This survey is concerned with the use of silicon nitride in the semi conductor and microelectronics industries. The Handbook of Electronic Materials, volume 3, comprises part 1 of this survey and includes preparation and properties information. This report was prepared by Hughes Aircraft Company, Culver City, California under Contract Number F336lS-70-C-1348. The work was admini stered under the direction of the Air Force Materials Laboratory, Air Force Systems Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, with Hr. B. Emrich, Project Engineer. The Electronic Properties Information Center (EPIC) is a designated Information Analysis Center of the Department of Defense, authorized to pro vide information to the entire DoD community. The purpose of the Center is to provide a highly competent source of information and data on the electronic, optical and magnetic properties of materials of value to the Department of Defense. Its major function is to evaluate, compile and publish the experi mental data from the world's unclassified literature concerned with the properties of materials. All materials relevant to the field of electronics are within the scope of EPIC: insulators, semiconductors, metals, super conductors, ferrites, ferroelectrics, ferromagnetics, electroluminescents, thermionic emitters and optical materials. The Center's scope includes information on over 100 basic properties of materials; information generally regarded as being in the area of devices and/or circuitry is excluded. v CONTENTS Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Diffusion Mask Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '" 11 Glass-to-Metal Seals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Passivation Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Isolation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Memory Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Capacitors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Radiation Hardening Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."

The role of quantum coherence in promoting the e ciency of the initial stages of photosynthesis is an open and intriguing question. Lee, Cheng, and Fleming, Science 316, 1462 (2007) The understanding and design of functional biomaterials is one of today's grand challenge areas that has sparked an intense exchange between biology, materials sciences, electronics, and various other disciplines. Many new - velopments are underway in organic photovoltaics, molecular electronics, and biomimetic research involving, e. g. , arti cal light-harvesting systems inspired by photosynthesis, along with a host of other concepts and device applications. In fact, materials scientists may well be advised to take advantage of Nature's 3. 8 billion year head-start in designing new materials for light-harvesting and electro-optical applications. Since many of these developments reach into the molecular domain, the - derstanding of nano-structured functional materials equally necessitates f- damental aspects of molecular physics, chemistry, and biology. The elementary energy and charge transfer processes bear much similarity to the molecular phenomena that have been revealed in unprecedented detail by ultrafast op- cal spectroscopies. Indeed, these spectroscopies, which were initially developed and applied for the study of small molecular species, have already evolved into an invaluable tool to monitor ultrafast dynamics in complex biological and materials systems. The molecular-level phenomena in question are often of intrinsically quantum mechanical character, and involve tunneling, non-Born- Oppenheimer e ects, and quantum-mechanical phase coherence.

Since scaling of CMOS is reaching the nanometer area serious limitations enforce the introduction of novel materials, device architectures and device concepts. Multi-gate devices employing high-k gate dielectrics are considered as promising solution overcoming these scaling limitations of conventional planar bulk CMOS. Variation Aware Analog and Mixed-Signal Circuit Design in Emerging Multi-Gate CMOS Technologies provides a technology oriented assessment of analog and mixed-signal circuits in emerging high-k and multi-gate CMOS technologies.

Porous Semiconductors: Optical Properties and Applications provides an examination of porous semiconductor materials. Beginning with a description of the basic electrochemistry of porous semiconductors and the different kinds of porous semiconductor materials that can be fabricated, the book moves on to describe the fabrication processes used in the production of porous semiconductor optical components. Concluding the text, a number of optical components based on porous semiconductor materials are discussed in depth.

Porous Semiconductors: Optical Properties and Applications provides a thorough grounding in the design, fabrication and theory behind the optical applications of porous semiconductor materials for graduate and undergraduate students interested in optics, photonics, MEMS, and material science. The book is also a valuable reference for scientists, researchers, and engineers in the field of optics and materials science.

This book is devoted to the physics of electron-beam, ion-beam, optical, and x-ray lithography. The need for this book results from the following considerations. The astonishing achievements in microelectronics are in large part connected with successfully applying the relatively new technology of processing (changing the prop erties of) a material into a device whose component dimensions are submicron, called photolithography. In this method the device is imaged as a pattern on a metal film that has been deposited onto a transparent substrate and by means of a broad stream of light is transferred to a semiconductor wafer within which the physical structure of the devices and the integrated circuit connections are formed layer by layer. The smallest dimensions of the device components are limited by the diffraction of the light when the pattern is transferred and are approximately the same as the wavelength of the light. Photolithography by light having a wavelength of A ~ 0.4 flm has made it possible to serially produce integrated circuits having devices whose minimal size is 2-3 flm in the 4 pattern and having 10-105 transistors per circuit.

Ion beams have been used for decades for characterizing and analyzing materials. Now energetic ion beams are providing ways to modify the materials in unprecedented ways. This book highlights the emergence of high-energy swift heavy ions as a tool for tailoring the properties of materials with nanoscale structures. Swift heavy ions interact with materials by exciting/ionizing electrons without directly moving the atoms. This opens a new horizon towards the 'so-called' soft engineering. The book discusses the ion beam technology emerging from the non-equilibrium conditions and emphasizes the power of controlled irradiation to tailor the properties of various types of materials for specific needs.

The seventh Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on Techniques and Concepts of High Energy Physics was held for the second time at the Club St. Croix, in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The ASI brought together a total of 75 participants, from 19 countries. The primary support for the meeting was again provided by the Scientific Affairs Division of NATO. The ASI was cosponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, by Fermilab, by the National Science Foundation, and by the University of Rochester. A special contribution from the Oliver S. and Jennie R. Donaldson Charitable Trust provided an important degree of flexibility, as well as support for worthy students from developing countries. As in the case of the previous ASIs, the scientific program was designed for advanced graduate students and recent PhD recipients in experimental particle physics. The present volume of lectures should complement the material published in the first six ASIs, and prove to be of value to a wider audience of physicists.

This volume contains the Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Growth and Optical Properties of Wide Gap II-VI Low Dimensional Semiconductors," held from 2 - 6 August 1988 in Regensburg, Federal Republic of Germany, under the auspices of the NATO International Scientific Exchange Programme. Semiconducting compounds formed by combining an element from column II of the periodic table with an element from column VI (so called II-VI Semiconductors) have long promised many optoelectronic devices operating in the visible region of the spectrum. However, these materials have encountered numerous problems including: large number of defects and difficulties in obtaining p- and n-type doping. Advances in new methods of material preparation may hold the key to unlocking the unfulfilled promises. During the workshop a full session was taken up covering the prospects for wide-gap II-VI Semiconductor devices, particularly light emitting ones. The growth of bulk materials was reviewed with the view of considering II-VI substrates for the novel epitaxial techniques such as MOCVD, MBE, ALE, MOMBE and ALE-MBE. The controlled introduction of impurities during non-equilibrium growth to provide control of the doping type and conductivity was emphasized.

This textbook sets out to enable readers to understand fundamental aspects underlying quantum macroscopic phenomena in solids, primarily through the modern experimental techniques and results. The classic independent-electrons approach for describing the electronic structure in terms of energy bands helps explain the occurrence of metals, insulators and semiconductors.It is underlined thatsuperconductivity and magnetism can only be understood by taking into account the interactions between electrons. The text recounts the experimental observations that have revealed the main properties of the superconductors and were essential to track its physical origin. While fundamental concepts are underlined, those which are required to describe the high technology applications, present or future, are emphasized as well. Problem sets involve experimental approaches and tools which support a practical understanding of the materials and their behaviour.

The Physical Electronics Department of SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute) has been pioneering the development of devices fabricated to submicron tolerances for well over 20 years. In 1961, a landmark paper on electron-beam lithography and its associated technologies was published by K. R. Shoulderst (then at SRI), which set the stage for our subsequent efforts in this field. He had the foresight to believe that the building of such small devices was actually within the range of human capabilities. As a result of this initial momentum, our experience in the technologies associated with microfabrication has become remarkably comprehensive, despite the relatively small size of our research activity. We have frequently been asked to deliver seminars or provide reviews on various aspects of micro fabrication. These activities made us aware of the need for a comprehensive overview of the physics of microfabrication. We hope that this book will fill that need."

Optoelectronic guided-wave devices are used in a wide range of optical fiber communication and optoelectronic systems. In such networks, the electrical and the optical characteristics of guided-wave devices, and the interplay between them, have a profound effect on system design and overall performance. Uniquely, this book combines both the optical and electrical behavior of guided-wave optoelectronic devices so that the interwoven properties, including interconnections to external components, are easily understood. It provides the key concepts and analytical techniques that readers can apply to current and future devices. It also presents the impact of material properties on guided-wave devices, and emphasizes the importance of time-dependent interactions between electrical and optical signals. This is an ideal reference for graduate students and researchers in electrical engineering and applied physics departments, as well as practitioners in the optoelectronics industry.

Superlattices and Other Heterostructures deals with optical properties of superlattices and quantum-well structures with emphasis on phenomena governed by crystal symmetries. After a brief introduction to group theory and symmetries, methods to calculate spectra of electrons, excitions and phonons in heterostructures are discussed. Further chapters cover absorption and reflection of light under interband transitions, cyclotron and electron spin-resoncance, light scattering by free and bound carriers and by optical and acoustic phonons, polarized photoluminescence, optical spin orientation of electrons and excitions, and nonlinear optical and photogalvanic effects.

Wo Licht ist, ist auch Schatten! ("More light, more shadow!" or simpler: "Nothing is perfect") -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, from Got .. z von Berlichingen, Act I There exist already about ten books (e. g. [1-8]) - not counting the many conf- enceproceedingsvolumes- onthe differentaspectsofSi-basedphotonicsincluding also the issue of silicon-basedlight emission. Why is now anotherone neededabout this subject, and even more, exclusively about a special type of light emitters? This book summarizes all aspects of the development of rare earth (RE) c- taining MOS devices fabricated by ion implantation as the key technology and critically re ects the related referencesthroughoutthe different chapters. This work was mainly done in the course of the last 10 years. Preliminary work for this goal, undertaken mostly in the nineties, was based on the introduction of group IV e- ments (Si, Ge, Sn) into the thermally grown silicon dioxide leading to the highest power ef ciency values in the blue-violet wavelength range. This success inspired us to use the REs as means of exploring other wavelength ranges with the same or even higher power ef ciencies. After an historical introduction of the REs and silicon-based light emission, Chap. 1 presents a review of electroluminescence from MOS-type light emitters, based on silicon and its technology. The achievement of an optimized material for electrically driven light emission, that is, ef cient emission with reasonable reliability, is only possible with a deep knowledge of the materials properties det- miningtheelectro-optical(orphotonic)properties(seeChap. 2).

Avarietyof?uorescentandluminescentmaterialsintheformofmolecules,their complexes,andnanoparticlesareavailableforimplementationasreportingunits intosensingtechnologies. Increasingdemandsfromtheseapplicationareasrequire developmentofnew?uorescencereportersbasedonassociationandaggregationof ?uorescencedyesandontheirincorporationintodifferentnanostructures. Inter- tionsbetweenthesedyesandtheirincorporatingmatricesleadtonewspectroscopic effectsthatcanbeactivelyusedforoptimizingthesensordesign. Oneofthese effects is a spectacular formation of J-aggregates with distinct and very sharp excitationandemissionbands. Byincorporationintonanoparticles,organicdyes offer dramatically increased brightness together with improvement of chemical stabilityandphotostability. Moreover,certaindyescanformnanoparticlesth- selvessothattheirspectroscopicpropertiesareimproved. Semiconductorquantum dotsaretheothertypeofnanoparticles thatpossessuniqueandveryattractive photophysicalandspectroscopicproperties. Manyinterestingandnotfullyund- stoodphenomenaareobservedinclusterscomposedofonlyseveralatomsofnoble metals. Inconjugatedpolymers,strongelectronicconjugationbetweenelementary chromophoricunitsresultsindramaticeffectsinquenchingandinconformati- dependentspectroscopicbehavior. Possessingsuchpowerfulanddiversearsenaloftools,wehavetoexplorethem innovelsensingandimagingtechnologiesthatcombineincreasedbrightnessand sensitivityinanalytedetectionwithsimplicityandlowcostofproduction. The present book overviews the pathways for achieving this goal. In line with the discussion on monomeric ?uorescence reporters in the accompanying book (Vol. 8ofthisseries),aninsightfulanalysisofphotophysicalmechanismsbehind the ?uorescence response of composed and nanostructured materials is made. Based on the progress in understanding these mechanisms, their realization in differentchemicalstructuresisoverviewed. vii viii Preface Demonstratingtheprogressinaninterdisciplinary?eldofresearchanddev- opment,thisbookisprimarilyaddressedtospecialistswithdifferentbackground- physicists, organic and analytical chemists, and photochemists - to those who developandapplynew?uorescencereporters. Itwillalsobeusefultospecialists inbioanalysisandbiomedicaldiagnostics. Kyiv,Ukraine AlexanderP. Demchenko June2010 Contents PartI GeneralAspects NanocrystalsandNanoparticlesVersusMolecularFluorescent LabelsasReportersforBioanalysisandtheLifeSciences: ACriticalComparison ...3 UteResch-Genger,MarkusGrabolle,RolandNitschke, andThomasNann OptimizationoftheCouplingofTargetRecognition andSignalGeneration ...41 AnaB. Descalzo,ShengchaoZhu,TobiasFischer,andKnutRurack CollectiveEffectsIn?uencingFluorescenceEmission ...107 AlexanderP. Demchenko PartII EncapsulatedDyesandSupramolecularConstructions FluorescentJ-AggregatesandTheirBiologicalApplications ...135 MykhayloYu. LosytskyyandValeriyM. Yashchuk Conjugates,Complexes,andInterlockedSystems BasedonSquarainesandCyanines ...159 LeonidD. Patsenker,AnatoliyL. Tatarets,OleksiiP. Klochko, andEwaldA. Terpetschnig PartIII Dye-DopedNanoparticlesandDendrimers Dye-DopedPolymericParticlesforSensingandImaging ...193 SergeyM. Borisov,TorstenMayr,Gu..nterMistlberger,andIngoKlimant ix x Contents Silica-BasedNanoparticles:DesignandProperties ...229 SongLiang,CarrieL. John,ShupingXu,JiaoChen,YuhuiJin, QuanYuan,WeihongTan,andJuliaX. Zhao LuminescentDendrimersasLigandsandSensors ofMetalIons ...2 53 GiacomoBergamini,EnricoMarchi,andPaolaCeroni ProspectsforOrganicDyeNanoparticles ...285 HiroshiYao PartIV LuminescentMetalNanoclusters Few-AtomSilverClustersasFluorescentReporters ...307 IsabelD?'ezandRobinH. A. Ras LuminescentQuantumClustersofGoldasBio-Labels ...333 M. A. HabeebMuhammedandT. Pradeep PartV ConjugatedPolymers Structure,EmissiveProperties,andReportingAbilities ofConjugatedPolymers ...357 MaryA. Reppy OpticalReportingbyConjugatedPolymers viaConformationalChanges ...389 RozalynA. SimonandK. PeterR. Nilsson FluorescenceReportingBasedonFRETBetweenConjugated PolyelectrolyteandOrganicDyeforBiosensorApplications ...417 Kan-YiPuandBinLiu Index ...455 PartI GeneralAspects NanocrystalsandNanoparticlesVersus MolecularFluorescentLabelsasReporters forBioanalysisandtheLifeSciences: ACriticalComparison UteResch-Genger,MarkusGrabolle,RolandNitschke,andThomasNann Abstract At the core of photoluminescence techniques are suitable ?uorescent labels and reporters, the spectroscopic properties of which control the limit of detection,thedynamicrange,andthepotentialformultiplexing.

This publication presents the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on Computer Modelling of Electronic and Atomic Processes in Solids. This ARW was held at Szklarska Poreba, Wroclaw, Poland from May 20 -23, 1996, and brought together scientists from Canada, England, Germany, Israel, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, United States, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The NATO Advanced Research Workshops program is designed to increase collaboration and exchange of knowledge between the Eastern and Western scientific communities. This particular NATO ARW has already succeeded in that effort, and has spawned collaboration agreements and programs. One joint project in space materials has led to the launch of an experiment to the Russian MIR space station. This NATO ARW was also fortunate to be held concurrently with a workshop of the Wroclaw Technical University, in the same location, which focused on glass materials, thus providing for a larger scientific audience for a number of presentations of both groups. The primary emphasis of this ARW was on computer models, ranging from fundamental atomic, molecular and electronic structures and processes, through to macroscopic descriptions of materials in terms of their structure and properties. Various elements discussed in these proceedings include environmental effects, predictions of properties, correlations with experiments and material performance parameters. Applications to space and electronics were emphasized.

Optoelectronic devices operating in the mid-infrared wavelength range offer applications in a variety of areas from environmental gas monitoring around oil rigs to the detection of narcotics. They could also be used for free-space optical communications, thermal imaging applications and the development of "homeland security" measures.

Mid-infrared Semiconductor Optoelectronics is an overview of the current status and technological development in this rapidly emerging area; the basic physics, some of the problems facing the design engineer and a comparison of possible solutions are laid out; the different lasers used as sources for mid-infrared technology are considered; recent work in detectors is reviewed; the last part of the book is concerned with applications.

With a world-wide authorship of experts working in many mid-infrared-related fields this book will be an invaluable reference for researchers and graduate students drawn from physics, electronic and electrical engineering and materials science.

The increasing application of integrated circuits in situations where high reliability is needed places a requirement on the manufacturer to use methods of testing to eliminate devices that may fail on service. One possible approach that is described in this book is to make precise electrical measurements that may reveal those devices more likely to fail. The measurements assessed are of analog circuit parameters which, based on a knowledge of failure mechanisms, may indicate a future failure. . To incorporate these tests into the functional listing of very large scale integrated circuits consideration has to be given to the sensitivity of the tests where small numbers of devices may be defective in a complex circuit. In addition the tests ideally should require minimal extra test time. A range of tests has been evaluated and compared with simulation used to assess the sensitivity of the measurements. Other work in the field is fully referenced at the end of each chapter. The team at Lancaster responsible for this book wish to thank the Alvey directorate and SERe for the necessary support and encouragement to publish our results. We would also like to thank John Henderson, recently retired from the British Telecom Research Laboratories, for his cheerful and enthusiastic encouragement. Trevor Ingham, now in New Zealand, is thanked for his early work on the project.

In this monograph, the authors offer a comprehensive examination of the latest research on Laser Chemical Vapor Deposition (LCVD). Chapters explore the physics of LCVD as well as the principles of a wide range of related phenomena-including laser-matter interactions, heat transfer, fluid flow, chemical kinetics, and adsorption. With this reference, researchers will discover how to apply these principles to developing theories about various types of LCVD processes; gain greater insight into the basic mechanisms of LCVD; and obtain the ability to design and control an LCVD system.

Glasses containing metallic nanoparticles exhibit very promising linear and nonlinear optical properties, mainly due to the surface plasmon resonances (SPRs) of the nanoparticles. The spectral position in the visible and near-infrared range and polarization dependence of the SPR arecharacteristically determined by the nanoparticles shapes.

The focus of "Ultra-Short Pulsed Laser Engineered Metal-Glass Nanocomposites" is the interaction of intense ultra-short laser pulses with glass containing silver nanoparticles embedded in soda-lime glass, and nanostructural modifications in metal-glass nanocomposites induced by such laser pulses. In order to provide a comprehensive physical picture of the processes leading to laser-induced persistent shape transformation of the nanoparticles, series of experimental results investigating the dependences of laser assisted shape modifications of nanoparticles with laser pulse intensity, excitation wavelength, temperature are considered. In addition, the resulting local optical dichroism allows producing very flexibly polarizing optical (sub-) microstructures with well-specified optical properties. The achieved considerable progress towards technological application of this technique, in particular also for long-term optical data storage, is also discussed.

It was about 1985 when both of the authors started their work using multigrid methods for process simulation problems. This happened in dependent from each other, with a completely different background and different intentions in mind. At this time, some important monographs appeared or have been in preparation. There are the three "classical" ones, from our point of view: the so-called "1984 Guide" [12J by Brandt, the "Multi-Grid Methods and Applications" [49J by Hackbusch and the so-called "Fundamentals" [132J by Stiiben and Trottenberg. Stiiben and Trottenberg in [132J state a "delayed acceptance, resent ments" with respect to multigrid algorithms. They complain: "Nevertheless, even today's situation is still unsatisfactory in several respects. If this is true for the development of standard methods, it applies all the more to the area of really difficult, complex applications." In spite of all the above mentioned publications and without ignoring important theoretical and practical improvements of multigrid, this situa tion has not yet changed dramatically. This statement is made under the condition that a numerical principle like multigrid is "accepted", if there exist "professional" programs for research and production purposes. "Professional" in this context stands for "solving complex technical prob lems in an industrial environment by a large community of users". Such a use demands not only for fast solution methods but also requires a high robustness with respect to the physical parameters of the problem.

Although exploratory and developmental activity in electron beam testing (EBT) 25 years, it was not had already been in existence in research laboratories for over until the beginning of the 1980s that it was taken up seriously as a technique for integrated circuit (IC) testing. While ICs were being fabricated on design rules of several microns, the mechanical ne edle probe served quite adequately for internal chip probing. This scenario changed with growing device complexity and shrinking geometries, prompting IC manufacturers to take note ofthis new testing technology. It required several more years and considerable investment by electron beam tester manufacturers, however, to co me up with user-friendly automated systems that were acceptable to IC test engineers. These intervening years witnessed intense activity in the development of instrumentation, testing techniques, and system automation, as evidenced by the proliferation of technical papers presented at conferences. With the shift of interest toward applications, the technology may now be considered as having come of age.

Boron has all the best tunes. That may well be the first impression of the Group 13 elements. The chemical literature fosters the impression not only in the primary journals, but also in asteady outflowofbooks focussing more or less closely on boron and its compounds. The same preoccupation with boron is apparent in the coverage received by the Group 13 elements in the comprehensive and regularly updated volume of the Gmelin Handbook. Yet such an imbalance cannot be explained by any inherent lack ofvariety, interest or consequence in the 'heavier elements. Aluminium is the most abundant metal in the earth's crust; in the industrialised world the metal is second only to iron in its usage, and its compounds can justifiably be said to touch our lives daily - to the potential detriment of those and other lives, some would argue. From being chemical curios, gallium and indium have now gained considerably prominence as sources of compound semiconductors like gallium arsenide and indium antimonide. Nor is there any want ofincident in the chemistriesofthe heavier Group 13 elements. In their redox, coordination and structural properties, there is to be found music indeed, notable not always for its harmony but invariably for its richness and variety. Thisbook seeks to redress the balance with a definitive, wide-rangingand up-to-date review of the chemistry of the Group 13 metals aluminium, gallium, indium and thallium.

Electronic materials are a dominant factor in many areas of modern technology. The need to understand'them is paramount; this book addresses that need. The main aim of this volume is to provide a broad unified view of electronic materials, including key aspects of their science and technology and also, in many cases, their commercial implications. It was considered important that much of the contents of such an overview should be intelligible by a broad audience of graduates and industrial scientists, and relevant to advanced undergraduate studies. It should also be up to date and even looking forward to the future. Although more extensive, and written specifically as a text, the resulting book has much in common with a short course of the same name given at Coventry Polytechnic. The interpretation of the term "electronic materials" used in this volume is a very broad one, in line with the initial aim. The principal restriction is that, with one or two minor exceptions relating to aspects of device processing, for example, the materials dealt with are all active materials. Materials such as simple insulators or simple conductors, playing only a passive role, are not singled out for consider ation. Active materials might be defined as those involved in the processing of signals in a way that depends crucially on some specific property of those materials, and the immediate question then concerns the types of signals that might be considered."

The field of narrow-gap II-VI materials is dominated by lhe compound mercury cadmium telluride, MCT or Hg1_ .. Cd .. Te. By varying the x value, material can be made to cover all the important infrared (lR) ranges of interest. It is probably true to say that MCT is the third most studied semiconductor after silicon and gallium arsenide. As current epitaxial layers of MCT are mainly grown on bulk CdTe family substrates these materials are included in this book, although strictly, of course, they are not 'narrow-gap'. This book is intended for readers who are either new to the field or are experienced workers in the field who need a comprehensive and up to date view of this rapidly expanding area. To satisfy the needs of the frrst group each chapter discusses the principles underlying each topic and some of the historical background before bringing the reader the most recent information available. For those currently in the field the book can be used as a collection of useful data, as a guide to the literature and as an overview of topics covering the wide range of work areas."

Over the last two decades, the search for a compact, high-power semiconductor source has produced many designs and concepts for monolithic diode-laser arrays and optical amplifiers. However, only a few design approaches have emerged with the potential for producing high-power, high-brightness monolithic sources. Although semiconductor-diode lasers are the most compact, highest gain and most efficient laser sources, challenges remain in developing structures that will produce high-quality, diffraction-limited output beams. This book presents and analyzes the results of work performed over the last twenty years in the development of high-brightness diode-laser arrays.