transport: Non-Isothermal Effects; Electrothermal Transport Model; Electrical and Thermal Transport Coefficients; Electro-Thermo-Magnetic Interactions; Heat Transfer in Thermal Microstructures; Summary of Equations and Computational Procedure; Illustrative Simulation Example Micro Pirani Gauge; References.- Mechanical Effects on Carrier Transport: Piezoresistive Effect; Strain and Electron Transport; Strain and Hole Transport; Piezojunction Effect; Effects of Stress Gradients; Galvano-Piezo-Magnetic Effects; The Piezo Drift-Diffusion Transport Model; Illustrative Simulation Example Stress Effects on Hall Sensors; References.- Mechanical and Fluidic Signals: Definitions; Model Equations for Mechanical Analysis; Model Equations for Analysis of Fluid Transport; Illustrative Simulation Example Analysis of Flow Channels; References.- Micro-Actuation: Transduction Principles; State-of-the-Art and Preview; Electrostatic Actuation; Thermal Actuation; Magnetic Actuation; Piezoelectric Actuation; Electroacoustic Transducers; Computational Procedure and Coupling; Illustrative Example CMOS Micromirror.- Microsystem Simulation: Electrical Analogues for Mixed-Signals and Historical Developments; Circuit Modeling and Implementation Considerations; Lumped Analysis: Illustrative Example Electrostatic Micromirror; Distributed Analysis: Illustrative Example Flow Microsensor; References.- Subject Index."

In recent years, III-V devices, integrated circuits, and superconducting integrated circuits have emerged as leading contenders for high-frequency and ultrahigh speed applications. GaAs MESFETs have been applied in microwave systems as low-noise and high-power amplifiers since the early 1970s, replacing silicon devices. The heterojunction high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT), invented in 1980, has become a key component for satellite broadcasting receiver systems, serving as the ultra-low-noise device at 12 GHz. Furthermore, the heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) has been considered as having the highest switching speed and cutoff frequency in the semiconductor device field. Initially most of these devices were used for analog high-frequency applications, but there is also a strong need to develop high-speed III-V digital devices for computer, telecom munication, and instrumentation systems, to replace silicon high-speed devices, because of the switching-speed and power-dissipation limitations of silicon. The potential high speed and low power dissipation of digital integrated circuits using GaAs MESFET, HEMT, HBT, and superconducting Josephson junction devices has evoked tremendous competition in the race to develop such technology. A technology review shows that Japanese research institutes and companies have taken the lead in the development of these devices, and some integrated circuits have already been applied to supercomputers in Japan. The activities of Japanese research institutes and companies in the III-V and superconducting device fields have been superior for three reasons. First, bulk crystal growth, epitaxial growth, process, and design technology were developed at the same time.

Introducing graduate students in physics, optics, materials science and electrical engineering to surface plasmons, this book also covers guided modes at planar interfaces of metamaterials with negative refractive index. The physics of localized and propagating surface plasmons, on planar films, gratings, nanowires and nanoparticles, is developed using both analytical and numerical techniques. Guided modes at the interfaces between materials with any combination of positive or negative permittivity and permeability are analyzed in a systematic manner. Applications of surface plasmon physics are described, including near-field transducers in heat-assisted magnetic recording and biosensors. Resources at www.cambridge.org/9780521767170 include Mathematica code to generate figures from the book, color versions of many figures, and extended discussion of topics such as vector diffraction theory.

This book is about how to avoid the accidents and injuries that may occur when batteries are abused or mishandled. It is the first book to deal specifically with this subject in a reasonably comprehensive manner accessible to readers ranging from regular consumers to technical specialists. Batteries and battery processes are described in sufficient detail to enable readers to understand why and how batteries cause accidents and what can be done to prevent them. Each year in the United States alone, thousands of individuals are injured by battery accidents, some of which are severely disabling. The tragedy is that such accidents need not occur. The book is intended to satisfy the needs of a varied group of readers: battery users in general, battery engineers, and designers of battery-operated equipment and consumer electronics. Since the book is a reference source of information on batteries and battery chemicals, we believe it may also be useful to those studying the environment as well as to medical personnel called upon to treat battery injuries. There are no prerequisites for an under standing of the text other than an interest in batteries and their safe usage.

The conference ESSDERC '89 held in September 1989 in Berlin was concerned with the physics, electrical characteristics, reliability and processing of solid state devices and electronic materials. The proceedings contain all invited and contributed papers of the conference and thus becomes a state-of-the-art-report of solid state device research in Europe 1989.

The NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Coherent Optical Processes in Semiconductors was held in Cambridge, England on August 11-14,1993. The idea of holding this Workshop grew from the recent upsurge in activity on coherent transient effects in semiconductors. The development of this field reflects advances in both light sources and the quality of semiconductor structures, such that tunable optical pulses are now routinely available whose duration is shorter than the dephasing time for excitonic states in quantum wells. It was therefore no surprise to the organisers that as the programme developed, there emerged a heavy emphasis on time-resolved four-wave mixing, particularly in quantum wells. Nevertheless, other issues concerned with coherent effects ensured that several papers on related problems contributed some variety. The topics discussed at the workshop centred on what is a rather new field of study, and benefited enormously by having participants representing many of the principal groups working in this area. Several themes emerged through the invited contributions at the Workshop. One important development has been the careful examination of the two-level model of excitonic effects; a model which has been remarkably successful despite the expected complexities arising from the semiconductor band structure. Indeed, modest extensions to the two level model have been able to offer a useful account for some of the complicated polarisation dependence of four-wave mixing signals from GaAs quantum wells. This work clearly is leading to an improved understanding of excitons in confined systems.

We present an overview of the theoretical background and experimental re sults in the rapidly developing field of semiconductor quantum dots - systems 8 6 of dimensions as small as 10- -10- m (quasi-zero-dimensional) that contain a small and controllable number (1-1000) of electrons. The electronic structure of quantum dots, including the energy quan tization of the single-particle states (due to spatial confinement) and the evolution of these (Fock-Darwin) states in an increasing external magnetic field, is described. The properties of many-electron systems confined in a dot are also studied. This includes the separation of the center-of-mass mo tion for the parabolic confining potential (and hence the insensitivity of the transitions under far infrared radiation to the Coulomb interactions and the number of particles - the generalized Kohn theorem) and the effects due to Coulomb interactions (formation of the incompressible magic states at high magnetic fields and their relation to composite jermions), and finally the spin-orbit interactions. In addition, the excitonic properties of quantum dots are discussed, including the energy levels and the spectral function of a single exciton, the relaxation of confined carriers, the metastable states and their effect on the photoluminescence spectrum, the interaction of an exciton with carriers, and exciton condensation. The theoretical part of this work, which is based largely on original re sults obtained by the authors, has been supplemented with descriptions of various methods of creating quantum-dot structures."

This volume contains the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Band Structure Engineering in Semiconductor Microstructures held at Il Ciocco, Castelvecchio Pascali in Tuscany between 10th and 15th April 1988. Research on semiconductor microstructures has expanded rapidly in recent years as a result of developments in the semiconductor growth and device fabrication technologies. The emergence of new semiconductor structures has facilitated a number of approaches to producing systems with certain features in their electronic structure which can lead to useful or interesting properties. The interest in band structure engineering has stimd ated a variety of physical investigations and nove 1 device concepts and the field now exhibits a fascinating interplay betwepn pure physics and device technology. Devices based on microstruc tures are useful vehicles for fundamental studies but also new device ideas require a thorough understanding of the basic physics. Around forty researchers gathered at I1 Ciocco in the Spring of 1988 to discuss band structure engineering in semiconductor microstructures.

This two-volume book provides an enriching insight into the laser, covering different types of lasers, the basic science behind the technology, their role at the cutting-edge of current scientific research, and their wide-ranging applications. With just high school physics as a prerequisite and favoring qualitative yet scientifically sound explanations over high-level mathematics, this book is aimed at a broad spectrum of readers in physics, chemistry, engineering, medicine, and biology. Its engaging and lucid presentation is enhanced with plenty of illustrations, making the world of the laser accessible to undergraduate students in the sciences and any other inquisitive readers with high school physics under their belts. Furthermore, the text is often laced with anecdotes, picked from history, that are bound to pique the minds of the readers. It is ideal for self-study or as a complement to courses on optics and optoelectronics.  This volume, Part 1 of 2, explains the fundamentals of optics, what a laser is, how it works, and what is unique about the light it emits, from fundamental quantum theory through population inversion and cavity to common laser types.  It is followed by Part 2 which depicts the many advances in science enabled by the laser, including spectroscopy, nonlinear optics, optical cooling and trapping, and optical tweezers, among many others, and provides a glimpse into the ways that the laser affects our lives via its uses in medicine, manufacturing, the nuclear industry, energy, defence, communication, ranging, pollution monitoring, art conservation, fashion, beauty, and entertainment.

A major global issue that the world is facing today is the upcoming depletion of fossil fuels and the energy crisis. In 1998, the global annual energy consumption was 12. 7 TW; of which 80% was generated from fossil fuels. This also translates into huge annual emissions of CO that leads to massive environmental problems, 2 particularly the global warming, which could be disastrous. Future global annual energy needs are also estimated to rise dramatically. A major challenge confronting the world is to ?nd an additional 14-20 TW by 2050 when our energy reserves based on fossil fuels are vanishing. The massive demand for energy would require materials and/or processes that would help to provide new sources of clean ren- able energy or to develop processes that would harvest energy or to better utilize energy in an ef?cient manner. The present monograph, WOLEDs and Organic Photovoltaics - Recent Advances and Applications, focuses on a very important and timely subject of topical interest that deals with the more ef?cient use of energy through white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) for solid-state lighting and the development of clean sources of renewable energy through the harvesting of light energy for conversion into electrical energy in organic photovoltaics. While LED solid-state lighting and photovoltaics have been dominated by inorganic semiconductor materials and silicon-based solar cells, there have been growing interests in the development of WOLEDs and organic photovoltaics.

The theoretical basis and the relevant experimental knowledge underlying our present understanding of the electrical and optical properties of semiconductor heterostructures. Although such structures have been known since the 1940s, it was only in the 1980s that they moved to the forefront of research. The resulting structures have remarkable properties not shared by bulk materials. The text begins with a description of the electronic properties of various types of heterostructures, including discussions of complex band-structure effects, localised states, tunnelling phenomena, and excitonic states. The focus of the remainder of the book is on optical properties, including intraband absorption, luminescence and recombination, Raman scattering, subband optical transitions, nonlinear effects, and ultrafast optical phenomena. The concluding chapter presents an overview of some of the applications that make use of the physics discussed. Appendices provide background information on band structure theory, kinetic theory, electromagnetic modes, and Coulomb effects.

This monograph of Electro-Optical E?ects to Visualize Field- and Current- Distributions in Semiconductors consists of ?ve parts, four of which are based ontheresearchofcadmiumsul?de, wherealargenumberofcontributionswere made between 1958 and the late 1960s to directly observe ?eld and current distributionsandinterprettheirresults.Thevisualizationof?elddistributions was accomplished by using the Franz Keldysh e?ect, and the visualization of currentinhomogeneitiesusestheshiftoftheopticalabsorptionedgebyJoule's heating. The ?fth part deals with a review of the explosively developing ?eld of N- and S-shaped current voltage characteristics causing inhomogeneities and instabilities in ?eld and current distributions. This part of the book was composed by Eckehard Sch] oll of the Technical University in Berlin. A major emphasis is given to the ?rst part of the book in which s- tionary high-?eld domains are described. These domains can be used as an essential tool to determine unambiguously certain semiconductor properties, such as the electron density and its mobility as the function of the actual electric ?eld. It is also helpful to determine changes of the work function and electron a?nities between di?erent materials, such as for electrodes and h- erojunctions. Finally, it gives direct information about certain doping and their spacial pro?le."

Phthalocyanines exhibit intriguing physic-chemical properties that render them important as a class of molecular functional materials. In addition to their tra- tional industrial applications as dyes and pigments, more recently their use as the organic semiconductors,photodynamictherapy medicines, non-linear optical ma- rials, catalysts for the photo oxidation, optical recording materials, and gas sensors attracts great research interests in these tetrapyrrole species. As manifested by the rapidly increasing number of related scienti?c publications in recent years, great progress has been made in the ?eld of advanced phthalocyaninematerials. Tremendous efforts have been paid toward the development of new phtha- cyanine molecular materials as well as toward their applications. Recent emphasis in both academic researches and technical ?eld has been put on the design and synthesis of novel phthalocyanine species, the structure-propertyrelationship, se- assembly properties, molecular electronics and opto-electronics, and dye-sensitized solarcells.Althoughexcellentreviewsandmonographsaboutphthalocyanineswere publishedseveralyearsago,it is time to providea surveyof a numberof newimp- tant developments in this fascinating area of phthalocyanine chemistry. The aim of this book is to bring both the academic and industrial researchers an easy way to the new progress of phthalocyanines made lately in related ?eld.

We live in a time of great change. In the electronics world, the last several decades have seen unprecedented growth and advancement, described by Moore's law. This observation stated that transistor density in integrated circuits doubles every 1. 5-2 years. This came with the simultaneous improvement of individual device perf- mance as well as the reduction of device power such that the total power of the resulting ICs remained under control. No trend remains constant forever, and this is unfortunately the case with Moore's law. The trouble began a number of years ago when CMOS devices were no longer able to proceed along the classical scaling trends. Key device parameters such as gate oxide thickness were simply no longer able to scale. As a result, device o- state currents began to creep up at an alarming rate. These continuing problems with classical scaling have led to a leveling off of IC clock speeds to the range of several GHz. Of course, chips can be clocked higher but the thermal issues become unmanageable. This has led to the recent trend toward microprocessors with mul- ple cores, each running at a few GHz at the most. The goal is to continue improving performance via parallelism by adding more and more cores instead of increasing speed. The challenge here is to ensure that general purpose codes can be ef?ciently parallelized. There is another potential solution to the problem of how to improve CMOS technology performance: three-dimensional integrated circuits (3D ICs).

Diluted magnetic semiconductors, or semimagnetic semiconductors, seemed for a while to be one of those research topics whose glory (i. e. , the period of most ext- sive research) belongedalready to the past. This particularlyapplied to "traditional" diluted magnetic semiconductors, i. e. , substitutional alloys of either II-VI or IV-VI semiconductors with transition metal ions. Fortunately, a discovery, in the beg- ning of the nineties [1,2], of ferromagnetic ordering in III-V DMSs with critical temperatures reaching 170 K has renewed and greatly intensi ed an interest in those materials. This was, at least partially, related to expectations that their Curie temperatures can be relatively easily brought to room temperature range through a clearly delineatedpath and,partially,due to the great successes, also commercial,of metallic version of spintronics, which earned its founders the Nobel Prize in 2007. The semiconductor version of spintronics has attracted researchers also because of hopes to engage it in efforts to construct quantum information processing devices. While these hopes and expectations are not fully realized yet, the effort is going on. As a goodexampleof recentachievements,new resultson quantumdotsconta- ing a single magnetic ion should be mentioned. A great progress has been achieved in studies of excitonic states in such quantum dots, so far limited to InAs/GaAs [3,4] and CdTe/ZnTe [5,6] material systems and to Manganese as the magnetic ion. Furthermore, in the II-VI QDs, rst results on the optical control of the Mn spin states havebeenexperimentallydemonstrated[7-9]andtheoreticallyanalyzed[10]; the studies of Mn spin dynamics and control in III-V QDs will certainly follow.

In Volume 6 of the Advances in Solar Energy we have specifically targeted for a review the rich experience of the Power Utilities. Their hands-on experience in a large variety of means to employ solar energy conversion and to evaluate the technical and economical feasibilities is of great importance to their future use. In designing the lay-out for this volume, we wanted to collect all relevant information, including success and failures and wanted to emphasize the lessons learned from each type of experiment. The publication of such a review now has the advantage of a settled experience in the first phase of solar involvement of the utility industry with a large amount of data analyzed. We are confident that this information will be of great value to direct the future development of the solar energy mix within this industry. We have added to this set of reviews three articles which deal with the most promising high-technology part of solar energy conversion using exclusively solid state devices: solar cells. The development over the last two decades from barely 10% to now in excess of 30% conversion efficiency is breathtaking. In addition, the feasibility of economic midrange efficient thin-film technology holds the promise of opening large sc ale markets in the near future. This field will enter head-on competition for large power generation with more conventional technology.

Multi-chip modules (MCMs) with high wiring density, controlled impedance interconnects, and thermal management capability have recently been developed to address the problems posed by advances in electronic systems that make demands for higher speeds and complexity. MCM-C/Mixed Technologies and Thick Film Sensors highlights recent advances in MCM-C technology. Developments in materials and processes which have led to increased interconnection density are reviewed: finer resolution thick film inks, high performance-low temperature dielectric tapes, precision via generation by both laser and mechanical methods, and enhanced screen printing technologies have given us feature resolution to the 50 mum line/space level. Thermal management has greatly benefitted from such new materials as cofire AIN and diamond. MCM-C technology is compatible with thick film sensors, and work is reviewed on environmental gas sensors, pressure and temperature sensors, and the development of novel materials in this area.

This book is devoted to nonmetal-to-metal transitions. The original ideas of Mott for such a transition in solids have been adapted to describe a broad variety of phenomena in condensed matter physics (solids, liquids, and fluids), in plasma and cluster physics, as well as in nuclear physics (nuclear matter and quark-gluon systems). The book gives a comprehensive overview of theoretical methods and experimental results of the current research on the Mott effect for this wide spectrum of topics. The fundamental problem is the transition from localized to delocalized states which describes the nonmetal-to-metal transition in these diverse systems. Based on the ideas of Mott, Hubbard, Anderson as well as Landau and Zeldovich, internationally respected scientists present the scientific challenges and highlight the enormous progress which has been achieved over the last years. The level of description is aimed to specialists in these fields as well as to young scientists who will get an overview for their own work. A common feature of all contribution is the extensive discussion of bound states," i.e. their formation and dissolution due to medium effects. This applies to atoms and molecules in plasmas, fluids, and small clusters, excitons in semiconductors, or nucleons, deuterons, and alpha-particles in nuclear matter. In this way, the transition from delocalized to localized states and vice versa can be described on a common level."

Lanthanides have fascinated scientists for more than two centuries now, and since efficient separation techniques were established roughly 50 years ago, they have increasingly found their way into industrial exploitation and our everyday lives. Numerous applications are based on their unique luminescent properties, which are highlighted in this volume. It presents established knowledge about the photophysical basics, relevant lanthanide probes or materials, and describes instrumentation-related aspects including chemical and physical sensors. The uses of lanthanides in bioanalysis and medicine are outlined, such as assays for in vitro diagnostics and research. All chapters were compiled by renowned scientists with a broad audience in mind, providing both beginners in the field and advanced researchers with comprehensive information on on the given subject.

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The book describes the design of micro systems systematically as well as the equations needed for an estimation of the basic elements. It can be used without knowing fabrication processes of micro systems and provides the basic equations needed to calculate the effects and forces which are important in micro systems. For quick reference equations are presented in tables which are found in an index at the end of this book.

Polycrystalline Silicon for Integrated Circuits and Displays, Second Edition presents much of the available knowledge about polysilicon. It represents an effort to interrelate the deposition, properties, and applications of polysilicon. By properly understanding the properties of polycrystalline silicon and their relation to the deposition conditions, polysilicon can be designed to ensure optimum device and integrated-circuit performance. Polycrystalline silicon has played an important role in integrated-circuit technology for two decades. It was first used in self-aligned, silicon-gate, MOS ICs to reduce capacitance and improve circuit speed. In addition to this dominant use, polysilicon is now also included in virtually all modern bipolar ICs, where it improves the basic physics of device operation. The compatibility of polycrystalline silicon with subsequent high-temperature processing allows its efficient integration into advanced IC processes. This compatibility also permits polysilicon to be used early in the fabrication process for trench isolation and dynamic random-access-memory (DRAM) storage capacitors. In addition to its integrated-circuit applications, polysilicon is becoming vital as the active layer in the channel of thin-film transistors in place of amorphous silicon. When polysilicon thin-film transistors are used in advanced active-matrix displays, the peripheral circuitry can be integrated into the same substrate as the pixel transistors. Recently, polysilicon has been used in the emerging field of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), especially for microsensors and microactuators. In these devices, the mechanical properties, especially the stress in the polysilicon film, are critical to successful device fabrication. Polycrystalline Silicon for Integrated Circuits and Displays, Second Edition is an invaluable reference for professionals and technicians working with polycrystalline silicon in the integrated circuit and display industries.

The MESA Research Institute of the University of Twente was created in 1990 through the joining of the research unit Sensors and Actuators with the department of Microelectronics. The multidisciplinary institute, with participation from the faculties of Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics and Chemical Technology, was recently recognized as a Centre of Excellence by the Dutch Science Foundation. It is fully 2 equipped with modem Clean Room facilities (1000 m ) and a number of research laboratories. The objective of MESA is to perform research and development of systems in modem information technology, and on the units on which they are based: the microstructures that process and transduce signals. The institute gradually expanded during the past few years till some 125 persons in 1994. Given the wide variety of research subjects within MESA, it has been decided to start a MESA Monographs series, appearing on a more or less regular, yearly basis. In this way, after some time a good overview of research topics under investigation at MESA will be obtained. The first volume of this series coincides with the Proceedings of pTAS '94, the first Workshop on Micro Total Analysis Systems, held on November 21-22 at the University of Twente in Enschede, The Netherlands. IlTAS has recently been defined as the first strategic research orientation of MESA, aiming at synergetic collaboration between the different disciplines present in MESA.